Incipit Opening paragraph
Uno dei miei primi vanti era stato il mio nome. Avevo presto imparato (fu lui, mi sembra, il primo a informarmene), che Arturo è una stella: la luce più rapida e radiosa della figura di Boote, nel cielo boreale! E che inoltre questo nome fu portato pure da un re dell’antichità, comandante a una schiera di fedeli: i quali erano tutti eroi, come il loro re stesso, e dal loro re trattati alla pari, come fratelli.

Elsa Morante, L’isola di Arturo, (Einaudi)

One of the very first things I was proud of was my name. I learned early (it was he, I think,  who first informed me about it), that Arthur is a star: the fastest and brightest light in the Bootes constellation in the northern sky! And that this name was even the name of an ancient king, the commander of devoted followers: followers who were all heroes, like the king himself, and treated as equals by their king, like brothers.

Elsa Morante, L’isola di Arturo (Einaudi)

Translation by ©MatiColarossi
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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