Taking my dictionary into my hands, I've made a stab at translating a couple of later Jacovitti strips. Pa e Ma is a concept familiar to American newspaper strips: a catalog of the miseries of married life. I must say Jacovitti takes misery to a level seldom achieved in American comics.
The Grattasassi family comprises Mr. Grattasassi, a henpecked accountant whose idea of heaven is sitting working crosswords; his ball-busting wife Giangiovanna, whose verbal abuse of her husband makes the Lockhorns seem an ideal couple; his daughter Georgina, a fiery student radical; his son Atilla, a super-genius; the baby Cicciantonio, who nurses on salames; Mr. G.'s horny old grandfather; their TV-obsessed maid Audia, and the family dog Eccellenza.
The family is bizarre to the extreme, but the art and many of the jokes are pretty funny!
Amateur translator's note: I was defeated by Mr. G.'s expletives. Some examples are "Mondo vigliacco!" "Mondo caimano!" etc. They really don't make much sense in Italian either. "Mondo" means "World," so the phrases translate as "Coward(ly) world!" "Crocodile world!" and so on. After trying many ways to approximate them in English I gave up and left them as they were.
17 comments:
In late fourty and early 1950 italian funny films with the famous actor of Napoli TOTO ( Principe de Curtis), are plenty of bizare exclamation."Mondo vigliacco" is from there. What's the meaning?
The world where we live is often unkindly .
The life is full of bad events. About so.
A curiosity: on early sixty (1964) the actor Totò made a film ( "Che fine ha fatto Totò baby" [a parody of " What even happened to Baby Jane?" by Henry Farrell]). Well, in this film some things are the same Jacovitti drawn ( 1960/63) in the comic "Baby Tarallo", printed weekly ( on monday) in the daily newspaper "Il Giorno".
So you can see how much complicated is all the thing!!
"In bocca al lupo" for your translation of Jacovitti words jokes!!
For not mention the "roots" research.
So long.
I beg your pardon! I've forgotten: Jacovitti drawn in 1945 the story "Oreste il guastafeste", printed on "Il Vittorioso" from the first number of the year 1948.
I this comic story, Oreste i guastafeste for the first time said "Mondo vigliacco ".
But I've to say that in Italy usually it's told "Mondo ladro", "Mondo cane"," Mondo porco","Mondo boia" too.
They are all words synonymous each others.
"Mondo vigliacco" is on the same line.
Who was the first to invent the way to say "Mondo vigliacco"?? Jacovitti or Totò??
I don't know.
If you want to know the first Jacovitti comic about family
, you have to read the comic book "La famiglia Spaccabue",
This comic story was printed weekly the first time on the students newspaper named Intervallo", in late summer 1945.
But you can easily find it because reprinted as comic book by Camillo Conti in the year 1989 as "Albi dell'avventura" Serie Lisca di pesce, n°272.
Here, in this comic story, you can see the character "Oreste il guastafeste" to say many times "Mondo vigliacco".
I've thought about this way of say. I think it's a way of say in use in south Italy, specially in the Abruzzo country, where Jacovitti was born.
Maybe, I'm not sure.
It would be necessary to investigates.....
As Tomaso implies, translating Jacovitti is an almost impossible task. He plays with words and dialects as well.
Of interest to those who don't know Jacovitti, he drew directly in ink, without previous pencilling, and inked with a very fine pen, and would go over the lines many times until he obtained a broader "stroke".
He also made up the story as he drew along, without knowing where it would end (it depended on the amount of pages he was allotted).
Concerning the word "mondo vigliacco", if you translate it literally it would be something like "soundrel world" or "world of scoundrels". Yet the meaning is that the world as such is a scoundrel and treats him badly, so he damns the world. The translation would be: "damn world" or "cruel world" or something like that. Never translate word by word, or it won't make any sense (same goes when translating English language curses into another language).
Since, as Tomaso said, you can also say "mondo cane", "mondo porco", all being the word "world" followed by the name of an animal (a dog or a pig in these cases), but having the same meaning (damn or cruel world) Jacovitti adds to the roster a crocodile, making the curse even more surrealistic.
My grandfather used to say "porco dio" all the time, which translated literally means "god's a pig", yet in Italian it's the equivalent of saying "goddamn" in english.
Pippo Baudo is the most annoying Italian TV presentor, appealing to the lower classes, and who happens to be in every tv show, not to mention every Sunday, when he's on all day long.
There is a large difference among "blasphemy" and"Pet phase -or stock -, exclamation or "Way of speaking", for not to tell about "Idioms"."So, it is not right to believe that "Mondo Viglicco"by Jacovitti may be whitout difference all these things toghether."Mondo vigliacco" is only an exlamation or a way to say.
Jacovitti never used blasphemies in his ballonns or captions.
May be Jacovitti became scurrilous in some comicslike "Jaor Balordo", first and second episod. ( Ed, Panini 1992)
But it was the time Jacovitti, in early '80, drawn "The Kamasutra" too, after to have left the catholic AVE.
Strage times....
You've made it a fun read. These are from what, the late seventies?
Oh, oh, what is happening??
Ehhh, I have to write all again....
Ger: on late seventies Jacovitti worked on many things.For comics he draw on the weekly "Il Giornalino" eight short "Cocco Bill"comic storiesat full colours.One time a year there was the famous "Diario Vitt" where he draw long adventures of"Cip,Gallina e Zagar" and "Cocco Bill"too.
"Diario Vitt"1979/80 " Jacodicestradalvittevolmente", 198 strips long.
"Diario Vitt"1978/79 "Jacovittevolissimevolmente",208 strips with Cocco Bill.
!977/78, alwais on the "Diario Vitt"Jak Mandolino"for the friends: Jak violoncello.208 strips.
I seem to me to be all.
Ah, I have to say all these stories have been reprinted many times.Un example??
Edizioni "Stampa Alternativa": ", September 2006, price 26 euro,326 pages. "Gli anni d'oro del Diario Vitt".
Story teller Goffredo Fofi.
It's a good book, if anyone loves Jacovitti!
For your polite request about the "Fantasmi" history please contact me by sending me a private message to my FB account.
Corrierino, thank you, I have done so. Please check your "other" folder. Thanks.
I've to say something more about late 1970 Jacovitti comic works: in the year 1977 Jacovitti draw a singolar story,That's CIPZAGMAPU, Casa edireice Club anni trenta, Genova 10 Maggio 1988.One only comic story but in two different albubs, og large size both,40x32 cm.
Cip and Gallina and dog Kilometro against the magigian Mapu....
Good reading to you all, folks!!
Sorry I repeat: ...albuns, on large size both...
What about Jacovitti in early '80??
It were lean years, because every comic pubblcation in Italy was living big troubles.
"Il Corriere dei ragazzi"( since 1908 to 1972 "Il Corriere dei Piccoli") became "Corrier Boy", but it didin't work.
Jacovitti went off from A.V.E "Diario Vitt" and "Il Giornalino" and he began to draw on the adult mensuel "PlayBoy"; before he did work on the "Kamasultra ( a crazy version of indian sex poem "Kamasutra").
So Jacovitti in early '80 began to collaborate again for the new little size mensuel "Linus", for which drew two episodes of the character "Joe Balordo, a hard boyled private eye.
This work was reprint in 1992 by "Panini comics ed. Modena, on full colours in a large size book .
Smurf or Diego... I want to try and translate a four page Jak Mandolino story. Can either of you help me with a rough English translation? You can reach me at my blog.
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