Antonio Tabucchi in the World: Visual Translations
Books and ribbons
This virtual exhibition of covers created for Antonio Tabucchi’s works published in translation confronts us with an apparent conceptual oxymoron: the cover of a book, in fact, together with the smell of the pages and the noise they make when you leaf through them, is one of the most symbolic embodiments of the book as an object, at least in the twentieth century. However, these parts of the book, which are so physical and, at the same time, so metaphysical and metaphorical, can be reproduced digitally on the computer screens of anyone who wants to admire them. This seems to me to be a fundamental juncture of our time: the book, although it has become impalpable, devoid of physical nature, free of the dust and woodworms that have accompanied its life through time since its invention, cannot do without its material nature, since we can only represent it through simulacra that refer to it. However, beyond the pixels that compose them, it is easy to perceive the existence of physical objects, companions on a reader’s or reader’s journey, as much within the private confines of one’s own room as tucked into a jacket pocket, perhaps together with a pencil and a notebook, by inhabitants of some of the world’s most diverse and fascinating places and districts. Yes, because this necessarily partial selection of the covers of Tabucchi’s works published in other languages tells us firstly that Tabucchi was, and still is, a much-loved and much-read writer, regardless of the geographical coordinates and linguistic family he belongs to. One goes from neighbouring (in many senses) Portugal, to the ever-beloved France, to distant (in many senses) Japan, via Thailand or Finland, which, apart from the Germanic ending of their Europeanised names, have very little in common. And then Poland and Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Great Britain and the United States, Germany and Greece, and again Spain and even China.
The covers are obviously very different, as different as the publishers to which they correspond and the languages in which these books have been translated and then read. Some of them, when placed side by side, tell a fragment of the publishing history of the book they contain – this is the case of the English-language covers that testify to the changing translation of the title of perhaps Tabucchi’s most famous work, Sostiene Pereira – others tell the story of a cover itself, which is repeated across countries and languages – this is the case of that of Tristano muore or Si sta facendo sempre più tardi – still others, due to their uniqueness, tell us of special books, published only in that guise, which did not exist in Italy – such as the bilingual volume Cinéma published by Gallimard or the two Greek short stories published in their own right only by the Athenian publisher Agra. There we can also find Tabucchi’s favourite places to set his stories, portrayed through a fragment of azulejo, a typical Lisbon street lamp or the depiction of a whale, and rediscover his great passion for painting and photography: No wonder, since for Antonio Tabucchi the cover of one of his books was an integral part of the book-object he would entrust to the hands of his readers, and he always managed it himself, for all editions of his works, as long as he lived.
Looking at all these covers, one feels a kind of vertigo, as if one could almost travel around the world at a glance. Indeed, Antonio Tabucchi’s works have been translated into more than 40 languages and, therefore, one can be certain that more or less anywhere in the world, at least where books are published, at some point, there has been a scholar, or a translator or a publisher who felt the need to translate a work by the Italian writer into an object-book, at the same time new and identical, capable of reaching those who did not know the mother tongue of the writer. This proves, without a doubt, not only the intrinsic value of Antonio Tabucchi’s novels, short stories and non-fiction production, which, clearly, has long been recognised by critics and literary scholars all over the world, but also their universal potential, which is perhaps – at least for the writer – the most important prerogative of a work of art, regardless of the expressive form chosen by the artist to realise it. There are books that, however successful they may be at the time of their release, are soon forgotten, even by those who had appreciated them. And there are others, on the other hand, capable of travelling through time, of passing from father to daughter at special moments of existence, or of being hidden in the pocket of a girlfriend’s coat – not without causing a long shiver down the spine – in some country afflicted by a terrible dictatorship, and of travelling through space, changing form like the god Proteus, thanks to translators and publishers, so as to be understood by men and women all over the world. Here, Tabucchi’s books belong to the latter category, which is why they are so important.
One is reminded of what Maria Lai, the great Italian artist who in the 1970s managed to use a blue ribbon to tie the people and houses of her village, Ulassai, to the mountain that dominated it. Indeed, Lai maintained that art should leave the galleries and return to the people, because its greatest power, apart from its ability to amaze, was precisely its ability to unite them, the people. And the blue ribbon that the people of Ulassai patiently managed to tie dozens and dozens of times, overcoming grudges and differences, symbolised, for Lai, art itself.
Observing the covers of Tabucchi’s works next to each other perhaps succeeds in visually restoring this universal power of his writing, capable of speaking to very heterogeneous people and thus uniting them, just like Maria Lai’s blue ribbon. Literature is in itself universal, impervious to labels and nationalism, because it is essentially and profoundly human.
