ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the translation of Undoing Gender into Italian is an interesting case for theorizing the queering potential of translation. It explores a comparison between undoing gender and undoing translation, focusing on the queer performative aspect of this undoing. Thinking about gender as undoing offers useful theoretical insights for translation studies, as it brings to the fore the still under-researched concepts of performativity and affect, which play a fundamental role in many translation processes. Translation, as a consequence, by being implicated in these discourses can be understood as a tool for productive performative and affective un-doings. A retranslation of Butler such as Fare e disfare il genere is motivated by the target culture's need to retell a story in order to tackle current debates centered on the concept of gender. Translation creates new authorships as translated books are often presented and performed at events by translators and by whoever else enters those spaces.
