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When the Same Book Speaks Two Different Languages.
Identity and Social Relationships across Cultures in the
Italian Translation of “The Uncommon Reader”
The essay analyzes the way the writer and translator Monica Pavani has
translated Alan Bennett’s “The uncommon reader”.
First of all its approach is all contemplated to the figure of the translator,
and according to her the translation is an action of creative writing that
serves to give voice to the figure of the translator.
In her translation of the work of Alan Bennett she doesn't seem to bring the
rewriting aspect of the translation to the extreme: an example is the
reduction of the forms "one", "we" and "I" used in the source text to the
simple plural "we" and the form "I" in the target text , that removes the
comic effect of the "royalese" used in "The uncommon reader." These
linguistic strategies seem to answer to the author’s feminist ideals.
The author is also convinced that translation is a political practice that
aims to create a language for women: to make this happen women will
have to be taken into consideration and to be listened.
Monica Pavani is a poet and writer and she was born in Ferrara in 1968.
She has translated for the most part women but also men, she writes
regularly for some magazines. She is passionate about music and rhythm.
About her translations she says that “when she translates from English she
must absolutely undo the speech before he sounds good in Italian”. For her
a book must have a recognizable rhythm, until there is the right rhythm
the text does not exist.
“Mi capita spessissimo che, ricercando una parola diversa perché la prima che mi è
venuta in mente non mi ‘suona’, ecco che si innestano degli incroci strani di parole
che sgorgano tutte insieme e cominciano a funzionare, producendo significati
leggermente diversi e magari più interessanti. Sono i momenti in cui si amplia
l’orizzonte della pagina e dell’universo – qualunque esso sia – che la pagina tenta
disperatamente di riprodurre, e si cominciano a vedere più paesaggi. “
This may seem an act of infidelity because the translator feels the need to
"clean" the source text and start over, rather than dissolve it.
The translators also feel the need to "get out of their own head" and "adjust
their skin" and let the voices, sounds and images of the author enter the
text. This is a completely feminine metaphor according to Pavani, who
describes it as a condition of focusing on the other's voice, which the
translation shares with poetic writing.
“The uncommon reader” plot
British author Alan Bennett’s novella The Uncommon Reader , focuses on
the “uncommon reader”—Queen Elizabeth II—who narrates the story as
she becomes obsessed with reading after a random encounter with a
mobile library. As she becomes more interested in reading than with the
duties of the monarchy, her fascination with books has major
consequences for her, her household and council of advisors, her family,
and her position as monarch. Overwhelmingly acclaimed for its gentle,
satirical tone and its celebration of the power of reading, The Uncommon
Reader takes its title from the phrase “common reader,” generally
described as any person who reads for pleasure, as opposed to a critic.
Known for its frequent references to other books and authors that the
Queen reads, it was adapted into an audiobook released a few months after
its initial publication.
Queen Elizabeth II has lived a life of duty and ceremony, surrounded by
privilege and focused on her responsibilities to the British Commonwealth.
She has never had much time to indulge any hobbies, including reading
beyond the things she needs to read for her role as Monarch. However, one
day she stumbles upon a bookmobile outside the gates of Buckingham
Palace. When the person running the mobile library notices her, she feels
compelled to acknowledge him and check out a book. She reads it and
feels compelled to go back to return it personally. While there, another
book catches her attention, and she checks it out. This one fascinates her
from beginning to end. She soon finds herself making frequent visits,
becoming a voracious reader. As she starts making more and more time to
read, she’s helped on her journey by Norman, a kitchen boy whom the
Queen promotes to page after meeting him at the bookmobile. Norman
introduces her to all of his favorite authors and helps her carve out more
time in her busy schedule to allow her to catch up on a lifetime of reading.
As the Queen becomes more engaged in reading, she starts eschewing all
other past times. Many people in her life, including Prince Phillip, her
personal secretary, and the Prime Minister are frustrated by her reading
original version, the fact that the protagonist is His Majesty is only intuited
by the image of the crown, while in the translated version there is her
close-up.