Clelia Bettini, Ph.D. in Comparative Literature
Title: Plac włoski (Piazza d'Italia)
Year: 1983
Publisher Kraków, Wydawnictwo Literackie, tr. into Polish by Młynarska Henryka
Title: イタリア広場 (Piazza d'Italia)
Year: 2009
Publisher 東京, Hakusuisha, tr. into Japanese by Mariko Muramatsu
Title: O jogo do reverso (Il gioco del rovescio)
Year: 1983
Publisher Lisboa, Vega, tr. into Portoguese by Maria José de Lancastre and Maria Emília Marques Mano
Title: O Jogo do reverso (Il gioco del rovescio)
Year: 1990
Publisher Lisboa, Quetztal, tr. into Portoguese by Maria José de Lancastre and Maria Emília Marques Mano
Title: Das Umkehrspiel (Il gioco del rovescio)
Year: 2000
Publisher Munchen, Carl Hanser, tr. into German by Dagmar Türck-Wagner and Karin Fleischander
Title: Το παιχνίδι της αντιστροφής (Il gioco del rovescio)
Year: 2005
Publisher Αθήνα, Agra, tr. into Greek by Antheos Chrisostomidis
Title: Femme de Porto Pim et autres histoires (Donna di Porto Pim)
Year: 1993
Publisher Paris, Bourgois, tr. into French by Lise Chapuis
Title: The Woman of Porto Pim (Donna di Porto Pim)
Year: 2013
Publisher New York, Archipelago Books, tr. into English by Tim Parks
Title: Nocturno Indiano (Notturno indiano)
Year: 1985
Publisher Lisboa, Quetztal, tr. into Portoguese by Maria Emília Marques Mano
Title: Νυχτερινό στην Ινδία (Notturno indiano)
Year: 1990
Publisher Αθήνα, Ulysse, tr. into Greek by Zorba Mirsini
Title: Νυχτερινό στην Ινδία (Notturno indiano)
Year: 2011
Publisher Αθήνα, Agra, tr. into Greek by Antheos Chrisostomidis
Title: Nocturno indiano (Notturno indiano)
Year: 2012
Publisher Lisboa, D. Quixote, tr. into Portoguese by Gaëten Martins de Oliveira
Title: Kleine Mißverständnisse ohne Bedeutung: Erzählungen (Piccoli equivoci senza importanza)
Year: 1986
Publisher Munchen, Carl Hanser, tr. into German by Karin Fleischanderl
Title: Little Misunderstandings of No Importance and Other Stories (Piccoli equivoci senza importanza)
Year: 2021
Publisher London, Penguin Modern Classics, tr. into English by Frances Frenaye
Title: O fio do horizonte (Il filo dell'orizzonte)
Year: 1989
Publisher Lisboa, Quetzal, tr. into Portoguese by Helena Domingos
Title: Vanishing Point (Il filo dell'orizzonte, Donna di Porto Pim, I volatili del Beato Angelico)
Year: 1991
Publisher London, Chatto & Windus, tr. into English by Tim Parks
Title: Linija Horizonta (Il filo dell'orizzonte)
Year: 2004
Publisher Београд, Rad, tr. into Serbian by Elizabet Vasiljevič
Title: 수평선 자락 (Il filo dell'orizzonte)
Year: 2012
Publisher 서울, MunhakDongne, tr. into Korean by Sangjin Park
Title: O anjo negro (L'angelo nero)
Year: 1992
Publisher Lisboa, Queztal, tr. into Portoguese by Maria da Piedade Ferreira and Cristina Mendes
Title: Der schwarze Engel (L'angelo nero)
Year: 1996
Publisher Munchen, Carl Hanser, tr. into German by Karin Fleischanderl
Title: 黒い天使 (L'angelo nero)
Year: 1998
Publisher 東京, Seidosha, tr. into Japanese by Yasunori Tsutsumi
Title: Kara Melek (L'angelo nero)
Year: 2018
Publisher Istanbul, Can Yayınları, tr. into Turkish by Neyyire Gül Işık
Title: Beato Angelicos flygande varelser (I volatili del Beato Angelico)
Year: 2010
Publisher Stockholm, Cartaditalias Bokserie, tr. into Swedish by Barbro Andersson
Title: Os volateis de Fra Angelico (I volatili del Beato Angelico, Sogni e Ultimi tre giorni di Fernando Pessoa)
Year: 2015
Publisher Lisboa, Don Quixote, tr. into Portoguese by Helena Domingos and Maria da Piedade Ferreira
Title: Rêves de rêves (Sogni di sogni)
Year: 1998
Publisher Paris, 10-18, tr. into French by Bernard Comment
Title: Dreams of Dreams (Sogni di sogni e Gli ultimi tre giorni di Fernando Pessoa)
Year: 2001
Publisher San Francisco, City Lights Publishers, tr. into English by Nancy J. Peters
Title: Сны сноў (Sogni di sogni)
Year: 2018
Publisher Мінск, Yanushkevich, tr. into Belarusian, by Voli Klas
Title: Requiem
Year: 1991
Publisher Lisboa, Quetzal, original edition in Portoguese
Title: Requiem
Year: 1994
Publisher New York, New Directions, tr. into English by Margaret Jull Costa
Title: Rekviem (Requiem)
Year: 1998
Publisher Praha, Volvox Globator, tr. into Czech by Irena Kurzová
Title: Requiem
Year: 2013
Publisher Tirana, Didaj, tr. into Albanian by Shpëtim Kelmendi
Title: Tre siste dager (Gli ultimi tre giorni di Fernando Pessoa)
Year: 1998
Publisher Oslo, Pax, tr. into Norwegian by Tor Fotland
