"You Don't Talk Right or Dress Right or Act Right": A Comparative Analysis of Italian Translations of Octavia E. Butler's Kindred

Retranslations have been in the past and are still in the present a widespread practice. This dissertation focuses on two Italian retranslations of the Neo-slave narrative Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, in the context of equivalence, untranslatability, localization and foreignization. The research starts from the framework of Translation Studies on the basis of the most peculiar aspects of translation and retranslation, with a focus on the genesis, development, and use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Secondly, the Slave-narrative and Neo-slave narrative literary genres are examined, alongside with the contributions of women writers like Octavia E. Butler. Lastly, the 2005 Italian retranslation by Silvia Gambescia and the 2020 Italian retranslation by Veronica Raimo of Kindred, in Italian Legami di sangue, are comparatively analyzed, highlighting linguistic and conceptual differences and analogies in the rendering of the original text.