Frames and Framing: Marina Carr’s The Cordelia Dream and its Italian Translation

Abstract

After a brief introduction to “frame” and “framing” in various disciplines, I will attempt to show that these notions can be applied to the analysis of the play The Cordelia Dream (2008) by the Irish playwright Marina Carr. I will analyse the various interrelated frames which compose the macro-construct and cognitive worldview of the play. This play is a contemporary reworking of William Shakespeare’s King Lear in which I highlight similarities, dissimilarities and references. In moving from one frame to another, in fact, a conceptual activation process is started, and it partly revises the ‘acquired knowledge’ underlying Carr’s play, such as the father-daughter relationship and the reading of King Lear. Finally, I will apply frame analysis to the process of translation in the Italian version, highlighting the various translational strategies adopted.