ROSA DEL CONTE’S “ART OF TRANSLATION” BETWEEN CRITICISM AND PRACTICE

In the synthetic essay “Le brutte infedeli ovvero Quasimodo interprete di Arghezi”, Rosa Del Conte - eminent philologist, critic and translator - openly criticised the volume of selected poems by Tudor Arghezi translated by Quasimodo (1966). In the apparently passive position of the reader, Rosa Del Conte turns the reading experience into an analysis endeavour. She takes apart the Arghezian translations and constructs a critical essay where, in the background, we can notice certain specific aspects of her manner of translation and of the deontology needed by the translator. As part of a rhetorical exercise, Rosa Del Conte explains her own perspective. The antiphrastic reasoning implicit in the use of the syntagm “belle infedeli” intentionally emphasises the negative connotation of her critique. This ironic phrase, an explicit case of antiphrasis, could then be read not only as a value judgment on the Arghezian translations made by Quasimodo, but especially as a synthetic expression of her perspective on the poetic translation. The present study, dedicated to the analysis of the world of ideas and concepts behind the expression “le brutte infedeli”, aims to reconstruct Rosa Del Conte’s translation process, as well as her idea of “fedeltà alla poesia”.