Traduzioni inglese

Translations anno accademico 2017/2018

Articolo di Umberto Eco

The other day I was reading Eco’s latest article published in this newspaper, where Umberto writes about books, of their possible technological changes and of their permanent utility and necessity. And he speaks with words that struck me, of the importance of private libraries that occupy a part of a room or house. It doesn’t matter, says Eco, if many of those books have not been read yet by those who have collected and catalogued them; however, they’re present and make their presence felt in indirect and mysterious ways; their thoughts and stories circulate among the people who live in that house, and settle in their lives to such a point that, when they decide to read them, they realize they already know many of the stories and characters as they’re already part of the air that filters in that room and in the memory of those who live there.

Unfortunately, private libraries are rarer and rarer and I’m not talking about/referring to large/extensive/great, select collections, I’m certainly not talking about/referring to those collections of the size and quality that I have seen in Eco’s house and in the houses of those few friends who live among books and for books. I’m not even talking about/referring to that large number of people struggling to survive among financial straits and worries, even though I have often seen the great pleasure with which they read and keep those few books, even just one, they (have) happened to come across. I’m talking, instead, about the people who are said to belong to the ruling class, specialists, professionals, managers. If you go into their houses, you may wander among tasteful, sometimes precious objects, but in no part of the house will you find a bookcase, a shelf, any trace of books that are not strictly pertinent to their jobs/work. Our supposed ruling class does not read, knows nothing about the classics or at most has some vague recollections from school times. This is the truth and this is why this country doesn’t have a ruling class and has a such short memory of itself and its own identity.

Essere o non essere

To be or not to be, Hamlet was torn by the doubt. Wish you were here, sang Pink Floyd. And thousands more examples of phrases, words, moments of silence, images of space and distance and existential conflicts multiply in the mind. Yet a curious, but legitimate doubt arises: at a time then you can attend a conference via the internet, you can access all the libraries of all the cities in the world at the cost of a local phone call, you can send faxes and messages even from a tropical island, you begin to/may wonder whether it still makes sense to talk about place, whether it still makes sense to refer to the concept of existence as it was taught and explained to us at school.

Does to exist/existing really mean to be/being with your body in a particular place at a particular time? Or instead have new technologies, that are so overwhelming/life-changing and fast moving that they even seem to have escaped the control of their creator/their creator's control, modified/revolutionised our perception of the world to such a point that they have changed the idea we have of ourselves? I realise it is not an easy question/a doubt not to be taken lightly and however philosophical it may seem at times, it is in actual fact highly pragmatic. We become aware of it in our daily life, in the problems we have to face every day at the office, at home, with friends and in matters of the heart. We no longer have to travel to discuss business because we can communicate perfectly well over the internet without the risk of verbal misunderstandings that we run when using the phone. Everything is there, written in black and white.

And what’s more, we can treat ourselves to a long weekend in the mountains or at the seaside since the work we have to finish will be completed by the computer, that strange machine that has now become intelligent as it reasons even without the constant control of the user. And if we have to send or receive urgent information, if we have to be contacted at all costs, then there is the magic mobile phone which is now able to show us the number of the caller, giving us the opportunity to ignore annoying calls/not to take the call/not to answer. So no one has to stay at home waiting for phone calls any more, no one has to be stuck to the office chair waiting for reports and accounts.

Ristoranti

At least fifty or so of the most renowned French, American and Japanese restaurants have already stopped taking bookings for the 1999 New Year's Eve dinner. Everywhere is fully booked. There are still two years to go before the beginning of the Third Millennium but, apart from the far-seeing party-goers, there doesn’t seem to be much interest in these bookings so far...