You are kindly invited to Dr. Mauro Cazzolla’s (University of Ohio) talk, organized by the Department of Translation and Interpretation, on Monday, May 4th, 2026.
Title : Translating Autosociobiography: Challenges and Methodological Innovation through Research-Creation
Date : 04 May 2026
Time : 12.30 – 13.30
Room : H232
Ab
stract:
Autosociobiography is a sub-category of autobiography in which individual experiences become collective. Social class is an essential component of autosociobiography and authors such as Annie Ernaux and Édouard Louis analyze their lives and those of their families through the lens of social structures and gender. Language also plays a decisive role, since it marks a social distinction and it is used to depict the reality of different social classes, it carries a socio-political weight that must be conveyed when it is translated.
The first part of this talk will explore why this literary genre constitutes a “counter-literature” through its socio-political themes and its use of language. The second part presents a translation analysis of several autosociobiographies from French into Italian, highlighting the stakes involved in translating this genre. Finally, given that three different translations have been published for the autosociobiography En finir avec Eddy Belleuguele by Edouard Louis, this talk will outline directions for further research through the lens of the “recherche-création” approach with the aim of “giving space to the dynamic process of composition” – instead of considering the work itself “in its fixity, even its patrimonial sacralization” (Petitjean 2020: 131) – and analyzing the three translations of En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule as a continuum, in order to explore their potential for the teaching of translation and literature.
Bio:
Dr. Mauro Cazzolla holds a PhD in Literary, Linguistic and Cultural Studies from the University of Miami, an MA in Interpreting and Translation Studies from the University of Trieste, and a BA in Intercultural Mediation from the SSML Carlo Bo in Bari. His dissertation examined the translation of autosociobiography, where he combined translation analysis, a personal translation project, and interviews with Ernaux, Louis, and their Italian translators. His research was published in Babel: International Journal of Translation Studies, and The French Review. A literary translator, he has translated works by Maud Ventura, Ouissem Belgacem, Vincent Almendros, and Anne Godard, and has taught at the University of Matera (Italy), Ohio State University (OH), and Lycée Jean Moulin (France).