Avventure e disavventure letterarie di Adelaide Ristori fra traduttori ed editori in Francia, Gran Bretagna e Stati Uniti

Abstract

This essay reconstructs the difficulties encountered by Adelaide Ristori in coordinating the translation and simultaneous publication in several languages of her volume of Ricordi e Studi artistici. In particular, the actress’s relationship with her French and English translators, namely Édouard Rod and Fanny McLaughlin, is analysed. The former is an established translator active in France between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while the latter is a less-known figure who, at the time she was hired by Ristori, had however already worked as a professional translator. The analysis of the extensive correspondence that Ristori maintained with both of them and her other collaborators allows a clear understanding of both Ristori’s working method and her difficulty in finding a common ground between her ideas, the translation requirements, and the demands of the publishing market. The comments of the foreign press following the publication of the volume in France, Great Britain, and the United States are also examined. Additionally, the peculiarities of the edition of Memoirs and Artistic Studies of Adelaide Ristori published in the United States in 1907, a year after the actress’s death, are analysed. This edition was curated by Gaetano Mantellini, who is also the author of the translation. The main sources used, including the letters from the correspondence and the scrapbook where the actress collected numerous reviews of her volume, all belong to the Adelaide Ristori Archive housed at the Museo Biblioteca dell’Attore in Genoa.