Les vertus paradoxales de la traduction: le cas de Mirbeau

It was only in 2006, during my sabbatical in France, which was almost entirely dedicated to the translation of Mirbeau’s Le Calvaire, that I read Traité de stylistique comparée. Analyse comparative de l'italien et du français (Paris, Didier, 1979) by Pierre Scavée and Pietro Intravaia. I did not immediately realise how this text would have influenced my work as a translator. It is only with hindsight that I recognise my debt to this enlightening text. I was not particularly convinced by its ontological and theoretical principles, which appeared to be slightly dated or debatable. On the other hand I found very fruitful its operational potentials and its pragmatic capacity of shedding light on the working of native languages in their everyday rather than literary uses. Inspired by the work of Pierre Scavée and Pietro Intravaia, I will demonstrate in my paper how Italian language has the paradoxical potential for infusing a stronger expressive dimension to Mirbeau’s "intimate" prose, which is so full of pathos in its constant struggle with the writer's inner demons. I am going to argue that the Italian translation of Mirbeau’s pseudo-autobiographical style is, in some ways, more evocative than its French original and of greater impact for the reader.