Abstract:
This thesis deals with the translation of “Rhinoceros in love”, a play written by the avant-gard playwright Liao Yimei in 1999 and staged on the same year by her husband and prominent theatre director Meng Jinghui. It immediately became a huge success, a must-watch especially for the youth struggling in China big cities. They could see themselves represented in the play: the story of the rhino keeper Malu, a loner and an outcast, who falls desperately though hopelessly in love with his beautiful neighbour, up to the point of sacrificing everything for her, talks to the audience about the hardship of love and human relationships in a society that seeks uniformation and standardization, even of feelings, and that values profit above everything else.
The first chapter of this thesis describes more specifically the author's career and the social, cultural and literary milieu in which she works, as well as the play itself and its plot, analyzing the of the several metaphors and symbols contained in it and uncovering their menaing, in order to enhance the reader understanding. As for the last chapters, one consist in a commentary of the translation, to consider the problem faced during the translation process and the strategies adopted to face them, while the other is a comparison between the English translation by Mark Talacko (2012) and the present Italian translation, which intends to emphasize the similarities and dissimilarities between them.