Instead, the choice of Pavani's "sovrana lettrice" is quite audacious: first of
all she attributes a sexual genre to the "uncommon reader", and even the
image suggests that the main character is Queen Elizabeth.
The title could also have been "The sovereign reading" moving the focus
from the human figure to the content of the story, but maintaining contact
between the person reading and the action of reading would not have been
possible in Italian, unless the author would not have opted for the choice
"The sovereign lett/ ura" which maintains both the contact between nomen
agentis and nomen actionis and it highlights the female figure.
However, the -ice suffix does not have a negative connotation in Italian,
but the fact that the Latin term "lector" does not generally suggests how
sexist the language is, and for this many would not have accepted the title
choice "la sovrana lettora “.
In 2006, a movie on the British monarchy following the death of Diana
entitled "The Queen" was released: this was much appreciated by both
critics and the public. Speaking of the film, Monica Pavani confesses that
she drew inspiration from the movie to solve some linguistic issues related
to her translation: first of all, some linguistic strategies which usually
translators apply are missing , such as the preface.
One of the most important questions in Pavani's Italian translation of "the
Uncommon reader" is the Queen’s language, which Wales calls "royalese".
The "royalese" is the language that characterizes the distance between
members of the royal family and ordinary people and emerges above all in
grammar, particularly in the use of pronouns: the most common pronouns
in the "royalese" are "royal we" and " royal one ". The first one to use
them was Queen Victoria in the expression "we are not amused", but some
have suggested that this is not an example of the "royal we" because
probably the queen spoke in the name of all the ladies present at court.
The "royal we" has become obsolete but it is still very much alive in the
satirical press and it underlines the comic aspect of the characters of the
royal family.
According to Wales today the current Queen is more likely to use the
"royal we" speaking in name of the whole royal family rather than using
the "royal tour we" to indicate herself and her husband, having become the
real slogan.
Moreover, differently from "royal we", "royal one" means "I" and it is still
used by the royal family but also by ordinary people. An example of the
use of "royal one" is the one pronounced by the actress who plays Her
Majesty in an episode of Dead Ringers and says "One's telling you one's
nicked, you slag!".
Other examples of "royal one" are in the tabloid press :
"One is not amused by Prince Harry's smokebomb prank" and "One is
NOT amused! Or how the Queen can not help revealing her royal
displeasure ".
In addition to "royal we" and "royal one" the queen must also know how to
use the pronoun "I" in the right context, even if in public she seems to use
it in a comic way to say "me and my husband".
In the following examples it will be analyzed the way in which the
Queen uses pronouns. The aim of this analysis is twofold: on one hand we
intend to show the way in which the Queen is positioned with respect to
others through language, on the other it aims to draw the attention to the
way in which social information and issues related to power, change when
a literary text travels through languages and cultures.
- ‘Now that I have you to myself,’ said the Queen, smiling to left and right as they glided through the glittering throng, ‘ I ’ve been longing to ask you about the writer Jean Genet.’ ‘Ah,’ said the president. ‘Oui.’
“ora che che ti ho con me” disse la regina, sorridendo a sinistra e a destra mentre scivolavano attraverso la folla “ ho sempre desiderato chiederti dello scrittore Jean Genet”. “ah” disse il presidente “si”
In this passage the Queen is trying to get to know the president of the
United States better: Her Majesty wants to know his true opinion about
Jean Genet, she does not want to receive a ready-made answer that would
be expected on an official occasion, so we can assume that the use of the
pronoun "I" is linked to the Queen's attempt to reduce the social distance
between her and I her interlocutor to create a more intimate and informal
situation.
- ‘ One has never seen you here before, Mr…’ ‘Hutchings, Your Majesty. Every Wednesday, ma’am.’ ‘Really? I never knew that. Have you come far?’
