Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Conti, Gregory, 1952-
- Abstract:
- The Conti mss., 2000-2002, consists of correspondence, readers' reports and manuscript drafts relating to Gregory Conti's translation into English of Rosetta Loy's Cioccolata da Hanselmann.
- Extent:
- 3 Boxes (3 standard)
- Language:
- Materials are in English ; Italian .
- Preferred citation:
[Item], Conti mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
"After growing up in Pittsburgh and studying at Notre Dame (B.A. in American Studies, 1974), at Yale (M.A. Am. Studies,1976) and J.D., Yale Law School (1980), I practiced as a legal services lawyer in New Haven and Waltham, MA. Then in 1985 I moved to Perugia, where I have been ever since. Like my Sicilian grandfather, who emigrated to Pittsburgh in 1892, I'm an immigrant--in the opposite direction.
I think my immigrant status is essential to my translating and teaching. In Italy I teach English to mostly Italian students at the University of Perugia, and Italian history to American students at the University of Rochester in Arezzo. Teaching English helps me keep in touch with my linguistic and cultural roots, but my being an immigrant is why my study and teaching of Italian history focuses on the question of Italian political and cultural identity. It became clear to me after just a few years of living in Italy that Italians and Americans have a very different sense of national identity, and I wanted to figure out what made them so different. The history course I teach examines the evolution of Italian national identity from unification to the Republic, and its expression in literature and the arts as well as politics.
Inevitably, I started translating as soon as I moved to Italy though I didn't publish my first book until 1998. There have been eleven others since and three more due out by spring 2014, ranging from non-fiction in history, economics, religion, and philosophy to novels, short stories and even a bit of poetry. My favorite projects are the books and shorter works that I have found and proposed to prospective publishers, sometimes successfully (such as works by Enrico Deaglio, Rosetta Loy, and Emilio Lussu) and sometimes not, but I am also quite happy to translate works proposed to me by authors or publishers. Overall, my objective as a translator is to provide English-language readers with as much as possible of the Italian flavor of the work while still making it a pleasure to read in English."
Retrieved from Gregory Conti: Literary Translations on January 4, 2018.
- Scope and Content:
The Conti mss., 2000-2002, consist of correspondence, readers' reports and manuscript drafts relating to Gregory Conti's translation into English of Rosetta Loy's Cioccolata da Hanselmann. The correspondence is with Conti's editor at the University of Nebraska Press and copies of two faxes from Conti to author Rosetta Loy. The readers' reports, sent to Conti by his editor, are for sample chapters sent to the publisher. A later reader's report for the completed manuscript carries notations made by Conti in red, blue, and green ink, while a subsequent letter to his editor summarizes his comments and reactions to that report. The final letter in the file is to the copy editor responding to her queries on the manuscript. The book was published as Hot Chocolate at Hanselmann's, April 2003.
Also present are the two sample chapters he sent that resulted in the first readers' reports; a full complete copy of the translation, as submitted to the University of Nebraska Press in August 2002; and a talk given by Conti at ALTA in Raleigh, North Carolina, October 2002: ""How Many Lives Does a Cat Have Anyway? Translating Culture in Cioccolata da Hanselmann.""
A computer disk and two later revisions of the manuscript, dated January and February 2002, which were printed out from the disk, complete the collection.
Collection size: 11 items
- Acquisition information:
- Gift: 2002
- Arrangement:
The contents are arranged chronologically.
- Physical location:
- Lilly - Stacks
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
This collection is open for research.
Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[Item], Conti mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
1200 East Seventh StreetBloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
(812) 855-2452liblilly@iu.edu