Sofia Tinetti
Thesis Working Title: Commedie dell’Altro: Otherness on the Italian Renaissance Stage
Supervisor: Dr Matteo Leta and Dr Serena Laiena
About me:
After obtaining my degree in Modern Italian Literature from the University of Turin, I continued my academic path at the same institution by completing a master’s program in Philology, Literature, and Italian Linguistics. My primary fields of interest encompass Renaissance culture, transnational studies, translation theory, and the literary construction of otherness across different textual traditions.
Thesis:
My thesis aims to examine the construction of ethnic otherness as a literary and linguistic device in Early Modern Italian theatre, with a particular focus on the translations and adaptations of comedies featuring “othered” characters. The project investigates how these elements of alterity were received, transformed, or resisted in the target cultures.
Through the digitization of a corpus of Renaissance comedies and a comparative analysis of their translated and adapted versions, I will explore translation strategies, linguistic and narrative devices, and the cultural contexts in which both the original texts and their reworkings were produced. The research will also consider the influence of socio-cultural factors on the translation process, the motivations behind the selection of certain plays, and the reasons that prompted their translation.
Ultimately, the study aims to show how the concept of otherness reveals its permeable and dynamic nature, adapting to diverse cultural contexts and reflecting, like a mirror, the society in which it is conceived or reinterpreted.