Giuliana Iannaccaro - Giovanni Iamartino (Eds.), <i> Enforcing and Eluding Censorship: British and Anglo-Italian Perspectives</i>
10.13125/2039-6597/1839
Enforcing and Eluding Censorship: British and Anglo-Italian Perspectives is a wide-ranging edited collection offering fourteen contributions on the forms and practices of regulation and reaction connected with censorship. The collection spans several historical periods, media, methodologies and disciplines, from English literature to Linguistics and Translation Studies, thus offering a very broad – yet fragmentary at stages – set of perspectives on the complex and often not overt phenomena of (counter)censorship in the Anglo-American culture and Anglo-Italian cultural relationships.  The edited collection is introduced by a preface by one of the editors, Giuliana Iannaccaro, who outlines in rich detail the structure of the book.
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Mila Milani
Between
Giuliana Iannaccaro - Giovanni Iamartino (Eds.), <i> Enforcing and Eluding Censorship: British and Anglo-Italian Perspectives</i>
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https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between
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Between the Texts / Reviews: Eds. Giulio Iacoli and Marina Guglielmi
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Mila Milani
2015/05/15
10.13125/2039-6597/1839
University of Reading
2039-6597
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Giuliana Iannaccaro - Giovanni Iamartino (Eds.), <i> Enforcing and Eluding Censorship: British and Anglo-Italian Perspectives</i>
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/download/1839/1552
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        Giuliana  Iannaccaro  -­‐‑  Giovanni  
                 Iamartino  (Eds.)  
       Enforcing  and  Eluding  Censorship:  
      British  and  Anglo-­‐‑Italian  Perspectives  
     Newcastle  upon  Tyne,  Cambridge  Scholars  Publishing,  
                         2014,  243  pp.    
        Enforcing   and   Eluding   Censorship:   British   and   Anglo-­‐‑Italian  
Perspectives   is   a   wide-­‐‑ranging   edited   collection   offering   fourteen  
contributions   on   the   forms   and   practices   of   regulation   and   reaction  
connected   with   censorship.   The   collection   spans   several   historical  
periods,  media,  methodologies  and  disciplines,  from  English  literature  
to  Linguistics  and  Translation  Studies,  thus  offering  a  very  broad  –  yet  
fragmentary   at   stages   –   set   of   perspectives   on   the   complex   and   often  
not   overt   phenomena   of   (counter)censorship   in   the   Anglo-­‐‑American  
culture  and  Anglo-­‐‑Italian  cultural  relationships.    The  edited  collection  
is   introduced   by   a   preface   by   one   of   the   editors,   Giuliana   Iannaccaro,  
who   outlines   in   rich   detail   the   structure   of   the   book.   The   two   main  
sections,   entitled   “Discouse   Regulation”   and   “Textual   and   Ideological  
Manipulation”,   provide   case   studies   devoted   to   hyper-­‐‑strategies   of  
enforcing   control   and   to   political   interference   in   cultural   products,  
respectively.  
        Each  section  contains  shorter  sub-­‐‑sections.  The  first  sub-­‐‑section  is  
entitled   “Repression   and   Containement”   and   explores   institutional  
forms   of   censorship   enacted   in   England   from   the   sixteenth   to   the  
eighteenth   centuries.   As   Janet   Clare   in   her   essay   (“‘Of   Seditions   and  
Troubles’:  Censorship  and  the  Late  Elizabethan  Crisis”)  focused  on  late  
Elizabethan/Early   Jacobean   theatre   shows,   at   times   of   political  



