Article published In: Game Localisation
Edited by Xiaochun Zhang and Samuel Strong
[The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 4:2] 2017
► pp. 100–119
Translating literature into playability
The case of Dante’s Inferno
Published online: 26 January 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.00005.pet
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.00005.pet
Abstract
From the perspective of Game Localisation (O’Hagan, Minako and Carmen Mangiron. 2013. Game Localization: Translating for the global digital entertainment industry. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. , . 2015. Translation and Localization in Video Games. Making Entertainment Software Global. London: Routledge.), this paper examines the translation of Dante’s Inferno (Electronic Arts 2010) from English into Italian. Parallel excerpts from in-game dialogues are compared in order to analyse the relationship between the source and the target texts, while exploring the influence Dante’s masterpiece exerts on the Italian localisation. The objective is to show that, when a game is based on the target culture literature, the latter seems to constrain translation to ensure a successful local impact. As findings suggest, by means of quotations together with lexical, syntactic and stylistic choices, the Italian game is more literarily expressive than its English source, thus providing players with a multimedia interactive Dantesque experience.
Keywords: literature, video games, remediation, game localisation, translation
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Dante’s inferno
- 3.Remediation: From epic poem into action game
- 4. Dante’s Inferno intralinguistic and intertextual engagement
- 5.Literature and game localisation
- 6.On the Italian localisation of Dante’s Inferno
- 7.Conclusions
- Note
References
References (31)
Ayo, Denise. 2013. “When Did Dante Become a Scythe-Wielding Badass?: Modeling Adaption and Shifting Gender Convention in Dante’s Inferno.” In Game On, Hollywood!: Essays on the Intersection of Video Games and Cinema, edited by Gretchen Papazian and Joseph M. Sommers, 101–121. Jefferson: McFarland.
Bernal-Merino, Miguel. 2007. “Challenges in the Translation of Video Games”. Revista Tradumática 51: 1–7. [URL]
. 2008. “Training translators for the video game industry”. In The Didactics of Audiovisual Translation, edited by Jorge Díaz-Cintas, 141–155. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
. 2009. “Video games and children’s books in translation”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 111: 234–247. [URL]
. 2015. Translation and Localization in Video Games. Making Entertainment Software Global. London: Routledge.
Bolter, Jay D. and Richard Grusin. 2000. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Brophy-Warren, Jamin. 2010. “Dante’s Inferno: Do Classic Poems Make Great Videogames?” The Wall Street Journal. [URL]
Chandler, Heather and Stephanie O’Malley-Deming. 2012. The Game Localization Handbook. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Dakan, Rick. 2010. “Dante’s Inferno: The Book based on The Game based on The Poem based on the Theology”. Endgadget. [URL]
Dill, Karen E. and Kathryn P. Thill. 2007. “Video game characters and the socialization of gender roles: Young people’s perceptions mirror sexist media depictions”. Sex Roles, 571: 851–864.
Fernández-Costales, Alberto. 2014. “Video game localization: adapting superheroes to different cultures”. Quaderns. Revista de Traducció, 211: 225–239. [URL]
Gameplay Teamzone. 2015. Dante’s Inferno. YouTube. [URL]
Good, Owen. 2009. “EA’s Fake Protest Riles Some Religious”. Kotaku. [URL]
Kline, Daniel T. 2014. “Introduction. All Your History Are Belong to Us: Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages.” In Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages, edited by Daniel T. Kline, 1–11. London: Routledge.
Mangiron, Carmen and Minako O’Hagan. 2006. “Game localization: unleashing imagination with ‘restricted’ translation”. The Journal of Specialised Translation 61: 10–21. [URL]
Nord, Christiane. 1997. Translating as a Purposeful Activity: Functional approaches explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.
O’Hagan, Minako and Carmen Mangiron. 2013. Game Localization: Translating for the global digital entertainment industry. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Pettini, Silvia. 2017. The Translation of Realia and Irrealia in Game Localization: Culture-Specificity between Realism and Fictionality. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Roma Tre University.
Pinsky, Robert. 2008. “Dante and the Problem of Translation” (Video). BigThink. [URL]
Popper, Benjamin. 2010. “Dante Alighieri: Epic Poet, Ass Kicker”. The Atlantic. [URL]
Purchese, Robert. 2009. “Live Dante’s Inferno interview”. Eurogamer. [URL]
Servitje, Lorenzo. 2014. “Digital Mortification of Literary Flesh: Computational Logistics and Violences of Remediation in Visceral Games’ Dante’s Inferno”. Games and Culture 9 (5): 368–388.
Snider, Mike. 2010a. “Dante’s Inferno represents one hell of a video-game concept”. USA Today. [URL]
. 2010b. “Talking ‘Dante’s Inferno’ with Visceral Games’ Jonathan Knight”. USA Today. [URL]
VGChartz. 2017. Dante’s Inferno global sales (in millions of units) per game. [URL]
Wikipedia. “Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy in popular culture”. [URL]
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Melo, Pedro de Souza
Ashok, Pratiksha
O’Hagan, Minako, Julie McDonough Dolmaya & Hendrik J. Kockaert
2019. Pandemic, localization and change of guard. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 6:2 ► pp. 69 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.