National Cultures and Foreign Narratives in Italy, 1903–1943

'Francesca Billiani’s National Cultures and Foreign Narratives: Italy 1903-1943 combines a treasure trove of archival material with an innovative interdisciplinary approach to illuminate the relationship between the Italian culture, Italian Fascism and translation. Journeying through literature and publishers, cultural journals and censorship, the volume traces the complex notion of translating practices under a dictatorship and the often contradictory relationship linking the idea of translation, its practices, and the regime.'
- Loredana Polezzi, Stony Brook University, USA

National Cultures and Foreign Narratives charts the pathways through which foreign literature in translation has arrived in Italy during the first half of the twentieth century. To show the contribution translations made to shaping an Italian national culture, it draws on a wealth of archival material made available in English for the first time.