Between,  vol.  V,  n.  9  (Maggio/  May  2015)    
G.  Iannaccaro  –  G.  Iamartino  (eds.),  Enforcing  and  Eluding  Censorship  (Mila  Milani)  



instability,  as  in  late  sixteenth-­‐‑century  England,  historical  writing  was  
particularly   surveilled   since   it   was   perceived   as   a   site   of   political  
manipulation.   An   example   of   this   is   the   chronicle   play   The   Life   and  
Raigne   of   King   Henrie   III   by   John   Hayward,   dedicated   to   the   Earl   of  
Essex.  When  the  latter  was  declared  a  traitor  by  Queen  Elizabeth  I,  in  
response   to   this   political   event   Hayward’s   work   was   censored   as  
seditious.   However,   forms   of   censorship   can   also   be   more   oblique,   as  
analysed  in  the  other  two  contributions  of  the  sub-­‐‑section.  Alessandra  
Petrina’s   essay   (“Damnatio   Memoriae   and   Surreptitious   Printing:  
Niccolò  Machiavelli  and  the  British  Isles”)  deals  with  the  censorship  of  
Machiavelli’s   works   in   sixteenth-­‐‑century   Britain;   she   acutely  
emphasises   the   subtle   institutional   strategy   of   limiting   the   works’  
circulation   by   not   making   them   available   to   common   readers.   In  
similar   terms,   Allen   Reddick’s   contribution   (“‘A   Kindre   of   Massacre’:  
Censoring   John   Milton”)   focuses   on   John   Milton   and   the   institutional  
efforts   to   keep   him   out   of   print,   and   thus,   from   a   publishing   and  
political  viewpoint,  invisible  in  eighteenth-­‐‑century  Britain.    
      The   second   sub-­‐‑section,   “Circumvention   and   Adaptation”,  
discusses,  in  a  reverse  and  specular  way  with  respect  to  the  first  sub-­‐‑
section,   forms   of   reaction   against   censorship,   and   expands   the  
timeframe,   with   the   subject   matter   of   the   essays   spanning   the  
seventeenth-­‐‑century   to   the   1980s,   exploring   various   media   and   issues  
of  gender.  Drawing  on  Foucault’s  analysis  of  speech,  Martin  Dzelzainis  
(“Saturday   21   July   1683:   Oxford   and   London”)   offers   an   illuminating  
perspective   on   the   Oxford   book-­‐‑burning   incident   following   the   so-­‐‑
called  Rye  House  Plot  in  1683.  He  argues  that,  not  being  able  to  contain  
the  fast  circulation  of  books,  authorities  had  to  change  their  strategies  
in   view   of   managing   and   not   supressing   dissent   through   public  
discredit.  Nicoletta  Brazzelli’s  essay  (“Narrative  Strategies  and  Textual  
Constraints  in  Women’s  Travel  Writing:  The  Case  of  Mary  Kingsley”)  
on   nineteenth-­‐‑century   women’s   travel   writing   highlights   the  
heterogeneous   textual   acts   and   gendered   constructions   of  
(self)censorship  in  female  travel  accounts.  By  looking  at  the  narratives  
enacted   within   and   around   Mary   Kingsley’s   Travels   in   West   Africa  
(1897),   Brazzelli   casts   light   on   the   negotiation   that   the   female   author  


