Joyce sulla Torre di Babele

Il saggio discute la varietà dei linguaggi, degli stili e delle lingue nell'opera di Joyce, come metafora del plurilinguismo della società contemporanea. Con esempi tratti da Dubliners, Portrait, Ulysses e Finnegans Wake si dimostra come la tecnica di "familiarizzazione" (domestication) e "straniamento" (foreignization) discussa da L. Venuti in relazione ai Translation Studies si applica alla parola di Joyce che oscilla costantemente fra il rendere familiari e comprensibili brani in lingue dall'inglese e il rendere "straniere" quindi incomprensibili le parole dell'inglese corrente. La disccussione termina con l'argomentazione dei vantaggio di una società multilingue (che parla lingue diverse) e plurilingue (in cui i singoli cittadini parlano più di una lingua). Si acclude l'abstract in inglese, in base al quale i curatori hanno accettato il saggio, che è redatto, invece, in lingua italiana. The aim of this paper is to discuss “domesticating” and “foreignising” aspects in Joyce’s use of the word in all his works. By looking at various passages from Dubliners to Portrait and Ulysses I argue that both Joyce's use of English and his use of foreign words have a similar function, i.e. the function of exposing the presence of the stranger in language, regardless of whether such language is monoglot or polyglot. I use the notions of “foreignization” and “domestication” with reference both to the function that specific words have in the narrative texture and in terms of the readers’ reactions to their presence. By “foreignization” I mean a move away from the well known, a move into a strange territory; by “domestication” I mean a strategy of familiarization, an attempt to assimilate the stranger and interpret it in terms of the familiar. I also argue that the estranging power of Joyce’s word functions to create a peculiar dialogue with his readers, based on an unwritten pact of cooperation that invites us to overcome the frustration of obscurity and accept the universal truth that misunderstanding, equivocation, misinterpretation, and misreading are part and parcel of any attempt at communication. This does not mean that we cannot communicate with each other. On the contrary, Joyce’s lesson is that despite the risk of non-comprehension, and despite Bloom’s contention “of there being more languages to start with than [are] absolutely necessary”, (U 16.353-4), the plurality of languages is the most precious gift we have inherited from Babel.