Encounters in Philosophy

• Elena Pulcini, Care of the World, Springer, Dordrecht 2012 (doi)
• Elena Pulcini, The Individual without Passions, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham (MD) 2012

I worked with Elena Pulcini for twenty years before Covid took her away in 2021. Over this time we built a close relationship of understanding, mutual trust and esteem. Our work together culminated in the contemporary translation of two of her books, Care of the World (La cura del mondo) and The Individual without Passions (L’individuo senza passioni), the first dealing with an ever-more pressing topic, the second tracing the passions in philosophy past and present and examining the topic of the gift. These two translations are very important for me: they gave me a wealth of knowledge and my first real experience of close translator-author collaboration. They also marked a turning point in my career, allowing me to enter AITI as a literary translator of non-fiction and opening up a world of opportunities.

After these two books, I have had the chance to translate other books in the field of philosophy, most recently For Nonconformism, Brill 2023, on the friendship and scholarly bond between philosopher Max Horkheimer and economist Friedrich Pollock by Swiss academic Nicola Emery from the Università della Svizzera Italiana; Sovereign Excess, on the fragility of power, whose existence depends on recognition from its victims, by Francescomaria Tedesco, Routledge 2019; For a Generous Society, on the concept of the gift, by Pier Mario Vello and Martina Reolon for Fondazione Vita 2017, while recently I finished the translation, with Rie Shibuya, of Periagoge by Guido Cusinato – forthcoming with Brill – on the theory of singularity and philosophy as an exercise in transformation.

In addition to these books, over the years I have translated many articles for journals and chapters in edited books. To give just a few examples:

• Nicola Emery, “Kant, Max Horkheimer and Picasso” in Kant’s “Critique of Aesthetic Judgment” in the 20th Century, edited by Stefano Marino and Pietro Terzi, De Gruyter, Berlin 2020.
• Mirko Alagna, “The Ground Trembling Under Our Feet. Truth, Politics and Solitude”, Soft Power 6(2), 2019.
• Mauro Ponzi, “Nietzsche: Editions and Interpretations of His Works” by Mauro Ponzi in Nietzsche’s Nihilism in Walter Benjamin, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2017 (doi).