Translation and Transtextuality

• Main Author: Tapodi Zsuzsa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2014-12-01
• Series: Acta Universitatis Sapientiae: Philologica
• Subjects: postmodern literature; translation; transtextuality
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/ausp-2015-0005

Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose as a postmodern literary work is extensively based on transtextuality. There are series of quotations from the Bible, Petrus Abelardus, St. Bernard, Petrarch, Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Jorge L. Borges, Nietzsche, and other classic authors interwoven into the novel’s narrative. The text is a result of multiple translations, a truly intercultural adventure: Adso, a 14th-century German monk from the Melk monastery provides a Northern Italian travel experience in Latin language, this memoir is translated by the publishing narrator into the Italian language of the 20th century. The characters of the story come from different areas of Europe, as there are monks from England, Spain, Norway, Germany, and other countries. This paper sheds light on the problems that occurred during the novel’s translation.