Made in Italy: The Giver by Lois Lowry

It's always interesting to see when titles are or aren't translated, and The Giver by Lois Lowry is no exception. You'd think that there are set rules for when and when not to translate titles, but that's not exactly true. I've seen books here in Italy that keep the original English title, translate it directly, or give it a new translated title, and none of these follow a pattern. Circe by Madeline Miller is named after its titular character and the title remains the same, but Ariadne by Jennifer Saint becomes Arianna in the Italian edition. You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao became Ancora una volta con te. The more translated books I find, the more I learn it really is done on a case-by-case basis. In the case of The Giver, it’s such a staple that it makes sense why the English is kept.

The Giver tells the story of 12-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly utopian society. As the story goes on, however, truths are discovered and revelations are made, and suddenly the world itself feels, and is, very different. It’s a staple of the dystopian genre and earned itself a Newbery Medal in 1994.

Lowry released the original novel in 1993 with publisher Houghton Mifflin, and before that wrote Number the Stars and Rabble Starkey, also published by Hughton Mifflin. The version I found was published by Mondadori in May 2021. The translator, Simona Brogli, has also worked with Mondadori to translate Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and the entire Hunger Games trilogy.

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