I think this will interest you...
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See below:
"...... the translation of Gramsci's mature thought into German often entails the re-translation of terms and concepts which Gramsci took from German in the first place and translated (giving them a new semantic value in the process) into Italian. This is the case, for example, with the term "società civile" ["civil society"]--the Hegelian and Marxian "bürgerliche Gesellschaft"--which the German translators rendered with the neologism "Zivilgesellschaft". (This neologism had been employed earlier by Sabine Kebir in her book Antonio Gramscis Zivilgesellschaft, Hamburg: VSA, 1991.) Another example is the pair of terms "struttura / superstruttura" which (starting with Volume 3) the German translators have consistently rendered as "Struktur / Superstruktur" instead of "Basis / Überbau" (see Vol. 3, p.A213)."
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A brief note of mine:
In the beginning of the "Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Oekonomie" (1857/1858) Marx despises the concept of civil society as an irrevocable construction of the XVIII th century. So, civil society should be bound, in the Marxian view, to the social infrastructure, what would rend the expression useless, a remnant of the XVIII th century political thought.
Nevertheless, Antonio Gramsci related it to the superstructure too, without ceasing to be a great Marxist thinker. This is well explained by a sympathetic liberal critic, the famous Norberto Bobbio. His little book
"Saggi su Gramsci" (Essays on Gramsci, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Milan, 1990) deals largely with the subject.
In solidarity, Roberto Magellan
Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans ...... Ouvriers, paysans, nous sommes Le grand PARTI DES TRAVAILLEURS.
( L' Internationale )
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International Gramsci Society
Newsletter March 1993 Number 2
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6. MISCELLANEOUS
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News from Europe
by
Fabio Frosini
1. Translations
The international dissemination of Gramsci's thought and its study will be greatly helped by the publication, currently under way, of the German translation in a critical edition of the integral text of the Prison Notebooks. The first volume of this edition, which is being published by the Argument publishing house in Hamburg, appeared in 1991 and the final volume is scheduled to appear in 1995. This difficult project was undertaken without the benefit of financial support from any private or public source; its realization is owed entirely to the initiative and the energies of a small group of scholars and translators (Ruedi Graf, Peter Jehle, Gerhard Kuck, Joachim Meinert, Leoni Schröder) working under the direction of Klaus Bochmann, a specialist in Romance languages from the University of Leipzig, and the philosopher and political theorist Wolfgang F. Haug of the Free University in Berlin--both of whom have written extensively on Gramsci.
Four volumes of this translation and critical edition have already been published. The first volume of the Gefängnishefte came out in 1991 and contains the translation of Notebook 1, in addition to an introductory essay and the critical apparatus. Volume 2 (1991) contains the text and critical apparatus of Notebooks 2 and 3; Volume 3 (1992) includes Notebooks 4 and 5 and the relevant critical apparatus; and Volume 4 (1992) contains the text and critical apparatus of Notebooks 6 and 7.
Among the many interesting aspects of this German edition, two in particular stand out: one is lexical and the other cultural in nature. In the first place, it should be noted that the translation of Gramsci's mature thought into German often entails the re-translation of terms and concepts which Gramsci took from German in the first place and translated (giving them a new semantic value in the process) into Italian. This is the case, for example, with the term "società civile" ["civil society"]--the Hegelian and Marxian "bürgerliche Gesellschaft"--which the German translators rendered with the neologism "Zivilgesellschaft". (This neologism had been employed earlier by Sabine Kebir in her book Antonio Gramscis Zivilgesellschaft, Hamburg: VSA, 1991.) Another example is the pair of terms "struttura / superstruttura" which (starting with Volume 3) the German translators have consistently rendered as "Struktur / Superstruktur" instead of "Basis / Überbau" (see Vol. 3, p.A213). A second noteworthy feature of the German edition concerns the annotations which have been added to supplement the already existing notes supplied by Valentino Gerratana in Italian critical edition. By enriching the annotations in the critical apparatus, the German editors (like the editor of the English language edition, Joseph Buttigieg) are seeking to make Gramsci's work more accessible to the readers of their translation. As the preparation of the edition progressed, the German editors increasingly felt the need to amplify the critical apparatus.
The German edition constitutes a concrete example of Gramsci's theory of the "translatability" of one national culture into another. It also demonstrates how the work of translation helps to bring into relief the theoretical dimension of Gramsci's work. The English Gramsci scholar Derek Boothman (already known for his admirable contributions to Gramscian philology, and especially for his detailed work on the primary and secondary sources of the Prison Notebooks) is in the final stages of completing a selection (in English translation) from the Notebooks dealing primarily with theoretical issues--a volume which take its place alongside the well known and widely used anthologies edited by Q. Hoare and G. Nowell Smith, and D. Forgacs. In Boothman's volume the materials will be gathered under the following rubrics: Religion, Education, History of Economics, Contemporary Economic Trends, Science and Translatability, Croce I [Notebook 10, I], Croce II [Notebook 10, II, etc.]. Boothman will also supply a general introductory essay and brief introductions to each section.
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-- IGS
Honorary President:
Valentino Gerratana
Provisional Committee:
John Cammett (President), 905 West End Avenue, New York, New York 10025 (Tel.: (212)3162613)
Giorgio Baratta (Vice-President), Piazza I. Nievo 5, 00153 Roma (Tel.: (06)5894937)
Frank Rosengarten (Vice-President). 160 East 84th Street, New York, New York 10028 (Tel.: (212)8794735)
Joseph A. Buttigieg (Secretary), Dept. of English, Univ. of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
(Tel.: (219)6317781 / FAX: (219)6318209)
--IGS Newsletter
Information concerning the Gramsci bibliography should be sent directly to John Cammett. On all other matter concerning the IGS Newsletter please contact Joseph Buttigieg.
The European correspondent for the Newsletter is Fabio Frosini, Gieselerstrasse 30, 1-Berlin 31
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