Antonio Gramsci: translator, storyteller and educator
Between 1926 and 1937 Antonio Gramsci was rotting away in Italian prisons, having been sentenced to 20 years by Benito Mussoliniâs Fascist regime, in spite of his parliamentary immunity. Mussolini had got rid of the most revolutionary and influential opponent to Fascism in Italy and, in so doing, hoped to silence the rest of his opposition. Despite his precarious state of health, Gramsci would never ask for pardon and realised that he was condemned to a lengthy period of isolation.
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) in 1915. Source: Wikipedia Commons
How to survive annihilation and despair in prison? He turned to his singular willpower and fortitude, as he was used to doing since childhood, and plunged himself into an extensive programme of studies and critical writing. His antidote to death is collected in two major works entitled Lettere dal carcere (Letters from prison), and Quaderni del carcere (Prison notebooks).
The 33 notebooks (four of them dedicated to translations) are a compilation of all the intellectual activities undertaken by the prisoner Gramsci in order to keep his cool. Between 1929 and 1931, Gramsci perfected his knowledge of European languages through translating, starting with German and Russian, and continuing with French and English. Notebooks XV and XIX contain his exercises from the German, namely 24 fables translated from the classic Brothers Grimm collection. In 1932, thinking of a gift for his favourite sisterâs young children (whom he would never meet), the author had the idea of copying his translations and posting them to his sister, Teresa Paulesu, as âmy contribution to developing the little onesâ imaginationâ (from a letter dated 18 January 1932 [my translation]). A sketchbook, Album disegno, catalogued as notebook D (XXXI), remains as evidence of Gramsciâs intention.
Antonio Gramsciâs prison notebooks (1929-1935). Source: Wikipedia Commons
Unfortunately, the sketchbook never reached the children, due to the prison rules that prevented prisoners from sending anything outside. That is why the Album contains only the first half of fable number one, Rapunzel, in Gramsciâs final handwritten draft.
First page of the Album disegno from Favole di libertĂ (Florence, 1980) YL.1988.a.772
Gramsciâs translations, as well as his childrenâs stories, were neglected until 1980, when, finally, they were published for the first time in Favole di libertĂ . A second and more complete collection entitled Fiabe appeared in 2010, including letters to his two young sons, Delio and Giuliano.
Covers of Favole di libertĂ and Fiabe (Florence, 2010) YF.2011.a.21857
What these translations and the childrenâs stories show is Gramsciâs natural vocation as an educator. Whilst in prison, he never lost his ability to listen, to empathise and to be sensitive to the needs of his family, just as the intellectual had put his prodigious mind at the service of the âsubaltern classesâ when he was a free man. Prison writings often reveal the man behind the author. Gramsciâs Fiabe reveals how he lived according to his theories and teachings, and what âorganic intellectualâ meant in reality.
On the one hand, the philosopher deeply believed in the educational role of folklore, popular literature, and popular arts in the building of a national popular culture for the progressive society he dreamt of. Gramsciâs stress on literature and critical theory in the Prison notebooks is not accidental at all. On the contrary, his classic concepts and definitions in politics and philosophy originate from his approach and methodology as a historical linguist. He was fully aware of how language and literature are pivotal in shaping societies. As a result, his âpedagogy of praxisâ is a proactive call for the working class to be the protagonist of its own education and to produce its own culture. No wonder several Italian authors and educators in the 1950s-1960s followed in Gramsciâs footsteps, and one in particular, Gianni Rodari, established modern Italian childrenâs literature.
On the other hand, writing, translating and storytelling enabled Gramsci to shape a new relationship with his loved ones. The kindness and support that emerge from his letters and comic short stories to children and relatives testify to how much he was willing to be part of the life and education of his family beyond the bars. Writing and study became, at the same time, a way of caring for others and a way of human and intellectual resistance for the prisoner, a lifeline that lasted eleven years.
Ramona Ciucani, West European Languages Cataloguing team
References / Further reading:
Antonio Gramsci, Lettere dal carcere (last Italian version Palermo, 1996) YA.1998.a.1937. English translation by Raymond Rosenthal, Letters from prison (New York, 2011) 3v., YC.2012.a.2007 and YC.2012.a.1189
Antonio Gramsci, Quaderni del carcere (Turin, 1975) X.978/118. English translation by Joseph A. Buttigieg and Antonio Callari. Prison notebooks (New York, 2011) 2 v., YC.2011.a.8399-8401.
Ferial Ghazoul, âLa prospettiva gramsciana sulla lingua e la letteraturaâ in Studi gramsciani nel mondo arabo: Gramsci nel mondo arabo, a cura di Patrizia Manduchi, Alessandra Marchi e Giuseppe Vacca (Bologna, 2017, pp. 157-84). YF.2018.a.9753
Chronology of Gramsciâs life and work
Derek Boothman, TraducibilitĂ e processi traduttivi: un caso: A. Gramsci linguista (Perugia, 2004). YF.2005.a.5162
Alessandro Carlucci, Gramsci and languages: unification, diversity, hegemony (Leiden, 2013). YD.2013.a.3106
Antonio Gramsci: a pedagogy to change the world, Nicola Pizzolato and John D. Holst (editors) (Cham, Switzerland, 2017) ELD.DS.331125
Antonio Gramsci, Arte e folklore, a cura di Giuseppe Prestipino (Rome, 1976). X:972/303
Gramsci and educational thought, edited by Peter Mayo (Chichester, 2010). YC.2013.a.13402 and m10/.17512
Gramsci, language, and translation, edited by Peter Ives and Rocco Lacorte (Lanham, 2010). m10/.20216
Gramsci y la educacioÌn: pedagogiÌa de la praxis y poliÌticas culturales en AmeÌrica Latina, Flora Hillert ... [et al.] (Buenos Aires, 2011). YF.2013.a.18303
Deb J. Hill, Hegemony and education: Gramsci, post-Marxism, and radical democracy revisited (Lanham, 2007). m07/.35617
Peter Ives, Language and hegemony in Gramsci (London, 2004). ELD.DS.66257
Riccardo Pagano, Il pensiero pedagogico di Antonio Gramsci (Milan, 2013). YF.2013.a.21073