Richard Dixon

 

"That these stylish sentences come through with such verve in English — one is almost never aware the book is a translation from the Italian — is due in no small part to the translator, Richard Dixon"

A. E. Stallings on The Celestial Hunter by Roberto Calasso in The New York Times, April 28, 2020

translations

forthcoming

The World Machine by Paolo Volponi
(University of Chicago Press / Seagull Books, May 2024)

world_machine_cover_thmb

 

 

Philosophy of the Home: Domestic Space and Happiness  by Emanuele Coccia
(Penguin Books, April 2024)

coccia_cover

 

 

published

Clandestinity by Antonio Moresco
(Deep Vellum, May 2022)

clandestinity

 

 

South 1982 by Adrián N. Bravi
(Jetstone, March 2022)

Screenshot 2022-03-05 103358

 

 

The Book of Nonexistent Words by Stefano Massini
(HarperVia, October 2021)

nonexistent_cover

 

 

Valse Triste by Marcello Fois
(Maclehose Press, February 2021)

valse_triste

 

 

How to Spot a Fascist by Umberto Eco
(with co-translator Alastair McEwen, Vintage, August 2020)

Eco_Fascist

 

 

The Lehman Trilogy by Stefano Massini
(HarperVia, June 2020)

“Massini’s original text, a novel in verse, has now been issued in English for the first time, in a translation by Richard Dixon... it’s apparent right from the start that Massini is the real thing . His writing is smart, electric, light on its feet.”
           Dwight Garner, The New York Times, June 2020

Lehman Trilogy US

 

 

The Celestial Hunter by Roberto Calasso
(Farrar Straus & Giroux / Allen Lane, April 2020)

Celestial Hunter US

Celestial Hunter UK

 

Crossing the Rubicon: Caesar’s Decision and the Fate of Rome by Luca Fezzi
(Yale University Press, November 2019)

rubicon

 

 

The Unnamable Present by Roberto Calasso
(Farrar Straus & Giroux / Penguin Books, April 2019)

“Richard Dixon’s English translation is wonderfully supple and elegant”
             John Banville, The New York Review of Books

unnamable_cover

Unnamable Present - UK cover

 

The Javelin Thrower by Paolo Volponi
(University of Chicago Press / Seagull Books, January 2019)

Volponi cover

 

 

The Ruin of Kasch by Roberto Calasso
(Farrar Straus & Giroux / Penguin Books, January 2018)

Ruin of Kasch US

Ruin of Kasch UK

 

Chronicles of a Liquid Society by Umberto Eco
(Harvill Secker / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, November 2017)

“Eco’s famously ironic voice, well preserved in Richard Dixon’s translation, is penetrating.” – Financial Times

Eco - CLS - UK cover

Eco - CLS - US cover

 

The Experience of Pain by Carlo Emilio Gadda
(Penguin Classics, November 2017)

gadd_cover

 

 

Distant Light by Antonio Moresco
(Archipelago Books, March 2016)

shortlisted for the 2017 Italian Prose in Translation Award: “Dixon’s translation captures the cadences of Moresco’s prose and his lush, vivid imagery, while also successfully navigating between the narrative's tangible world and its challenging, metaphysical reflections.”

shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award 2018

distant_light_cover

 

 

Dante: The Story of His Life by Marco Santagata
(Harvard University Press, April 2016)

“Elegantly translated...” - Tim Parks in London Review of Books, July 2016

“Marco Santagata has been well served by his translator, Richard Dixon.” – Peter Hainsworth in Times Literary Supplement, October 2016

dante_cover

 

 

Numero Zero by Umberto Eco
(Harvill Secker / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, November 2015)

Numero Zero has been brilliantly translated into English by Richard Dixon, who has been able to catch the changes of voice and tone of the characters, and find English equivalents for the Italian jokes and wordplay.”
         Alberto Manguel, The Guardian 26 November 2015

"Richard Dixon captures brilliantly the intricacies and surprises of Umberto Eco's unpredictable narrative, the richness and playfulness of its language [...] giving us a lively, thoroughly enjoyable reading experience."
         John Florio Prize, 2016: commended translation

numero_zero_us_thumb

numero_zero_uk_thumb

 

The Art of the Publisher by Roberto Calasso
(Farrar Straus & Giroux / Penguin Books, November 2015)

art_publisher_us_thumb

art_publisher_uk_thumb

 

Ardor by Roberto Calasso
(Farrar Straus & Giroux / Penguin Books, Nov 2014)

“Calasso’s prose is scrupulously lucid and elegant in Richard Dixon’s translation” - Pankaj Mishra
         The New York Times December 19, 2014

A ‘book-length essay’ about ritual and sacrifice in Vedic India more/...

Ardor-cover

ardor_penguin

 

The Combover by Adrián N. Bravi
(Frisch & Co, November 2013) more/...

Combover-cover

 

 

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
[translation of author’s revisions for new edition]
(Mariner Books, April 2014) more/...

rose_lite

 

 

Inventing the Enemy by Umberto Eco
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Harvill Secker, Sept 2012) Collected essays

US_Inventing

UK_Inventing

 

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Harvill Secker, Nov 2011)
shortlisted for the 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

US_small_cover_PC

UK_small_cover_PC


Umberto Eco in conversation with Richard Dixon (in Italian) at the Italian Cultural Institute, London – 25 February 2012
( Part I | Part 2 | Part 3 - on YouTube )

 

Zibaldone by Giacomo Leopardi
(Farrar Straus & Giroux / Penguin Books, July 2013)

A member of the team of seven translators on the Zibaldone Project run by Rome & Birmingham (UK) Universities; as representative of the team he was awarded the Premio Ginestra 2014.

zib_lite

UK_zib_cover

 

richard_portrait_2023

biography

Richard Dixon lives in Italy and has worked full-time as a translator from Italian to English since 1996.

His translations include works by Roberto Calasso, Umberto Eco, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Giacomo Leopardi, and Antonio Moresco.

He has also translated poetry by Franco Buffoni, Eugenio De Signoribus and other contemporary Italian poets.

He was called to the Bar in 1978 and spent the 1980s in full -time practice as a London barrister

His play, Just Another Case, was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service in 1992.

In 1989 he moved with his partner Peter Greene to Italy’s Marche region where they live in a rural canonica that they restored during the 1990s.

Download a full biography here


articles & interviews

February 2024: The book I would like to translate in New Italian Books

October 2022: Interview with Joe Williams on Trafika Europe  Radio about translating Antonio Moresco's Clandestinity

May 2022: Anatomia del linguaggio - Interview with Silvia Veroli (in Italian) in il manifesto

October 2021: Interview with Paolo Grossi in New Italian Books, in English here and Italian here

August 2021: Conversazione a quattro: four translators discuss the challenges and joys of translating Italian literature, with Howard Curtis, Katherine Gregor and Lori Hetherington, European Literature Network

April 2021: “Colpo Grosso” mi aiutò a tradurre Leopardi, interview with Angelo Ferracuti, La Lettura, Corriere della Sera - republished in Retabloid, April 2021, pp.10-13.

February 2014: Lo Zibaldone di Leopardi – Come è letta la poesia italiana all’estero, interview with Paolo Ercolani in il manifesto, republished (in Italian and English) in Nuovi Argomenti.


contact

Richard Dixon
info@write.it