Giorgio Bassani traduttore. 'La capanna indiana' di Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre

This paper analyses the translation of Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's 'La chaumière indienne' by Giorgio Bassani, published in the an edited book by Michele Rago, 'Romanzi francesi dei secoli XVII e XVIII' (Milan, Bompiani, 1951). Through an unpublished correspondence between Bassani and Vittorini, the essay first reconstructs the cultural context of this translation work and then moves on to a stylistic analysis of the translated work. Bassani does not limit himself to a simple and correct semantic transposition, but he is careful to reproduce the style of the Enlightenment writer, coming to grasp the narrative strategy of the source text. The last part of the article focuses on the similarities between Bassani translator and narrator, demonstrating how the Italian translation of 'La capanna indiana' left an echo in 'Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini'.