“non ti ho mai visto primaqui Signor..” “Hutchings, sua maesta, ogni mercoledi”
is once again the linguistic clue of the almost absence of individuality that
distinguishes the Sovereign: "One is a pensioner", "One does not read"
etc ... Obviously in Italian the literal translation with the "si", or even
worse "uno non legge", would have been terrible.
On the contrary, Bennett in the original text underlines the individuality of
the Queen, with her personal ideas and feelings, differently from her
entourage: and Pavani in her translation respects the individuality of the
Queen, even if the use of "we" seems to be inspired by the film by Frears:
‘ One has never seen you here before, Mr…’ ‘Hutchings, Your Majesty. Every Wednesday, ma’am.’ ‘Really? I never knew that. Have you come far?’ ‘Only from Westminster, ma’am.’ ‘And you are…?’ ‘Norman, ma’am. Seakins.’ ‘And where do you work?’ ‘In the kitchen, ma’am.’ ‘Oh. Do you have much time for reading?’ ‘Not really, ma’am.’ ‘I’m the same. Though now that one is here I suppose one ought to borrow a book. ’ … ‘Is one allowed to borrow a book? One doesn’t have a ticket?’ ‘No problem,’ said Mr Hutchings. ‘ One is a pensioner’, said the Queen, not that she was sure that made any difference. (6-7)
‘How did you find it, ma’am,’ asked Mr Hutchings. ‘Dame Ivy? A little dry. And everyone talks the same way, did you notice that?’ ‘To tell you the truth, ma’am, I never got through more than a few pages. How far did your Majesty get?’ ‘Oh, to the end, Once I start a book I finish it. That was the way one was brought up. Books, bread and butter, mashed potato – one finishes what’s on one’s plate. That’s always been my philosophy.’ ‘There was actually no need to have brought the book back, ma’am. We’re downsizing and all the books on that shelf are free.’ ‘You mean I can have it?’ She clutched the book to her. I’m glad I came. Good afternoon, Mr Seakins. More Cecil Beaton?’
«Non l’abbiamo mai vista da queste parti, signor…». «Hutchings, Maestà. Tutti i mercoledì, signora». «Davvero? Ne eravamo all’oscuro. Viene da lontano?». «Solo da Westminster, Maestà». «E lei…?» domandò rivolta al ragazzo. «Norman, Maestà. Seakins». «E dove lavora?». «Nelle cucine, Maestà». «Oh. Lei ha molto tempo per leggere?». «Non proprio, Maestà».
« Nemmeno noi, sa. Anche se adesso che siamo qui, immaginiamo sia il caso di prendere in prestito un libro». … «Occorre una tessera per prendere libri in prestito?». «Non c’è problema» disse il signor Hutchins. «Noi siamo in pensione» dichiarò la regina, non sapendo bene se faceva la differenza. (12)
«Come l’ha trovata, Maestà?» chiese il signor Hutchings. «Dama Ivy? Un po’ noiosa. E parlano tutti nello stesso modo, ci ha fatto caso?». «A esser sincero, non ho mai superato le prime pagine. Lei dov’è arrivata, Maestà?». «Oh, fino in fondo. Quando cominciamo un libro lo finiamo. Ci hanno educate così. Libri, purè, pane e burro: bisogna finire quello che c’è nel piatto. È la nostra filosofia da sempre». «Non occorreva restituire il libro, Maestà. Siamo in fase di ridimensionamento e tutti i libri su quello scaffale si possono prendere gratis». «Intende dire che possiamo tenerlo ?». La regina si strinse il volume al petto. «Abbiamo fatto proprio bene a venire. Buongiorno, signor Seakins. Sempre Cecil Beaton?».
Throughout the first extract, Pavani uses "we" but then uses an impersonal:
"occorre una tessera...?" And the result is a comic effect produced by the
mixture of registers.
In the second extract, Pavani uses "we" despite the "I” in the source text,
which allows the text to maintain its comic taste, but the complicity
between the Queen and her subjects is lost.
