"Clap when you land" by Elizabeth Acevedo: translation proposal and analysis

This dissertation aims to present and analyze the translation from English into Italian of Clap When You Land, a Young Adult’s novel-in-verse written by the Latin-American author Elizabeth Acevedo. Clap When You Land tells the story of Camino and Yahaira, two girls who did not know they were sisters, whose destinies intertwine following the death of their father. Clap When You Land is a touching novel that portrays the themes of grief, sexual assault, sisterhood, betrayal, and family with great care and empathy. The novel painfully probes the question of cultural identity, what it means to grow up in a place where you only feel halfway inside. The dissertation is divided into four chapters, the first of which is devoted to a discussion of Young Adult literature, defining its main characteristics and themes, paying particular attention to those addressed in the translated novel. At the end of the chapter, I emphasized the pedagogical importance of Young Adult literature, highlighting its educational function. The second chapter consists of an introduction to the author and the novel. The third chapter consists of the translation of the book. The fourth chapter begins with a section about the translation theory and the literary translation studies, focusing on the translation of children’s literature. In conclusion, I present the analysis of translation. Here I introduce the strategies and choices of the translation process, along with some practical examples with reference to theoretical studies. The chapter also focuses on analyzing the book from a linguistic and stylistic perspective.