Philip Balma

University of Connecticut, Literatures, Cultures & Languages, Faculty Member

Indiana University, French & Italian, Alumnus

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Books by Philip Balma

Balma, Philip, ed. Giacomo Matteotti and the Birth of Anti-Fascism: Selected Journalistic Writings (1901-1924). CSP, 2025.

Giacomo Matteotti (1885-1924) was an anti-fascist icon whose murder made him a symbol of the stru... more Giacomo Matteotti (1885-1924) was an anti-fascist icon whose murder made him a symbol of the struggle against tyranny in Italy. Though he was a very prolific journalist, he was primarily known as an influential and vocal member of the Italian Parliament who openly opposed the violence and corruption of Mussolini's fascist dictatorship. Matteotti was devoted to improving the lives of the working class, and passionate about creating positive changes in society through social reforms. Shortly after he publicly denounced the fascist party for their blatant electoral fraud in 1924, Matteotti was kidnapped and murdered by Mussolini's supporters. The present volume includes a significant selection of his writings, most of which are appearing in English translation for the first time. Since his political journalism went hand in hand with his tireless work as an elected official and member of the Chamber of Deputies, this edition also includes three of his most important parliamentary speeches, as well as an appendix consisting of two letters he wrote in the months leading up to his untimely death.

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Balma, Philip and Giovanni Spani, eds. TRANSLATING FOR (AND FROM) THE ITALIAN SCREEN: DUBBING AND SUBTITLES. New York: Bordighera Press, 2020.

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Balma, Philip and Simona Wright, eds. The Jewish Experience in Contemporary Italy. Spec. Iss. of Nemla Italian Studies 37 (2015)

by Simona Wright and Philip Balma

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Balma, Philip. Edith Bruck in the Mirror: Fictional Transitions and Cinematic Narratives. West Lafayette (IN): Purdue University Press, 2014.

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Balma, Philip and Giovanni Spani, eds. L'Italia letteraria e cinematografica dal secondo Novecento ai giorni nostri. Cuneo: Nerosubianco, 2012.

L'Italia degli ultimi sessant'anni ha attraversato numerosi cambiamenti dal punto di vista storic... more L'Italia degli ultimi sessant'anni ha attraversato numerosi cambiamenti dal punto di vista storico, politico, e socio-culturale. Il cinema e la letteratura riflettono e documentano questi momenti di transizione e di crisi proponendo una interpretazione di come la società italiana sia arrivata al suo attuale momento di emergenza politica e culturale. Attraverso lo studio di alcuni degli autori e registi che hanno popolato la scena culturale italiana a cavallo di due secoli, questo volume intende investigare in maniera concreta la coscienza letteraria e cinematografica di una nazione che continua ad esprimere memorie del passato mentre tenta di risolvere le ansie e le irrequietudini del presente.

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Balma, Philip, Stefano Boselli and Viola Miglio, eds. The Necessary Foreign: Translating Dialects. Spec. Iss. of Translation Studies Journal 3 (2011).

by Philip Balma and Stefano Boselli

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Papers by Philip Balma

Balma, Philip. "Matteotti's Words" in Giacomo Matteotti and the Birth of Anti-Fascism (2025)

Giacomo Matteotti and the Birth of Anti-Fascism, 2025

Although Giacomo Matteotti was a prolific journalist, he was best known as an outspoken and influ... more Although Giacomo Matteotti was a prolific journalist, he was best known as an outspoken and influential member of the Italian Parliament, where he fearlessly denounced the violence and corruption of Mussolini’s fascist regime. After his assassination, he became a powerful symbol of the fight against tyranny in Italy. Deeply committed to improving the lives of the working class, Matteotti championed social reforms aimed at building a more just society. In 1924, after publicly exposing the fascist party’s blatant electoral fraud, he was kidnapped and murdered by Mussolini’s supporters. His political journalism was inseparable from his tireless work as an elected representative in the Chamber of Deputies. Now, for the first time, a significant selection of his journalistic writings is being made available in English translation.

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Balma, Philip. "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anti-Fascism" in Giacomo Matteotti and the Birth of Anti-Fascism (2025)

Giacomo Matteotti and the Birth of Anti-Fascism, 2025

Giacomo Matteotti relentlessly confronted the violence and corruption that defined Mussolini’s fa... more Giacomo Matteotti relentlessly confronted the violence and corruption that defined Mussolini’s fascist regime. His assassination in 1924, carried out by supporters of the dictatorship after he publicly exposed the regime’s flagrant electoral fraud, transformed him into an enduring emblem of resistance to tyranny. A tireless advocate for the working class, Matteotti envisioned a more equitable society and pursued meaningful social reforms to achieve it. As a prolific journalist as well as a bold and influential voice in the Italian Parliament, his sharp political writing was inseparable from his work as a dedicated member of the Chamber of Deputies, where his convictions shaped his actions and his advocacy. Now, for the first time, a substantial selection of his journalistic writings is being presented in English translation.

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Balma, Philip. "Setting the Italian American Gangster in Stone: Little Caesar and Scarface." Italian Americans in Film. Eds. Daniele Fioretti and Fulvio Orsitto, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.

Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

The silent cinema certainly did not depict all Italian Americans as crimi-nals… […] The de nitive... more The silent cinema certainly did not depict all Italian Americans as crimi-nals… […] The de nitive connection between Italian Americans and the gangster lm would be established by two seminal works […]: Little Caesar and Scarface (Bondanella 181). You need people like me, so you can point your [expletive] ngers, and say 'That's the bad guy!'-Tony Montana, Scarface (1983) AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, PRE-CODE GROUNDBREAKERS Mervyn LeRoy's 1931 movie Little Caesar is considered by many as "one of the most signi cant gangster lms" in the history of the cinematic medium (Longman and Finn 145). When coupled with Howard Hawks' Scarface, released in 1932, these two groundbreaking lms set the proverbial scene for the burgeoning gangster lm genre both in the United

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Balma, Philip, and Giovanni Spani. "Dubbing America and Subtitling Italy." in TRANSLATING FOR (AND FROM) THE ITALIAN SCREEN: DUBBING AND SUBTITLES. New York: Bordighera Press, 2020. 1-10.

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Balma, Philip, and Giovanni Spani. "From Can to Dawg: Rendering Calzavara's Dialectal Poetry for Italophone and Anglophone Readers" Forum Italicum 44.1 (March 2010): 119-135.

Forum Italicum, Jan 1, 2011

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Balma, Philip. "FROM STANDARDIZATION TO DIALECT COMPILATION: A BRIEF HISTORY OF ITALIAN DIALECT POETRY IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION." Translation Studies Journal 3 (2011): 1-13. <http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5r18r9dx>

Translation: A Translation Studies Journal, Jan 1, 2011

Dialectal texts have the potential, perhaps more than any other texts, to be truly untranslatable... more Dialectal texts have the potential, perhaps more than any other texts, to be truly untranslatable. Putting aside the complex obstacles presented by texts that employ a number of different eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. vernaculars and a variety of registers (such as Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Gadda's Pasticciaccio), this study will focus on the limitations of a trilingual format for the translation of dialect poetry, and propose an alternate quadrilingual solution designed to reflect the unique linguistic features of Italy's many dialects. A single poem ("Can," by the late Venetian poet Ernesto Calzavara) will be used as a case in point. A published translation of said poem is presented as a practical application of a strategy that has more often been theorized than put into practice.

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Balma, Philip. "Passing Through Language(s): Translating a Poem by Edith Bruck." Translation Review 69 (2005): 63-65.

Translation Review, Jan 1, 2005

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Balma, Philip. "Anti-Semitism on the Silver Screen: Pratolini's Short Story 'Vanda' and its Cinematic Adaptation(s)." Nemla Italian Studies 37 (2015): 28-44.

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Balma, Philip. "Big Business, Big Brother, and 'Big Father': Proto-Feminist Marxism in Giovanna by Pontecorvo." ITALICA 89.4 (2012): 499-509.

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Balma, Philip. “Death of an Archbishop: The Assassination of Oscar Romero Seen Through the Eyes of Gillo Pontecorvo, John Duigan and Oliver Stone.” in Luci e ombre: rivista bimestrale di informazione cinematografica e culturale 1 (novembre-dicembre 2012): 120-143.

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Quando non tradurre vuol dire censurare: appunti su un racconto di Edith Bruck

Italian Quarterly, 2008

Balma, Philip. "L'olocausto nel cinema di Carlo Lizzani: il caso controverso di Hotel Meina." in L'Italia letteraria e cinematografica dal secondo Novecento ai giorni nostri. Cuneo: Nerosubianco, 2012. 123-132.

Io credo che non sia quella del verosimile, del bozzettismo, e, diciamolo pure, della cronaca pur... more Io credo che non sia quella del verosimile, del bozzettismo, e, diciamolo pure, della cronaca pura, la strada del realismo. Realismo è piuttosto quella visione cinematografica che sia o si sforzi di essere studio e interpretazione poetica della realtà che ci circonda, nella profondità dei suoi conflitti e delle sue contraddizioni. Questa realtà è fatta non solo di presente, ma anche di passato, di storia recente e lontana 1 .

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Balma, Philip. “Nostalgia del neorealismo: il rigore storico in Viva l’Italia di Roberto Rossellini.” in Cinema e Risorgimento: visioni e revisioni. Ed. Fulvio Orsitto. Rome: Vecchiarelli, 2012. 109-128.

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Answering Auschwitz: Primo Levi's Science and Humanism after the Fall

Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 2013

Bidlo and Andy Warhol. The essay is the book’s best illustration of Schnapp’s singular talent for... more Bidlo and Andy Warhol. The essay is the book’s best illustration of Schnapp’s singular talent for spotting the telling detail and then using it to pursue an original line of investigation against which the reader can check, and probably revise, her received historical views. Of the two other essays, one takes up Henry Furst, an American who hated his native land and loved Italy, who was gay before it was fashionable, and who made his living as a translator. His talents were such that he could go in both directions: Italian to English, but also English to Italian (with a little help from his Italian friends). The other is a reprint of Schnapp’s 1985 investigation of Marinetti’s ‘Zang Tumb Tuuum’, which shows how he used the poem to move beyond Mallarmé by making rarified poetry the basis of a public performance art. As should by now be evident, readers of this book will encounter essays that, as one of the back-cover blurbs has it, ‘fizz with intelligence, erudition and style’. Arguably, these readers will emerge with a more nuanced and more variegated grasp of modernity, Italy, and Modernitalia, whatever that may be. Yet a book such as this one inevitably requires supplementation, for it does not (nor does it seek to) offer an integrated account of what it takes under its purview.

Philip Balma

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