In addition, Bennett in the original text alternately uses "one" and "I" even
in situations of confrontation, while in the film of Frears only the pronoun
"I" is used in these contexts: the transition from "one" and "we" to
exclusive use of "I" even in unfamiliar contexts seems to be the linguistic
manifestation of the Queen's disagreement and dissent or simply a way to
clarify her point of view.
Even if the Queen may seem distant from ordinary people and their
thoughts, her language seems to deny it: her temperament is the same of
others, as we can see in this exchange with Tony Blair:
TONY
Your Majesty, the country has spoken...and I come now to ask your permiss.. ELIZABETH (interjecting) No, no, no. It’s usual for ME to ask the questions. TONY winces. Wishes the ground would swallow him up. ELIZABETH Mr Blair, the people have elected you to be their leader. And so the duty falls on me , as your Sovereign, to ask you to become Prime Minister, and form a government in my name.
reader, creating a link between the source text and the audience. The use of
the pronouns by Pavani in the Queen’s speech as "we", which replaces
"royal we" and "royal one" that do not have connotation in Italian, deprive
the text of the comic effect of the "royalese". The " exclusive we" in fact
seems not to have the comic connotation, since it is not used to parody the
leaders of the state and the popes, who use the singular in their speeches.
The Queen's voice in "The sovereign reader" is therefore much more
similar to that of Pavani than to that of Bennett and characterizes Her
Majesty as a strong and respectful woman compared to that sketched one
in "The uncommon reader".
Traduzione
Il saggio analizza il modo in cui la scrittrice e traduttrice Monica Pavani ha
tradotto il libro “the uncommon reader” di Alan Bennett.
Innanzitutto il suo approccio è mirato alla figura del traduttore, e secondo
lei la traduzione è un atto di scrittura creativa che serve a dar voce alla
figura del traduttore.
Nella sua traduzione dell’opera di Alan Bennett non sembra portare agli
estremi l’aspetto riscrittivo della traduzione : un esempio è la riduzione
delle forme “one” , “we” e “I” usate nel testo di partenza all’ alternativa
tra il semplice plurale “we” e la forma “I” nel testo di arrivo, che rimuove
l’effetto comico del “royalese” usato in “The uncommon reader”. Queste
strategie linguistiche sembrano rispondere a ideali femministi dell’autrice.
L’autrice è inoltre convinta che la traduzione sia una pratica politica che ha
come scopo realizzare un linguaggio per le donne: per far si che questo
accada le donne dovranno essere prese in considerazione ed ascoltate.
Monica Pavani è una poetessa e scrittire nata a Ferrare nel 1968. Ha
tradotto perla maggior parte donne ma anche uomini, scrive regolarmente
per alcune riviste. È appassionata di musica e di ritmo. a propositodelle
sue traduzioni dice che quando traduce dall’inglese deve assolutamente
disfare il discorso prima che suoni bene in italiano,per lei un libro deve
avere un ritmo riconoscibile, finchè non c’è il ritmo giusto il testo non
esiste.
“Mi capita spessissimo che, ricercando una parola diversa perché la prima che mi è
venuta in mente non mi ‘suona’, ecco che si innestano degli incroci strani di parole
che
sgorgano tutte insieme e cominciano a funzionare, producendo significati
leggermente
diversi e magari più interessanti. Sono i momenti in cui si amplia l’orizzonte della
pagina
e dell’universo – qualunque esso sia – che la pagina tenta disperatamente di
riprodurre,
e si cominciano a vedere più paesaggi. “
Questo potrebbe sembrare un atto di infedeltà in quanto il traduttore sente
la necessità di “dover pulire “ il testo di partenza e ricominciare da capo
piuttosto che sciogliere il testo di partenza.
I traduttori inoltre sentono la necessità di “uscire dalla propria testa” e di
“accontonare la propria pelle” e lasciare che le voci, i suoni e le immagini
dell’autore entrino nel testo. Questa è una metafora del tutto femminile
secondo Pavani , che la descrive come una condizione di focalizzazione
sulla voce dell’altro, che la traduzione condivide con la scrittura poetica.
