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Made in Italy: Heartstopper

I have seen a handful of Queer books, or books involving Queer characters, at various stores in Italy, but seeing Heartstopper at La Feltrinelli in Lecce still managed to surprise me somewhat. This was the first store I’d seen in Italy to specifically have an LGBTQ section, and even from across the room I was able to spot the various pride flags and the covers of Heartstopper’s first and fourth volumes, visibly turned out so you could see them. Maybe it’s because I’ve been re-reading all four volumes in preparation for the April 22nd Netflix series release, or maybe it’s because Alice Oseman and their works always manage to catch my eye no matter the situation, but, regardless, I scrambled over there real fast. 


A photo of Carmela, holding the first volume of Heartstopper. They're standing in front of the LGBTQ display in La Feltrinelli.
You can see the LGBTQ section behind me

To my delight, they were indeed Italian translations of the books. The title wasn’t changed—though that honestly makes sense seeing as I can’t think of many easy translations of the word "heartstopper." “Heartstrings” is "le corde del cuore," so you could attempt the same construction by using the translation of “stopper” and adding “of the heart/del cuore”, but the problem with that is that “stopper” (specifically, “stopper” from “heartstopper”) isn’t exactly a real word in English. The position of a stopper, as in “a defensive position in sports (or other games),” is an English loan word in Italian, and the word for “stopper” as in “cork, or something that stops something else from passing through” has a variety of options that don’t seem right for the translation. Heartstopper uses "stopper" as in “one who stops,” the title literally referring to, in my analytical opinion, “one who stops the heart.” So I’m thinking the most direct translation would be something like “colui che ferme il cuore,” which has a totally different vibe. Some titles just aren't translatable, so you either keep the original or make a new title in the translated language. Heartstopper being kept Heartstopper is probably for the best. It's so iconic; I really can't think of an alternative.


Now, on to the publishing details. Translated by Francesco Matteuzzi, this version of Heartstopper was published in May 2020 by Mondadori (they’re a top publisher in Italy, and have many books from recognizable authors such as Suzanne Collins, Rick Riordan, Leigh Bardugo, Cassandra Claire, Holly Black, Victoria Aveyard, and more.) The first retail version of volume one was originally released by Hodder Children's Books (of Hachette Group UK) in February 2019, with Oseman’s Kickstarter version being released earlier, in 2018. Matteuzzi would have been working from the retail version, though, and seemingly had only a year or so to translate the entire book. I’ve never personally translated a graphic novel or comic, but it does make me think that the translation acquisition may have been made whilst the English version was in production. Publishing companies aren’t above giving translators pretty, well, ruthless deadlines, but I don’t think just a year is enough, not when you take into account setting the translations, let alone proofing, printing, and distributing it.
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