Translating America

This volume attempts to critically re-think the ways in which facts and myths, histories and fictions that shape current and past understandings of (the US of) America have been perceived, assimilated, transformed and, in sum, translated in the arena of global culture, especially in Europe. The essays presented analyze notions of America and Americanness, and their interpretation, transformation and appropriation through linguistic translation, adaptation, domestication and re-imagination, at all levels of the cultural semiosphere. Essays focus on trans-Atlantic and trans-American migration and displacement of political ideas, economic models, and cultural discourses. How has translation served as a way of rewriting certain crucial stories, tropes, or images across different cultural media or genres? What are the challenges of translating gender identity and ethnic and cultural connections? How have political ideas and cultural practices been negotiated across the Atlantic over the centuries? This volume develops from some of the papers presented at the Twentieth International Conference of the Italian Association for North-American Studies (AISNA) held at the University of Torino in September 2009.