22 Thursday Jun 2017
Posted in Lostintranslation, Theatre
I have, o Readers, a riddle for you: How is maize like an Ottoman Sultan?
Let me tell you a story. Do you remember Ugo Foscolo and his Salamini/Little Sausages? Do you remember as both I and my friend Dave in the comments wondered how on earth could he have made such a tragedy-killing blunder?
Well, it may be that I know just how… Continue reading
10 Thursday Dec 2015
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Almost exactly two-hundred and four years ago, Ugo Foscolo‘s tragedy Ajace premiered at the Scala Theatre in Milan.
In 1811 the flamboyant and patriotic Foscolo was quite the name when it came to poetry – but it may be that the stage was not his cup of tea…
The tragedy was very high-minded, very Greek in conception, very long-winded, and the audience was thoroughly bored – until a herald stepped in to announce the arrival of “Ajace, Re dei Salamini,” which translates to “Ajax, King of the inhabitants of Salamis”* but unfortunately in Italian sounds exactly like “Ajax, King of Little Sausages”… Continue reading
