“But Men May Construe Things after their Fashion”: Julius Caesar and Fascism

This paper studies censorship and self-censorship in translations during the fascist regime, and the fine boundary between the two (Bonsaver, Fabre, Rundle). It focuses, in particular, on the history, of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar translations released during fascism in Italy. Shakespeare’s play was read as a mirror of the Roman qualities, while the dangerous questions about power and conspiracy that the play contains were ignored (Del Sapio Garbero, Isenberg) . The act of translating is by definition an act of manipulation (Bassnett 1998, 2008, Lefevere, Venuti), while on the stage theatrical properties (e.g., Julius Caesar’s corpse) are not concealable. Examining the translations issued during the regime, and in particular the translators’ notes, it is possible to identify a general translation trend that can be interpreted as an act of submission to the dominant thinking (Tymoczko).