The Tuscan writer and farm owner who translated Poe’s works
(with some help from Elio Vittorini…)
by Elisa Cattaneo
What was it like for Tuscan writer Delfino Cinelli being one of Mondadori’s translators during the so-called “Translation Decade”, and working on the Italian edition of Poe’s Short Stories for the Biblioteca Romantica under the responsibility of Giuseppe Antonio Borgese? This paper attempts to answer these questions and describes the difficulties and inconveniences which emerged. Suffice it to say that, as revealed by the letters Cinelli exchanged with the publisher (preserved in the archives of the Fondazione Arnoldo e Alberto Mondadori), the publication of the Italian editions of Poe’s works took five years and that Cinelli had to avail himself of the collaboration of writer Elio Vittorini, also recruited as one of Mondadori’s translators.