Another one to go

Fabio Lastrucci’s story is translated and awaiting revision.

It is the right moment to publish the author’s bio in his own words.

Fabio Lastrucci was born in Naples in the last century, at the beginning of teh roaring sixties. Take-away sculptor, illustrateor, cartoonist and scriptwriter in his loose time, he published his stories in the magazine «Strane Storie», Lo Stregatto Editore and in the anthologies Oltre il reale, edizioni Malatempora, and in Fata Morgana 6.

Case & chance gave him a first and a second placement in the «Cosseria Galactica» award, 2000 e 2003, two runner-ups for the«Douglas Adams» Award 2002 e 2003,e and in various other prizes. Provoked by such successes, currently he is fightinig the subjunctives of his first novel. The subjunctive are currently winning.

Syntax as Style

Two thirds into Fabio Lastrucci’s summer alienation story, and boy is this a workoout.
And one of a completely different genre.

Fact is, Lastrucci’s prose is a clear example of what’s been described as “syntax as style”.

It’s not just what he writes – it’s the way he writes it, the order in which he lays the words on the page that is significant, more, decisive to the development of the story.
It would be extremely easy to translate Fabio’s story in the standard, direct way – focusing on getting the meaning across and good riddance.
But that would be just part of the story, and the end result would be lame, incomplete, faulty.

Hence, the problem – replicating as faithfully as possible the author’s phrase construction, without sliding into the sort of English Tarzan used to speak in Johnny Weissmuller movies.
Preserving both grammar and syntax.

This sort of considerations and concerns forced me to scrap my first attempt at translating the opening of the story – and that’s how I’m proceeding now: first I do gramatically sound, concise translations, then I scrap them and do a rewrite mimicking Lastrucci’s phrase construction.

Does it work?
It seems so.
And the story’s so fun, reading and writing it twice is no great effort.

Absolutely Fabio

Wonders of the web.

I never met Fabio Lastrucci personally.
We exchanged a few mails, or comments on on-line forums, but we never occupied contiguous spaces.
And yet here I am translating his “Nella Stagione Arsa” - In the Scorched Season.

Pure unadulterated fantastic fiction, perfectly written.

Going through his opening passage is like phisically visiting the places he describes – not only Fabio has been able to tap into that pool of shared youthful memories we all share, but he’s been able to conjure them on the page through language and tempo.

The story will catch a few readers by surprise – the revelation of the narrator’s true identity, his musings and experiences…

But after all, isn’t that the reason why we read imaginative fiction?
To be surprised?