Analysis of Intertextuality in the Italian Translations of the Works of P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) in the Light of the Epistemic Approach

Abstract

Research on Humour and Translation studies requires instruments capable to appreciate their complex nature. We present here the epistemic approach, a tool especially devised to analyse the translation of humour instances in written fictional text. This approach focuses on the role knowledge plays in creative production and in the process of translating, allowing both translators and researchers to recognize the functions of the stylistic devices employed to convey humour, and to guide and evaluate their rendering in translation. The stylistic device investigated in this study is intertextuality in the works of humourist writer P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975). By means of a case study, its treatment in translation is analysed, comparing five translations of the same novel into Italian, published between 1931 and 1994.