Trama “The uncommon reader”
B ritish author Alan Bennett’s novella The Uncommon Reader , focuses on the
“uncommon reader”—Queen Elizabeth II—who narrates the story as she becomes
obsessed with reading after a random encounter with a mobile library. As she
becomes more interested in reading than with the duties of the monarchy, her
fascination with books has major consequences for her, her household and council of
advisors, her family, and her position as monarch. Overwhelmingly acclaimed for its
gentle, satirical tone and its celebration of the power of reading, The Uncommon
Reader takes its title from the phrase “common reader,” generally described as any
person who reads for pleasure, as opposed to a critic. Known for its frequent
references to other books and authors that the Queen reads, it was adapted into an
audiobook released a few months after its initial publication.
Queen Elizabeth II has lived a life of duty and ceremony, surrounded by privilege and focused on
her responsibilities to the British Commonwealth. She has never had much time to indulge any
hobbies, including reading beyond the things she needs to read for her role as Monarch. However,
one day she stumbles upon a bookmobile outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. When the person
running the mobile library notices her, she feels compelled to acknowledge him and check out a
book. She reads it and feels compelled to go back to return it personally. While there, another book
catches her attention, and she checks it out. This one fascinates her from beginning to end. She soon
finds herself making frequent visits, becoming a voracious reader. As she starts making more and
more time to read, she’s helped on her journey by Norman, a kitchen boy whom the Queen
promotes to page after meeting him at the bookmobile. Norman introduces her to all of his favorite
authors and helps her carve out more time in her busy schedule to allow her to catch up on a
lifetime of reading.
Tuttavia il suffisso –ice non ha una connotazione negativa in italiano, ma il fatto che
il termine latino “lector” non abbia in genere femminile suggerisce quanto il
linguaggio sia sessista, e per questo molti non avrebbero accettato la scelta del titolo
“la sovrana lettora”.
Nel 2006 uscì un film sulla monarchia inglese all’indomani della morte di Diana
intitolato “The Queen” : questo fu molto apprezzato sia dalla critica che dal
pubblico. A proposito del film, Monica Pavani confessa di aver tratto ispirazione
dalla pellicola per risolvere alcune questioni linguistiche legate alla sua traduzione:
innanzitutto mancano alcune strategie linguistiche che di solito le traduttrici
applicano, come la prefazione e le note a piè di pagina.
Una delle questioni più importanti nella traduzione italiana di Pavani di “the
Uncommon reader” è il linguaggio della regina, che Wales definisce “royalese”.
Il “royalese” è il linguaggio che caratterizza la distanza tra i membri della famiglia
reale e le persone comuni ed emerge soprattutto in grammatica, in particolare nell’uso
dei pronomi: i pronomi più ricorrenti nel “royalese” sono “royal we” e “royal one”.
La primasovrana ad utilizzarli fu la regina Vittoria nell’espressione “we are not
amused”, ma alcuni hanno suggerito che questo non è un esempio del “royal we”
perchè probabilmente la regina parlava a nome di tutte le dame presenti a corte.
Il “royal we” è diventato obsoleto ma è ancora molto vivo nella stampa satirica e
sottolinea l’aspetto comico dei personaggi della famiglia reale.
Secondo Wales oggi la regina attualeha più probabilità di usare il “royal we” parlando
a nome di tutta la famiglia reale piuttosto che usare il “royal tour we” per indicare lei
stessa e suo marito, essendo quest’ultimo diventato un vero e proprio slogan.
Inoltre, a differenza di “rowal we”, “royal one” significa “Io” è usato ancora molto
dalla famiglia reale ma anche da persone comuni. Un esempio dell’uso di “royal one”
è quello pronunciato dall’attrice che interpreta Sua Maestà in un episodio di Dead
Ringers e dice “One’s telling you one’s nicked, you slag!”.
Other examples of “royal one” being “a marked and widely recognised stereotype”
are easily found in the tabloid press: “One is not amused by Prince Harry’s
smokebomb prank”and “One is NOT amused! Or how the Queen can’t help
revealing her royal displeasure”.
