Re-translation: a literary and/or commercial phenomenon

‘Retranslation' is used here to describe 'a process whereby a text that has already been translated into a given language, is translated a second, third, fourth time into that same language'. Where there exist several translations of the same original, on the whole, critics appear to limit their attention to a comparative analysis of the various translations without addressing the underlying question as to why there are several translations in the first place. The practice of retranslation can be attributed to four major motivations which are not however always clear-cut and indeed are often overlapping: the first of these motivations can best be described as the general need to update the language of a previous version; the second is the need to produce a new translation in line with developing translation practice; the third is the need to rewrite a translation on the basis of a specific ideology or interpretation of the text; the fourth motivation is that of market forces and the commercial policies they entail. While the first three of these motivations are sometimes referred to explicitly or dealt with in implicit allusions, the fourth is not addressed in current writings on (re)translation. This paper outlines examples of each of the four factors, drawing on examples from literature and translation theory. The fourth point will be examined in more detail with specific examples from the current Italian situation.