Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano and Elena Ferrante’s L’amica geniale: the afterlife of two ‘glocal’ series

Segnini, E. (2021) Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano and Elena Ferrante’s L’amica geniale: the afterlife of two ‘glocal’ series. Translator, 27(3), pp. 254-270. (doi: 10.1080/13556509.2018.1502607)

Abstract

This article brings together perspectives from world literature and translation studies to compare the international reception of two ‘glocal’ literary cases: Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano books, and Elena Ferrante’s tetralogy L’amica geniale. The national and international success of these series raises important questions for scholars of translation studies, multilingualism, world literature and literary markets, and sheds light on the significance of different kinds of multilingualism in fiction and of their treatment in translation. The article addresses the following questions: how do monolingual book markets contain and discipline multilingual fiction? What happens when multilingual fiction travels through translation? How do we explain the present openness of the Anglo-American market to translated fiction with an emphasis on the vernacular? The author argues that while both Camilleri and Ferrante foreground cultural difference and linguistic incommensurability, the way in which they portray the experience of diglossia had an important impact in determining their national and international success as well as the route through which they achieved international visibility.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [611–2015–0258].
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Segnini, Dr Elisa
• Authors: Segnini, E.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > Italian
• Journal Name: Translator
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1355-6509
• ISSN (Online): 1757-0409
• Published Online: 03 August 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group
• First Published: First published in Translator 27(3): 254-270
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy