Ugo Foscolo and Jacopo Ortis Between the Life and the Poiesis: Reflections about the Self-Translation

Abstract

This article aims to consider the interconnections between the self-writing and the self-translation which is focused on Ugo Foscolo’s experiences (1778-1827). The objective of this study is to analyze the relation between the author Ugo Foscolo and his character Jacopo Ortis from the novel published in 1817 called Ultimelettere di Jacopo Ortis [The last letters of Jacopo Ortis]. It is taken as a corpus the said novel and the letters that Foscolo sent to Antonietta Fagnani Arese between 1801 and 1803. The first complete version of the novel UltimeLettere di Jacopo Ortis was published during this period. Furthermore, a comparative reading reveals characteristics in common in the writing of Foscolo and the protagonist of his novel. This conclusion is based on the exchange of letters between Foscolo and Arese and the letters written by Jacopo Ortis and addressed to Lorenzo Alderani.  For this contrast it was used the implied author concept of Wayne Booth (1980) and the considerations about translation described by Marco Lucchesi (2016).