Title: Pereira prétend (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 1995
Publisher Paris, Bourgois, tr. into French by Bernard Comment
Title: Sostiene Pereira (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 1995
Publisher Madrid, Anagrama, tr. into Spanish by Carlos Gumpert
Title: Declares Pereira (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 1995
Publisher New York, New Directions, tr. into English by Patrick Creagh
Title: Pereira Declares (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 1997
Publisher New York, New Directions, tr. into English by Patrick Creagh
Title: Pereira prétend (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 1998
Publisher Paris, 10-18, tr. into French by Bernard Comment
Title: Pereira iddia ediyor (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 2005
Publisher Istanbul, Can Yayınları, tr. into Turkish by Münir H. Göle
Title: اچنین می گویدپریر (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 2014
Publisher تهران, Ketab-e Khorshid, tr. into Persian by Shaghayegh Sharafi
Title: Pereira prétend (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 2016
Publisher Paris, Sarbacane, comic strip adaptation by Pierre-Henry Gomont
Title: เปเรย์รายืนยัน (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 2018
Publisher กรุงเทพฯ, Reading Italy, tr. into Thaï by Nantawan Chanprasert
Title: Pereira Maintains. a testimony (Sostiene Pereira)
Year: 2021
Publisher London, Penguins Classics, tr. into English by Patrice Creagh
Title: A cabeça perdida de Damasceno Monteiro (La testa perduta di Damasceno Monteiro)
Year: 1997
Publisher Lisboa, Quetzal, tr. into Portoguese by Thereza de Lancastre
Title: Ztracená hlava Damascena Monteira (La testa perduta di Damasceno Monteiro)
Year: 2004
Publisher Praha, Havran, tr. into Czech by Alice Flemrová
Title: หัวที่หายไปของดามัชเซนู มงเตย์รู (La testa perduta di Damasceno Monteiro)
Year: 2013
Publisher กรุงเทพฯ, Reading Italy, tr. into Thai by Nanthawan Chanprasert
Title: Η Νοσταλγία του Απείρου (Le nostalgie, l'automobile e l'infinito. Letture di Pessoa)
Year: 2007
Publisher Αθήνα, Agra, tr. into Greek by Antheos Chrisostomidis
Title: Η γαστρίτιδα του Πλάτωνα (La gastrite di Platone)
Year: 1998
Publisher Αθήνα, Agra, r. into Greek by Antheos Chrisostomidis
Title: Se face tot mai târziu (Si sta facendo sempre più tardi)
Year: 2003
Publisher Bucureşti, Polirom, tr. into Rumenian by Mihai Minculescu
Title: Ο Τριστάνο πεθαίνει (Tristano muore)
Year: 2005
Publisher Αθήνα, Agra, tr. into Greek by Antheos Chrisostomidis
Title: Tristano dies (Tristano muore)
Year: 2015
Publisher New York, Archipelago, tr. into English by Elizabeth Harris
Title: Die Zeit alert schnell (Il tempo invecchia in fretta)
Year: 2010
Publisher Munchen, Carl Hanser Verlag, tr. into German by Karin Fleischanderl
Title: O tempo envelhece depressa : nove histórias (Il tempo invecchia in fretta)
Year: 2010
Publisher São Paulo, Cosac Naify, tr. into Brazilian by Nilson Moulin
Title: Tiden åldras fort (Il tempo invecchia in fretta)
Year: 2012
Publisher Stockholm, Wahlström & Widstrand, tr. into Swedish by Olov Hyllienmark
Title: 時は老いをいそぐ (Il tempo invecchia in fretta)
Year: 2012
Publisher 東京, Kawade Shobo Shinsha, tr. into Japanese by Tadahiko Wada
Title: Geschichten zu Bildern (Racconti con figure)
Year: 2019
Publisher Munchen, Carl Hanser Verlag, tr. into German by Karin Fleischanderl
Title: Viagens e outras viagens (Viaggi e altri viaggi)
Year: 2013
Publisher Lisboa, Dom Quixote, tr. into Portoguese by Maria da Piedade Ferreira
Title: Za Izabel (Per Isabel)
Year: 2015
Publisher Београд, Paideia, tr. into Serbian by Elizabet Vasiljević
Title: لإيزابيل (Per Isabel)
Year: 2016
Publisher بيروت, Dar Al-Saqi, tr. into Arabic by Nabil Al-Mahaini
Title: Cinéma et autres nouvelles (Cinema e altre novelle)
Year: 2013
Publisher Paris, Gallimard, tr. into French by Bernard Comment
Title: Λογοτεχνίας εγκώμιο - Elogio della letteratura
Year: 2009
Publisher Αθήνα, Agra, tr. into Greek by Antheos Chrisostomidis (original edition in Greek)
Title: Δύο ελληνικά διηγήματα (From Si sta facendo sempre più tardi)
Year: 2000
Publisher Αθήνα, Agra, tr. into Greek by Antheos Chrisostomidis
Title: Tabucchi par lui-même
Year: 2019
Publisher Paris, Cahiers de l'Hôtel de Galliffet, tr. into French by Carole Cavallera (original edition in French and Italian)