2  
                                                      Between,  vol.  V,  n.  8  (Maggio/May  2015)  



had  to  enact  with  the  traditional  male  perspective  in  order  to  legitimate  
herself   as   a   writer.   Moving   a   century   forward,   Nicoletta   Vallorani  
(“The   Dis/Order   of   Things:   Jarman’s   Caravaggio   and   the   Criminal  
Hero”)   deals   with   identity   representation,   homosexuality   and   people  
with  AIDS  (PWA)  in  1980s  Thatcher’s  Britain.  Drawing  on  the  analysis  
of   the   emarginated   self-­‐‑declared   gay   artist   Derek   Jarman,   Vallorani  
argues   that   the   elaboration   of   a   narrative   of   visibility   of   his   personal  
condition,   compared   to   that   of   Caravaggio   and   Pasolini,   enforced   the  
artist’s   political   role,   thus   representing   a   means   of   resistance   against  
censorship.  
       The   second   part   of   the   edited   collection   is   mainly   devoted   to  
specific   textual   practices   of   control   and/or   elusion.   The   first   sub-­‐‑
section,  entitled  ‘Forms  of  Translation’,  comprises  five  essays  on  intra-­‐‑  
and   inter-­‐‑lingual   translations,   widely   spanning   centuries   and   media,  
from   Shakespeare’s   seventeenth-­‐‑century   adaptations   and   twentieth-­‐‑
century   mafia   movies.   The   first   two   contributions   bring   into   greater  
focus   the   so-­‐‑called   “Restoration   filter”   on   Shakespere’s   works;   more  
specifically,   they   both   analyse   Davenant’s   rewriting   of   Macbeth.  
Drawing   more   consistently   on   Descriptive   Translation   Studies,  
Massimiliano  Morini  (“Censorship,  Intralingual  Translation  and  Filter:  
Shakespeare  Rewritten  in  the  Restoration  Era”)  outlines  how  the  filter  
works  at  an  intra-­‐‑lingual  level,  whereas  Romana  Zacchi’s  contribution  
(“Re-­‐‑Written   Shakespeare:   Religion   and   Topicality   Adaptation”)  
explores   adaptors’   strategies   of   cultural   censorship   that   enforce  
omissions   with   regard   to   sensitive   religious   and   political   matters,  
including,   for   instance,   imagery   related   to   witches.   Moving   towards  
the  eighteenth  and  then  to  the  twentieth  centuries,  and  from  English  to  
Italian   translations,   Maria   Luisa   Bignami’s   essay   (“John   Milton  
Drowned  in  Words  and  Silenced  in  Cuts:  18th-­‐‑and  19th  Century  Italian  
Translations  of  Paradise  Lost”)  analyses  both  religious  and  stylistic  acts  
of  censorship  in  the  Italian  translations  of  John  Milton’s  works.   These  
acts   controversially   conformed   Milton’s   heretic   attitude   to   Catholic  
dogmas,   and   manipulated   the   style   of   his   epic   to   adapt   it   to   the  
translators’   own   criteria   of   elegance.   Antonio   Bibbò’s   contribution  
(“Trojan  Horses  in  Fascist  Publishing:  (Self-­‐‑)Censored  Translations  and  


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G.  Iannaccaro  –  G.  Iamartino  (eds.),  Enforcing  and  Eluding  Censorship  (Mila  Milani)  