Oltre a “royal we “ e “royal one” la regina deve anche saper usare nei giusti contesti
il pronome”io” anche se in pubblico sembra usarlo in modo comico per dire “io e mio
marito”.
Nei seguenti esempi si analizzerà il modo in cui la regina utilizza i pronomi.
L’obiettivo di quest’analisi è duplice: da un lato si intende mostrare il modo in cui la
regina si posiziona rispetto agli altri attraverso il linguaggio, dall’altro esso mira a
richiamare l’attenzione sul modo in cui l’informazione sociale e le questioni legate al
potere cambia quando un testo letterario viaggia attraverso le lingue e le culture.
‘Now that I have you to myself,’ said the Queen, smiling to left and right as they glided through the glittering throng, ‘ I ’ve been longing to ask you about the writer Jean Genet.’ ‘Ah,’ said the president. ‘Oui.’
“ora che che ti ho con me” disse la regina, sorridendo a sinistra e a destra mentre scivolavano attraverso la foll a “ ho sempre desiderato chiederti dello scrittore Jean Genet”. “ah” disse il presidente “si”.
In questo piccolo scambio di battute la Regina sta provando a conoscere meglio il presidente degli Stati Uniti: sua Maestà vuole conoscere la sua vera opinione su Jean Genet, non vuole ricevere una risposta preconfezionata che ci si aspetterebbe in un’occasione ufficiale, perciò possiamo ritenere che l’uso del pronome”io” è legata al tentativo della Regina di ridurre la distanza sociale tra lei e io suo interlocutore per creare una situazione più intima e informale.
‘ One has never seen you here before, Mr…’ ‘Hutchings, Your Majesty. Every Wednesday, ma’am.’ ‘Really? I never knew that. Have you come far?’
“non ti ho mai visto primaqui Signor..” “Hutchings, sua maesta, ogni mercoledi” “davvero? Non lo sapevo. vieni da lontano?”
Qui il passaggio da “one “ a “I” risponde ancora al tentativo della regina di ridurrela
distanza sociale tra lei ed il suo interlocutore, Norman Seakins, che la introduce alla
lettura. Si cre una certa complicità tra i due ed in particolare Bennett trasmette la
curiosità e l’entusiasmo della regina per questioni dalle quali è sempre rimasta
esclusa.
‘Norman.’ Sir Kevin heard a chair scrape as Norman got up. ‘ We ’re going to Wales in a few weeks’ time.’ ‘Bad luck, ma’am.’ The Queen smiled back at the unsmiling Sir Kevin. ‘Norman is so cheeky. Now we ’ve read Dylan Thomas, haven’t we , and some John Cowper Powys. And Jan Morris we ’ve read. But who else is there?’ ‘You could try Kilvert, ma’am,’ said Norman. ‘Who’s he?’ ‘A vicar, ma’am. Nineteenth century. Lived on the Welsh borders and wrote a diary.
‘Is one allowed to borrow a book? One doesn’t have a ticket?’ ‘No problem,’ said Mr Hutchings. ‘ One is a pensioner’, said the Queen, not that she was sure that made any difference. (6-7)
‘How did you find it, ma’am,’ asked Mr Hutchings. ‘Dame Ivy? A little dry. And everyone talks the same way, did you notice that?’ ‘To tell you the truth, ma’am, I never got through more than a few pages. How far did your Majesty get?’ ‘Oh, to the end, Once I start a book I finish it. That was the way one was brought up. Books, bread and butter, mashed potato – one finishes what’s on one’s plate. That’s always been my philosophy.’ ‘There was actually no need to have brought the book back, ma’am. We’re downsizing and all the books on that shelf are free.’ ‘You mean I can have it?’ She clutched the book to her. I’m glad I came. Good afternoon, Mr Seakins. More Cecil Beaton?’
