Camilleri ‘lost and found ’ nelle traduzioni delle immagini di copertina

It is said that Andrea Camilleri, in his collaboration with the Palermo-based publishing house Sellerio, at a certain point did not like the cover of one of his many novels. A slight displeasure that the editorial staff attempted to remedy with a gift intended to celebrate the writer’s enormous worldwide success. This gift was a collection of the covers of his novels translated in over twenty countries displaying the illustrations chosen by various international publishers. With this out-of-commerce publication, an aesthetic comparison is drawn between the many Sellerian and foreign book covers that present different aesthetic solutions in the graphic composition of image and text. An excursus among some of the best-known covers is proposed for examining how, internationally, the world of Vigata has been interpreted; a world that for us, Italian readers, is presented precisely, in an almost familiar guise, thanks to an illustrative choice of small reproductions of paintings surrounded by the unmistakable blue of Sellerio’s La Memoria series. In the analysis of the illustrative apparatus, one does not look for a better or a worse cover, but comments on the “right” cover for the foreign market of reference, with an internal analysis of an author that could be extended to comparisons with other authors translated in other countries. Since the Second World War, Italy has exported a long series of authors whose works have impressed themselves in the collective memory, capturing the attention of foreign readers, also thanks to a convincing cover. The coherence between the cover and the content of a book promotes a dialogue with the reader who seeks, through the illustration, a confirmation of the contents mossi oppure quelle atmosfere che promuovono significato e valore al romanzo, anche se non direttamente collegate alla sua trama. L’analisi grafica mette a confronto le diverse traduzioni di una stessa opera, estrapolando immagine, titolo e testo di alcuni ‘casi’ emble- matici e dando testimonianza del ruolo svolto dalla mediazione editoriale nell’esportazione dell’identità italiana, prima ancora che della personalità di Camilleri. promoted or of those atmospheres that contribute meaning and value to the novel, even though not directly linked to its plot. The graphic analysis compares the different translations of one and the same work, extrapolating the image, title and text of several emblematic ‘cases’ and bearing witness to the role played by editorial mediation in the exportation of Italian identity, even before that of Camilleri’s personality.