Friday, November 15, 2019

"The Betrothed"


In the comments to my "Mickey's Inferno" post, an anonymous commenter linked to this, which is this. It's a very early Guido-Martina-penned story; it's interesting for a number of reasons, the first of which is that, for unclear reasons, it's bilingual in Italian and a rough approximation of English. So let's take a look, shall we?


This is based on an 1827 novel, Alessandro Manzoni's I promessi sposi, which is apparently a huge cultural touchstone on Italy, but I must admit, even as a big reader, I'd never heard of it until now (the English translation is called The Betrothed, which not only sounds better but seems to be more accurate than "the promised spouses," given that they're not yet married). But now I actually kind of want to read it, not for any reason having to do with this comic, but just because it looks interesting. Note, however, that we're talking about a seven-hundred-plus-page novel condensed to a two-page comic, so if you're a huge Manzoni fan, I would not expect to find many plot points from the book herein.

What with that title card done up to look like the opening of a movie, I wonder if the English dialogue might be there because Disney was primarily associated with Hollywood movies in Martina's head and he was trying to mimic those. Though given that it's an Italian novel, the messages seem kinda mixed. Do you think Martina did the translation himself? I must say, these days anyone could do a better job just with a straight google translate translation.


Oh yeah, another weird thing here is that the story is bordered on both sides by this calendar. But I don't know if that's actually related to the story in any way, or if it was just a convention of Albi d'Oro (the pre-Topolino publication where this appeared--which also featured a teaser spread for the upcoming "Mickey's Inferno").


Other odd thing is that this features stolen (okay, let's say...repurposed) art from Gottfredson, Manuel Gonzales, and Enrico Pinochi (who did the art for a number of Federico Pedrocchi stories). I'm not versed enough to recognize what part is by who, but it's probably why the art doesn't always seem to match the dialogue. Like, why is Clarabelle scowling here?

Also, what the heck is that song she's meant to be singing? There's no Italian version, so we can't even look back to try to see what it's a mangled version of. You can do a google search for "Theresa" and "Erbett," but you will come up empty.  Anyone who knows what it's supposed to be, please let me know.


Please enjoy this passionate romance. One thing you will learn when studying a foreign language is that just because two words come from the same root or appear to, they don't necessarily mean the same thing. For instance, both English-speakers learning French and French-speakers learning English must learn that "actuellement" does not mean "actually." Anyway, that's how we get "what a sympathetic guy" here.


One of the great love stories of our time, or any time. Really. I don't know what else to say.


Oh no! Pete! Why is he holding what appears to be a snapped-off broom handle in the first panel? Because this art is from who knows where! Why does he object to the wedding? For reasons not even vaguely hinted at! OMG!


So, Goofy contemplates suicide. Well hell, Mickey did the same in Gottfredson, so there's precedent. I get the seeming gibberish of the pun; the problem is, in English we don't generally think of lakes as having "branches." It would work a lot better if it was a river. I don't know what kind of weirdass lakes you have in Italy.


Well, never mind; turns out Pete died of plague (or "pest"). I do enjoy that. Obviously, Martina had no thought here of any kind of continuity for these characters.


Dammit. Well, fair enough--can't forget about Horace. You know, if this whole thing was completely different and better-translated, we could get some real pathos up in here. But alas, it is what it is.


So anyway, then Goofy lands a plane in a pond and dies (I can only assume)  The end.  I assume this is a "Leader of the Pack"-type situation?  Given that the novel is from 1827, you have to question the textual fidelity here ("oh, that's the only reason for that, is it?).

I dunno. That might be about all there is to say about that. A silly and totally frivolous oddity, but given that it'll probably take less than a minute to read the whole thing, you might as well check it out.

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8 Comments:

Blogger Pan Miluś said...

The link you posted isn't working...

But aside from that - yhe, this story looks hilarious and "goofy" in all the best way. I love how casual they are to learn Pete is dead and just how Clara just pops to the panel to inform them about it.

Pete clearly must been some big personality here if his dead made the papers.