«Non l’abbiamo mai vista da queste parti, signor…». «Hutchings, Maestà. Tutti i mercoledì, signora». «Davvero? Ne eravamo all’oscuro. Viene da lontano?». «Solo da Westminster, Maestà». «E lei…?» domandò rivolta al ragazzo. «Norman, Maestà. Seakins». «E dove lavora?». «Nelle cucine, Maestà». «Oh. Lei ha molto tempo per leggere?». «Non proprio, Maestà». « Nemmeno noi, sa. Anche se adesso che siamo qui, immaginiamo sia il caso di prendere in prestito un libro». … «Occorre una tessera per prendere libri in prestito?». «Non c’è problema» disse il signor Hutchins. «Noi siamo in pensione» dichiarò la regina, non sapendo bene se faceva la differenza. (12)
«Come l’ha trovata, Maestà?» chiese il signor Hutchings. «Dama Ivy? Un po’ noiosa. E parlano tutti nello stesso modo, ci ha fatto caso?». «A esser sincero, non ho mai superato le prime pagine. Lei dov’è arrivata, Maestà?». «Oh, fino in fondo. Quando cominciamo un libro lo finiamo. Ci hanno educate così. Libri, purè, pane e burro: bisogna finire quello che c’è nel piatto. È la nostra filosofia da sempre». «Non occorreva restituire il libro, Maestà. Siamo in fase di ridimensionamento e tutti i libri su quello scaffale si possono prendere gratis». «Intende dire che possiamo tenerlo ?». La regina si strinse il volume al petto. «Abbiamo fatto proprio bene a venire. Buongiorno, signor Seakins. Sempre Cecil Beaton?».
In tutto il primo estratto Pavani usa “noi” ma poi in seguito utilizza un impersonale :
“occorre una tessera...?” e il risultato che ne deriva è un effetto comico prodotto dalla
mescolanza di registri
Nel secondo estratto Pavani usa “noi” nonostante l’”io del testo di partenza, che
permette al testo di mantenere il suo sapore comico,ma la complicità tra la Regina e
i suoi sudditi si perde.
Inoltre , Bennett nel testo originale utilizza alternativamente “one “ e “I” anche in
situazioni di confronto,mentre nel film di Frears si utilizza in questi contesti solo il
pronome “I”: il passaggio da “one” e “we” all’uso esclusivo di “I” anche nei contesti
non familiari sembrano essere la manifestazione linguistica del disaccordo e del
dissenso della Regina o semplicemente un modo per chiarire il suo punto di vista.
Perquanto la regina possa sembrare lontana dalla gente comune e dai loro pensieri, il
suo linguaggio sembra smentirlo: il suo temperamento è uguale a quello degli altri,
come possiamo vedere in questo scambio di battute con Tony Blair:
TONY
Your Majesty, the country has spoken...and I come now to ask your permiss.. ELIZABETH (interjecting) No, no, no. It’s usual for ME to ask the questions. TONY winces. Wishes the ground would swallow him up. ELIZABETH Mr Blair, the people have elected you to be their leader. And so the duty falls on me , as your Sovereign, to ask you to become Prime Minister, and form a government in my name.
L’uso di “me” da parte della Regina è la manifestazione esteriore della sua volontà di
mostrare il suo punto di vista e il suo disaccordo.
ELIZABETH
We ’ve spoken to the Spencer family, and it’s their wish… (a beat)…their express wish, that it should be a private funeral. With a memorial service to follow in a month, or so. … ELIZABETH Given that Diana was no longer a member of the Royal Family we have no choice but to respect their wishes.
Qui invece la Regina sta informando Tony Blair della sua decisione per i funerali
privati di Diana. Per questo la scelta del pronome “we” sembra la soluzione più
adatta.
ELIZABETH
As I said. That’s the Spencers’ wish. … ELIZABETH It’s a family funeral, Mr. Blair. Not a fairground attraction. (a beat) I think the Princess has already paid a high enough price for exposure to the press, don’t you? PRINCE PHILIP enters, dressed and ready for church. He indicates his watch.
