Pseudo-Hadewijch's mengeldichten: choosing a gender for an Italian translation

Abstract

This article deals with the group of the Mengeldichten 17-29 of the so-called pseudo-Hadewijch and with the process of translating these poems into Italian. With regard to the anonymous author of these poems the translator has been compelled to make a choice of gender, a compulsion that is maybe more evident and more crucial in Romance languages because of the grammatical effects that the gender of the 'I' produces. The article examines how, during the studies, the author(s) of Mengeldichten 17-29 has been seen and how the poems have been translated. A range of considerations have led the translator to prefer the feminine gender for both the author(s) of these poems and her/their audience(s).