Il vizio dell'esterofilia. Editoria e tradizioni nell'Italia fascista is more than the translation of Christopher Rundle's 2010 Publishing Translations in Fascist Italy. This new edition of the book not only gives us fresh insights into the phenomenon but it also enhances the value of the original book by refocusing on ‘quello che chiamerò l'industria delle tradizioni, ovvero il mercato sviluppatosi attorno alla grande quantità di romanzi tradotti e quegli editori che contribuirono a crearlo e alimentarlo’ (‘what I will call the translation industry, that is the market which was developed around the large quantity of translated novels and around those publishers who contributed to its creation and growth’) (p. 15). The main argument of the book is still that translations were central to the cultural policies of the regime. Yet, in problematising further the relationship between translations, the publishing industry and politics, Rundle shows us how ‘translations’ were the key paradox sustaining the development of Italian culture over the Ventennio. Rundle's narrative follows a chronological order and focuses on the 1930s and 1940s as the consolidation years. Translations become a means of gaining consensus and of expansion for the publishing industry.

Chapter Two provides data and charts about translations in Italy and comparisons with other European nations. Such trends showcase how economic factors did shape taste. There is a strong correlation in the book between economic development, politics and literary trends. These factors are discussed in the sections and chapters which centre on the debates about translations. This new phenomenon, which was effectively not something new by 1930, was rather an enhancement of what had been happening for decades. In the 1930s, the translation boom was certainly supported by the publishing industry, which could make a profit from it, as well as by intellectual debates which could in turn legitimise translation trends more broadly and make them part of the Italian literary tradition. Translation is a complex phenomenon connecting many different elements: agents, intellectuals, writers, publishers and politicians. And an all-encompassing one, spanning elite and popular culture, large and small publishers, as well as well-known and emerging writers.

In this expanded version, if the overall story about translations in Italy during the regime remains the same, Rundle has updated many of the references and given us an up-to-date bibliography. Chapter One, for instance, has been adapted to an Italian readership, which is more familiar with the historical events underpinning the raise of the Fascist regime.

Interest in translation has grown significantly over the years and detailed case studies have appeared. In a book which is mostly a work of synthesis, some episodes in the history of translation have gained particular significance. It is worth mentioning two of them: the censorship of the 1942 anthology Americana and American comics. Rundle specifies at the start that his book is not only about the influence of American literature on Italian literature but about the role foreign literature played during the regime and its relationship with the development of the publishing industry. In this respect, he has wisely expanded the section on children's literature, as a key player of the regime's cultural apparatus. Chapter Five in particular shows the importance of children's literature and of comics in the later stages of the development of the regime's cultural policies after 1938. The severity demonstrated towards children's literature did not stop its dissemination amongst avid readers. This is a revealing case of the power of translation in preserving cultural integrity. After the promulgation of the 1938 racial laws the regime tightened the screws, as the case of Americana further illustrated, but according to Rundle's overall argument, the regime was also unwilling to block the flow of translations, which could guarantee a way forward for the national tradition it did support. As Rundle discusses in the conclusion, translations were an economic problem in that they could be used to boost the development of the publishing industry but also possessed enough symbolic capital to last after the fall of the regime. Therefore, this new version of the book shows us that a full understanding of the age of translation can be achieved only by bringing together the economic and the symbolic orders. All this to write a history of translation which is also a history of Italian literature during the regime.

Finally, a word about Gianfranco Petrillo's excellent translation. While maintaining the flair of the original, Petrillo has rewritten a wholly Italian book which enters into dialogue, in translation, with the Italian literary and intellectual tradition.