Examining mental illness in young adult literature: a translation proposal of Toffee by Sarah Crossan

The purpose of this dissertation is to present and analyse the translation from English into Italian of Toffee by Sarah Crossan. It is a Young Adult novel written in an unusual free verse style in which the author tackles hard-hitting themes, such as that of dementia, which are mixed with those of friendship and the research of personal identity. In fact, by using her pen, the author manages to capture what it really means, for a teenager, to feel lonely and lost, or to spend time with someone who is living with dementia. The dissertation is divided into three chapters. The first one provides a brief overview of Young Adult literature and its main characteristics, together with a focus on the presence of difficult themes in the literature intended for young readers. Moreover, it deals with the difficulties that its translation often involves. The second chapter consists of the introduction to the novel, paying particular attention to its features and leading themes, and it also provides the translation proposal of a selection of chapters dealing with dementia. Finally, the third chapter focuses on the problems encountered during the translation process and the strategies employed to solve them.