November 15, 2019 at 8:57 PM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

I must say, these days anyone could do a better job just with a straight google translate translation.

Anyone? Really? Have you been keeping up with New IDW? …Okay, there are some actual honest-to-God synataxi mistakes in The Promised Spouses which the Fresh And New translations avoid, but in a way, I'd say that makes the Martina story at least more fun to read.

November 16, 2019 at 5:49 AM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

At any rate, interesting to see a vintage story hinging on the Goofy/Clarabelle romance like that. I think there's a whole area of Disney erudition to be explored in the history of the relative popularity of the Goofy/Clarabelle and Horace/Clarabelle ships.

November 16, 2019 at 5:50 AM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

Oh, and regarding the story's being in English, could there had been an educational element, do you think? You may by now have noticed that until relatively recently, the French Journal de Mickey and Picsou Magazine would often contain one or two-page stories written in Basic English, with a French translation subtitled below, intended to help young readers start to learn the language. The English was usually better than this, but the necessity for everyone to speak with perfect grammar, simple words and no confusing contractions often made it equally funny as Martina's fumblings here.

November 16, 2019 at 5:59 AM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

…also, as to the business of lakes having branches, the (actually real) Lake Como is in fact branching-shaped.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lago_di_Como.png

November 16, 2019 at 9:42 AM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Anyone? Really? Have you been keeping up with New IDW? …Okay, there are some actual honest-to-God synataxi mistakes in The Promised Spouses which the Fresh And New translations avoid, but in a way, I'd say that makes the Martina story at least more fun to read.

Heh. Yeah, that was low-hanging fruit that I just totally missed, alas.

November 16, 2019 at 11:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Do you think Martina did the translation himself? I must say, these days anyone could do a better job just with a straight google translate translation." I think so. According to Becattini the story was written and translated (into macaronic english, "inglese maccheronico") by Guido Martina. Likely Martina made deliberately many translation mistakes to make the story more funny. The story included also a disclaimer stating "I personaggi sono immaginari. Ogni riferimento con la realtà e la grammatica inglese è puramente casuale" ("The characters are ficticious. Any resemblance to reality and to english grammar is purely coincidental").

"Oh yeah, another weird thing here is that the story is bordered on both sides by this calendar. But I don't know if that's actually related to the story in any way, or if it was just a convention of Albi d'Oro (the pre-Topolino publication where this appeared--which also featured a teaser spread for the upcoming "Mickey's Inferno")." The story was indeed published in a school planner (it was a special issue of "Albi d'oro").

"Also, what the heck is that song she's meant to be singing? There's no Italian version, so we can't even look back to try to see what it's a mangled version of. You can do a google search for "Theresa" and "Erbett," but you will come up empty. Anyone who knows what it's supposed to be, please let me know." https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_vispa_Teresa_(Sailer) "The witty Theresa had into the erbett" is a macaronic translation of the first verse, "La vispa Teresa avea tra l'erbetta", that translates as "The lively Teresa had among the grass". The story included also some famous quotations from "Promessi Sposi", e.g. "questo matrimonio non s'ha da fare" ("this marriage is not to take place"), "Addio, monti sorgenti dalle acque" ("Farewell, ye mountains, source of waters!" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_to_the_mountains , although in this case the official 1834 translation of the novel isn't correct, "sorgenti dalle acque" means actually "rising up from the waters", not "source of waters"). The first panel of the story mentions "il ramo del lago di Como" because the original novel begins as follows: "Quel ramo del lago di Como, che volge a mezzogiorno" ("That branch of the Lake of Como which turns toward the south"). Pete dies of plague because in the novel Don Rodrigo dies of plague (allowing the marriage between Renzo and Lucia). Anyways, later two much longer parodies of the novel were made, https://inducks.org/story.php?c=I%20TL%201086-AP and https://inducks.org/story.php?c=I%20TL%201769-AP .

November 30, 2019 at 5:43 AM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Thanks for all that! Extremely informative.

December 1, 2019 at 8:00 PM  

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