It should be noted that the translation of this aforementioned book has become possible thanks to the donation that the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation allocates annually to translating and publishing Italian novels into other foreign languages.
In 1963, more than twenty years following the publication of his masterpiece, Il Deserto dei Tartari – The Desert of the Tartars, the last work of the Italian writer Dino Pozzatti, Un Amore, was published, telling how passion invaded the life of a Milanese architect in his fifties and turned his life upside down.
Far from the atmosphere of surrealism and metaphysics that printed “The Tartar Steppe” and “The Seven Messengers”, Dino Pozzati dives into the tumultuous reality of contemporary Milan.
Despite the sudden change in the environment and the style adopted, the basic constants of Bozzati’s style remained the same in terms of an introspective vision of life, systematic and influential doubt, and self-doubt.
Dino Buzzatti: an eminent Italian journalist, playwright, short story writer and novelist known internationally for his works and plays. Known as Kafkaesque surrealism, symbolism and absurdism, his literary works have been translated into 30 languages worldwide. There is no doubt that Arab readers will enjoy this interesting journey through love, passion and desire.
Dar Al-Saqi: One of the most important publishing houses and known for its precise and distinguished selection of translations. For Dar Al-Saqi, Buzzati’s Un Amore love novel displays exceptional literary skill and is characterized by an unusually traditional narrative style.
Dar Al-Saqi has published many translations of internationally known Italian literary works, including: Impossibile by Eri Di Luca, Il Treno dei Bambini by Viola Ardone, Per Isabel and Il filo dell’orizzonte. Mirage – “By Antonio Tabucchi and “Mal Di Pietre – Love in Sardinia” by Melina Agos.
Rami Al-Taweel: Novelist and screenwriter familiar with translating literary novels from Italian into Arabic in cooperation with Dar Al-Saqi, the latest of which is the novel “The Impossible” by Eri De Luca, which was published by Dar Al-Saqi last year.
A round table was held, in which Al-Taweel presented an intervention in which he indicated that the translation of the book took regarding two years. Pozzati’s language is unlike any other Italian writer, and he intertwines meaning and style, and this appears in the different narrative passages. He also benefited from his experience in theater and drawing, and wrote in a charming literary style. .
He explained that “the novel contains life details from the perspective of reading a love story that constitutes the main work of a group of stories through which we see poverty and persecution, the effects of wars, human relations in economic societies, and the transformation that took place in ancient Milan to reach industrial Milan.”
As for the editor-in-chief of Dar Al-Saqi, Rania Al-Moallem, she declared, “The discussion centered when choosing this novel on whether we are able to publish this novel in the Arab world, where there is censorship on issues of politics, religion, and sex, but we felt that it was worth the adventure.”
She added, “We did not amend the novel and the translation was faithful to the text. We entered the field of translating books from Italian into Arabic with the help of the Italian Cultural Center because the cost is very high. We will continue to work because Italian literature is a world in itself.”
As for the director of the Italian Cultural Center, Monica Zica, she said, “The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocates a donation to translating Italian novels, and there will be a translation of the teachers of many contemporary Italian writers.”
She believed that “reading is important because it is a way to get to know others closely, to learn regarding their customs and traditions, and a way to cross borders and get close to others.”
