Myths, Mutants and Superducks: Exporting Italian Comics Alex Valente PhD in Literary Translation University of East Anglia School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing September 2015 Abstract Even before its current fledgling state, the field of Comics Studies in the Anglophone parts of the world has been interested in the influences received from other international incarnations of the comics medium. Manga, bande dessinnée, tebeo, campesinos, quadrinhos, fumetti, cartoons, strips, have all been responsible, in part, for the development of both the medium and its related academic fields. Many studies, pieces of criticism and comparison have been offered showing the importance of those texts, both in their original language and in English translation, their impact on other parts of the industry, and on their readerships. What has been lacking, so far, is a study into the process of translation that allowed for those texts to be read, studied and incorporated into the multifaceted archives of the comics scholarship, academic or fan-based. The aim of my thesis is to provide a critical manual appealing to three audiences: the translation scholar, comics scholar, and practising translator. I analyse – from a translation and comics studies perspective – the interaction between image and text (signplay), the use of humour, and the use of multicultural and multilingual elements in the Italian fumetto. I do so by offering comparisons with current Anglophone publications, informed by a history of the development on the medium in the West, and by focusing on three exemplary Italian series: Dampy (2000-), Rat-Man (1989-), and PKNA (1996-2000, 2014, 2015). I use descriptive theoretical discussions to form a practical set of strategies for the process of translating Italian comics into English, by focusing on the functions with which the texts operate in the three macro-areas I define, and I provide extensive samples for each strategy devised. 2 Contents List of Illustrations ................................................................................................. 5 List of Tables ......................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1 - Introduction ......................................................................................... 9 1. Theories, scopes and skopos. ......................................................................... 13 2. Framing the Thesis........................................................................................ 15 Chapter 2 - Comics in Time and Space.................................................................... 19 1. A Troublesome Definition .............................................................................. 20 2. A Brief History of Comics ............................................................................... 23 2.1 Pre-Modern Comics ............................................................................... 23 2.2 Modern Comics ..................................................................................... 26 3. Back to Basics............................................................................................... 41 3.1 Icons and images ................................................................................... 41 3.2 Frames of Mind ..................................................................................... 43 3.3 Lying in the Gutters ................................................................................ 45 3.4 Seeing the Invisible ................................................................................ 46 4. Comics Literacy ............................................................................................ 49 5. Where is the Author? .................................................................................... 52 6. The Place for Translation ............................................................................... 56 7. And another thing… ...................................................................................... 57 7.1. Dampyr: a multicultural horror series...................................................... 60 7.2. Rat-Man: a silly parody meta-comic ........................................................ 61 7.3. PKNA: a Disney ‘not just for kids’ story .................................................... 62 8. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 3 – A Play on Words Signs......................................................................... 64 1. The Problem with Wordplay .......................................................................... 66 1.1 Definitions and Expressions .................................................................... 66 1.2 What About Images? .............................................................................. 72 1.3 From Wordplay to Signplay ..................................................................... 75 2. Drawing a Framework ................................................................................... 83 2.1 Categorising Signplay ............................................................................. 83 2.2 Translating Signplay................................................................................ 86 3. *Insert Pun Here* ......................................................................................... 91 3.1 Neologisms ........................................................................................... 92 3.2 Names .................................................................................................. 95 3.3 Idioms .................................................................................................. 97 3.4 Pun .................................................................................................... 100 4. Summary ................................................................................................... 103 5. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 104 Chapter 4 – Do Italian Punchlines Go ‘POW’? ....................................................... 105 1. Humour – A Serious Overview ..................................................................... 106 1.1 Humour, in Theory ............................................................................... 107 1.2 Humour, in comics ............................................................................... 109 3 2. Finding the Funny ....................................................................................... 111 2.1 Where is the Humour? ......................................................................... 111 2.2 What is the Humour? ........................................................................... 113 3. Translatorial Strategies for Humour .............................................................. 114 3.1 In General ........................................................................................... 114 3.2 In Comics ............................................................................................ 115 4. Down and Dirty .......................................................................................... 119 4.1 Metahumour ....................................................................................... 120 4.2 Self-undermining ................................................................................. 124 4.3 Onomatopoeia .................................................................................... 126 4.4 (Anti)Climax ........................................................................................ 130 4.5 Linguistic ............................................................................................. 132 4.6 Political (In)Correctness ........................................................................ 133 4.7 Parody ................................................................................................ 135 4.8 Absurd ................................................................................................ 139 4.9 Childish ............................................................................................... 141 4.10 Combinations .................................................................................... 144 5. Summary ................................................................................................... 146 6. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 147 Chapter 5 – Culture (Un)Bound ........................................................................... 149 1. The Power of Language(s) ........................................................................... 151 1.1 Du iu spik Inglisc?................................................................................. 157 2. So Why? And How? .................................................................................... 159 2.1 Functioning Languages ......................................................................... 160 2.2 Developing Strategies ........................................................................... 164 3. Seeing Voices ............................................................................................. 167 4. So, Translation ............................................................................................ 172 4.1 Language Varieties ..............................................................................