%0 Journal Article
%T <em>The Dimension of Wit in Translation: Rendering Wilde¡¯s Pun Ernest/Earnest into Italian</em>
%A Giulia Gozzelino
%J Studi Irlandesi : a Journal of Irish Studies
%D 2011
%I Firenze University Press
%X The text analyses the different strategies adopted by three Italian translators of The Importance of Being Earnest, examining their different renderings of Wilde¡¯s humour and especially the pun on the expression  being Earnest . The title is a central issue, since it is a manifesto of the intentions of the author, who wants to unmask the false seriousness of high society playing on the similarity between Ernest, earnest and honest. After a brief survey on the debunking of the concept of earnestness through the whole play, Giulia Gozzelino points out that in Luigi Lunari¡¯s title L¡¯importanza di chiamarsi Ernesto, the translator chooses to stress the importance of pure nonsense in Wilde¡¯s wordplay; Guido Almansi¡¯s  essere Fedele  strives to find an Italian equivalent to the original, but does not fully convey the complexity of Wilde¡¯s message, and Masolino d¡¯Amico, using the XIX century name  Probo  only in the title and in the final line of the play, opts for translating into Italian Wilde¡¯s polite playfulness
%U http://www.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-sijis/article/view/9703