Translating Queerness in Italy’s Fascist Past: The Intertwined Stories of Radclyffe Hall, Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf

Drawing on the recent reconceptualizations of translation theory and practice within specific historical processes and national movements, this study focuses on the representations of gender identity and queer sexualities in some literary works translated during Italy’s Fascist period. Since these representations intervened in the image of nation-building and in the establishment of new literary trends, the research goal is to investigate how the production of such British writers as Radclyffe Hall, Vita Sackville-West, and Virginia Woolf may be defined in terms of queerness for different reasons. Specifically, taking into account the conditions of censorship and moralization which characterized the publishing industry during Fascism, the essay discusses how their works were able to circulate in Italy thanks to women translators who were apparently open to queer material, and willing to translate stories or novels about queer life.