1887
image of Bilingual reading in self-translation

Abstract

This article explores bilingual reading of self-translated literature as a distinct type of reading experience. For bilingual readers, the awareness that both versions of the text are authored by the same writer in different languages activates a mode of reading that differs not only from monolingual reading but also from bilingual reading of allographic translations. Taking as its point of departure Elvira Dones’s Albanian novel [Offended White Day] (2001a) and its self-translation into Italian, [Offended White Day] (2004a), the article examines how the transition from the first version to the self-translated second one produces substantial cumulative narrative differences that shape the bilingual reading experience, resulting in a third interpretive dimension.

Available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ttmc.26005.tab
2026-08-18
2026-09-09
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/10.1075/ttmc.26005.tab/ttmc.26005.tab.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/ttmc.26005.tab&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Bassnet, Susan
    2013 “The self-translator as rewriter”. InSelf-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture, ed. byAnthony Cordingley, –. London: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Beaujour, Elizabeth Klosty
    1989Alien Tongues: Bilingual Russian Writers of the “First” Emigration. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Catford, John Cunnison
    1965A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics. London: Oxford Univ. Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Doloughan, Fiona
    2021 “Literary Translingualism and Fiction”. InThe Routledge Handbook of Literary Translingualism, ed. bySteven G. Kellman and Natasha Ivovich, –. New York: Taylor & Francis. 10.4324/9780429298745‑4
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429298745-4 [Google Scholar]
  5. Dones, Elvira
    1997Dashuri e huaj. Tirana: Çabej.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. 1998Senza bagagli. Lecce: Besa Muci.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. 2000Yjet nuk vishen kështu. Elbasan: Sejko.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. 2001aDitë e bardhë e fyer. Tirana: Dudaj.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. 2001bSole bruciato. Milano: Feltrinelli.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. 2004aBianco giorno offeso. Novara: Interlinea Edizioni.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. 2004bMë pas heshtja. Elbasan: Sejko.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. 2007I mari ovunque. Novara: Interlinea Edizioni.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Emmerich, Karen
    2017Literary Translation and the Making of Originals. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. 10.5040/9781501329944
    https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501329944 [Google Scholar]
  14. Gentes, Eva & Van Bolderen, Trisha
    2021 “Self-Translation.” InThe Routledge Handbook of Literary Translingualism, ed. bySteven G. Kellman and Natasha Ivovich, –. New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9780429298745‑38
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429298745-38 [Google Scholar]
  15. Grutman, Rainer
    2013 “Beckett and Beyond”. InOrbis Litter, : –. 10.1111/oli.12022
    https://doi.org/10.1111/oli.12022 [Google Scholar]
  16. Grutman, Rainer & Van Bolderen, Trisha
    2014 “Self-Translation.” InA Companion to Translation Studies, ed. bySandra Bermann and Catherine Porter, –. Chicheser: Wiley Blackwell. 10.1002/9781118613504.ch24
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118613504.ch24 [Google Scholar]
  17. Grutman, Rainer
    2023 “The Missing Link: Modeling Readers of Multilingual Writing”. InJournal of Literary Multilingualism: –. 10.1163/2667324x‑20230103
    https://doi.org/10.1163/2667324x-20230103 [Google Scholar]
  18. Gu, Chanyuan, Peng, Yingying & Li, Ping
    2026 “Advances in bilingualism as a dynamic process: 30 years of exploration in bilingual mind and brain”. InJournal of neurolinguistics, vol., . 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2025.101288
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2025.101288 [Google Scholar]
  19. Iser, Wolfgang
    1978The Act of Reading. A Theory of Aesthetics Response. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Karp, Carol
    2018 “Tra Danimarca, Svizzera e Italia. La visione poliprospettica del viaggio nella prima fase della produzione migrante di Elvira Dones”. InSTUDIA EUROPAEA GNESNENSIA: –. 10.14746/seg.2018.17.8
    https://doi.org/10.14746/seg.2018.17.8 [Google Scholar]
  21. Ma, Yaiha & Kimura, Tets
    2024 “Self-translation, Rewriting, and Translingual. Address: Li Kotomi’s Solo Dance”. InJournal of Literary Multilingualism: –. 10.1163/2667324X‑20240106
    https://doi.org/10.1163/2667324X-20240106 [Google Scholar]
  22. Minori, Viviana
    2017 “Elvira Dones: case study della letteratura italofona”. InLa macchina sognantewww.lamacchinasognante.com/elvira-dones-case-study-della-letteratura-italofona-viviana-minori/#_ftnref1
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Radi, Lidia
    2018 “Scrittori senza frontiere: Il caso di Elvira Dones”. InCritical Multilingualism Studies:, –. 10.2458/cms.6597
    https://doi.org/10.2458/cms.6597 [Google Scholar]
  24. Sorvari, Marja
    2018 “Altering language, transforming literature: Translingualism and literary self-translation in Zinaida Lindén’s fiction”. InTranslation Studies, (): –. 10.1080/14781700.2017.1399820
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14781700.2017.1399820 [Google Scholar]
  25. Strukelj, Alexander
    2018Reading expectations: how expectations influence our reading, eye movements, opinions, and judgments. Centre for Languages and Literature Lund University.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Tabaku-Sörman, Entela
    2024 “La lettura bilingue della poesia autotradotta: Un Caso Di Edizione Bilingue”. InTicontreno.: –.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. 2025 “When Free was captured in Albanian: self-translation into the mother tongue”. InTranslator:: –. 10.1080/13556509.2024.2448889
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2024.2448889 [Google Scholar]
  28. Toury, Gideon
    1995Descriptive translation studies and beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co. 10.1075/btl.4
    https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.4 [Google Scholar]
  29. Van Leuven-Zwart
    Van Leuven-Zwart 1989 “Translation and Original: Similarities and Dissimilarities, I.” InTarget. International Journal of Translation Studies:, –. 10.1075/target.1.2.03leu
    https://doi.org/10.1075/target.1.2.03leu [Google Scholar]
  30. Walkowitz, Rebecca L.
    2015Born translated: the contemporary novel in an age of world literature. New York: Columbia University Press. 10.7312/walk16594
    https://doi.org/10.7312/walk16594 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ttmc.26005.tab
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error