Political   Criticism”)   casts   light   on   the   issues   of   translators’   self-­‐‑
censorship,   interestingly   taking   as   a   perspective   a   time   when   actual  
(though   somehow   tolerant)   censorship   was   in   force,   as   under   the  
Fascist   regime   in   Italy.   In   the   case   of   Dos   Passos’s   choral   novel  
Manhattan   Transfer,   for   instance,   the   expunction   of   explicitly  
controversial   passages   was   strategic   and   functional   in   allowing   the  
circulation  of  a  potentially  subversive  work.  However,  Bibbò  remarks  
that  inaccurate  translations  of  this  novel  still  circulate  nowadays  in  no  
longer   Fascist   Italy,   highlighting   the   need   for   a   more   accurate   and  
consistent  retranslation  of  classics.    Ilaria  Parini  (“‘I’m  Going  to  F*****  
Kill   You!’   Verbal   Censorship   in   Dubbed   Mafia   Movies”)   closes   this  
dense   sub-­‐‑section,   shedding   light   on   forms   of   censorship   in   the  
dubbing  of  1990s  Mafia  films.  The  scholar  offers  a  meticulous  linguistic  
analysis   of   the   taboo   language   that   is   usually   mitigated,   omitted,   or  
replaced  with  regional  varieties  in  the  dubbed  films.  This  practice  runs  
the  risk  of  undermining  the  ability  to  offer  an  effective  portrait  of  Mafia  
characters.  
       The   second   sub-­‐‑section,   entitled   “Defining   and   Proscribing”,  
guides   the   reader   through   a   lexical   journey,   diachronically   structured  
and   cohesively   argued.   Spanning   the   early   modern   period   and   the  
contemporary  age,  it  illustrates  the  various  forms  in  which  censorship  
affects   the   codification   of   the   lexical,   such   as   in   dictionaries   and  
encyclopaedias.  Giovanni  Iamartino’s  contribution  (“Lexicographers  as  
Censors:   Checking   Verbal   Abuse   in   Early   English   Dictionaries”)  
interestingly   argues   that   lexicographers,   in   their   theory   and   practice,  
feature   acts   of   censorship,   as   evident   in   the   history   of   English  
lexicography.   These   acts   include,   more   specifically,   exclusions   from  
wordlists,   as   well   as   the   definition,   label   and   illustration   of   words.  
Elisabetta   Lonati   (“‘And   trade   is   so   noble   a   master’:   Promoting   and  
Censuring  Commerce  in  18th  century  British  Enciclopaedias”)  analyses  
lexical   entries   relating   to   commercial   activities   in   eighteenth-­‐‑century  
British   Encyclopaedias   as   ways   of   enforcing   national   ideology   and   of  
enhancing  the  social  status  of  commerce  as  intrinsically  ethical,  though  
controversially   slavist.   Laura   Pinnavaia’s   chapter   (“Defining   and  
Proscribinf   Bad   Language   Words   in   English   Learner’s   Dictionaries”)  


4  
                                                   Between,  vol.  V,  n.  8  (Maggio/May  2015)  



concludes   the   collection   by   offering   a   stimulating   perspective   on   the  
paradoxical  prescriptviness  and  proscriptiveness  of  offensive  language  
in   English   learners’   dictionaries   as   opposed   to   the   frequency   of   bad  
words  in  British  and  American  media.  This  attitude,  argues  Pinnavaia,  
is  ideologically  related  to  instances  of  political  correctness.    
       Enforcing   and   Eluding   Censorship   offers   a   cross-­‐‑disciplinary  
approach  to  the  issues  and  forms  of  censorship  and,  given  its  focus  on  
such   a   broad   timespan   and   media   range,   it   will   appeal   to   a   vast  
scholarly   audience,   including   experts   in   linguistics,   literary   criticism  
and   translation.   If   this   variety   is   generally   sustained   by   academic  
rigour   and   intriguing   case-­‐‑studies,   the   reading   can   be   at   times  
disrupted   by   the   too   ambitious   chronological   spectrum,   and   the  
collection   may   run   the   risk   of   losing   sight   of   the   methodological  
relevance  of  some  perspectives.  This  nonetheless  does  not  diminish  the  
valuable  contribution  that  the  edited  collection  provides  to  the  field  of  
censorship  studies.  
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         


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G.  Iannaccaro  –  G.  Iamartino  (eds.),  Enforcing  and  Eluding  Censorship  (Mila  Milani)  



         
         
         



                                           The  author  
Mila  Milani    
        
      Mila   Milani   collabora   con   l’University   of   Reading   (UK)  
nell’ambito   del   progetto   di   ricerca   ‘Mapping   Literary   Space:   Literary  
Journals,  Publishing  Firms,  and  Intellectuals  in  Italy,  1940-­‐‑1960’.    
        
      Email:  m.milani@reading.ac.uk  



                                           The  review  
Date  sent:  15/01/2015  
Date  accepted:  01/04/2015  
Date  published:  15/05/2015  



                               How  to  cite  this  review  
Milani,   Mila,   “Giuliana   Iannaccaro   e   Giovanni   Iamartino   (Eds.),  
Enforcing   and   Eluding   Censorship:   British   and   Anglo-­‐‑American  
Perspectives”,  Between,  V.9  (2015),  http://www.Betweenjournal.it/  
  




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