Intertestualità e traduzione: quali soluzioni per Manhattan di Hélène Cixous

This article deals with the complex relationship between intertextuality and translation, analyzed not only from a theoretical point of view, but also by adopting an empirical approach through the study of some intertextual phenomena observed in one of Hélène Cixous’ works, Manhattan. Lettres de la préhistoire. After an overview on the concept of intertextuality, which was introduced in the Sixties by structuralist critics, and a section about the different ways of conceiving the connections between intertextual references and translation (translation as a characteristic feature of the source text or as a form of intertextuality par excellence), the paper will present some strategies that the translator can resort to in order to forestall, or at least to reduce, the inevitable meaning loss and to guarantee an appropriate output. For example, we will mention literal translation, the use of paratextual elements, the substitution or even the deletion of intertextual references. Finally, we will consider some cases of intertextual references contained in Cixous’ text, in order to illustrate, on the one hand, the choices that the translator has taken during his work and, on the other, underline the importance of these references within the framework of Manhattan.