No good Italian word for "witty" or for "silly," so when Mr Bennett calls his younger daughters, "two of the silliest..." the translation (not M's*) of "piu stupida" fails, as does "sarcasmo" for witty. Also, none for "folly," here "stupidaggine."
Even colloquialism that reveals Elizabeth's thought when she first sees Darcy's great house, to be "mistress of Pemberley might be something!" rendered almost legally, "un privilegio davvero esclusivo"(Ch.43). Important, because late in the novel Lizzy jokes when Jane asks when she fell for Darcy, "quando ho visto la sua magnifica Pemberley"(Ch.59)
Nor can mild English ejaculations except as religious oaths, like "Santo cielo!" for Mrs. Bennet's wrongheaded "Good gracious!" at the prospect of Mr Darcy's intrusion so welcome to her Lizzie.(Ibid.)
But Italian does very well with public appearances, so when Lydia makes a spectacle of herself, Italian captures it in one word, "figuraccia."
We sometimes forget how Austen satirizes novels then in the mode, like the gothic in Northanger Abbey, and the picaresque here listing the places on the way to Pemberley she will not describe: Oxford, Blenheim, Warwick, Kenilworth, Birmingham (Ch.42).
Only a mind like Austen's can render hurt and danger--Lydia's running away unmarried-- hilarious. Mrs. Bennet, who raised Lydia, blames everybody but herself, then fears her husband is chasing them down in London in order to duel: "so che si batterà con Wickham...e allora resterà ucciso" (Ch.47).
If JA's complex irony is lost in translation, her works become mere novels of money and marriage. Boring. Maybe Mark Twain, who felt them so, was reading essentially an Italian translation. But Italian seems to heighten JA's satiric element.
As for Sense and Sensibility, Marianne ed Elinor rappresentano una vera concorrenza culturale; Austen ha osservato questa con arguzia: Marianne, “Oh! with what transporting sensations have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are seen only as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.” At which the cooler Elinor replies quietly, “It is not everyone who has your passion for dead leaves.”
Solo per questo passaggio, merita quattro stelle. Piu secondo me.
La rivoluzione romantica (da Samuel Johnson a Wordsworth, per esempio) non fa parte della cultura italiana. (Naturalmente, c'è Leopardi, ma ...) Io sono a conoscenza, per esempio, che la vita in generale paese in Italia non ha eguali per "country gentlemen," gentiluomini di campagna inglesi - che è il motivo per cui noi americani hanno tutti "lawns," a imitazione di vaste tenute di campagna in il Regno Unito. In realtà, ai tempi di Jane Austen, quando gli inglesi venne in America, hanno sottolineato come tutti gli americani (città fuori) vissuto come Paese Gentemen, su terreni agricoli sostanziali (anche se senza "manse" del Gentleman.) Abitanti delle campagne in Italia sono considerate un passo da ladri e criminali. Non così in Inghilterra, soprattutto nel periodo di questo libro.
*Ho letto Orgoglio in Pivano's traduzione, Einaudi 2007.