Translating Italian classics: Petrarch and Boccaccio in English – again

Peter Hainsworth is a Professor of Italian at the University of Oxford, with interests in 13th- and 14th-century poetry and in 20th-century poetry and prose. He will be discussing his experience of translating selections from two canonical authors of Italian literature, Petrarch and Boccaccio. He will consider first of all why further translation of two much translated authors might or might not be desirable, necessary or commercially viable. Secondly he will discuss his particular aims and strategies, looking at the specific aspects of the authors that he wished to bring out and at how he dealt with the problem of reconciling the demands of readability on the one hand and of preserving some sense of cultural difference on the other. In the talk he will look at some short passages, but make no assumptions that his audience has any knowledge of Italian.