Focus and Scope

The Journal Translations of Slavic Literatures (Przekłady Literatur Słowiańskich) is dedicated to the problems of artistic translation in South and West Slavic languages, perceived from the theoretical, historical and literary as well as cultural perspective. It comprises both the record of editions and receptions of translations, as well as the studies on: the peculiarity of translation within the boundaries of closely related languages; translation of one culture into another using the medium of literature; the role of translation in comparative studies and in the area of studies on the reception of Slavic literatures in the world; problems addressed in the most recent translation studies.

Because of a two-track character of the research, i.e. a documentary and sociological assumption (the bibliography of translations of Slavic literatures into Polish and Polish literature into Slavic languages and their reception) as well as critical and interpretative one (used for theoretical generalizations), the individual volumes are issued in two parts. Each volume consists of: a problem-related and bibliographical part in Polish-Slavic translations (from Polish literature into the following languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian) and Slavic-Polish translations (from Slavic literatures into Polish). The bibliography covers translations published after 1990 (the bibliography which covers years before this year will be updated later on).

The aim of the publication, the first of its kind in the Slavic community is to identify differences, similarities and paths of mutual dialogue between Slavic cultures and to create a basis for Slavic comparative studies. Slavic neighbors, notwithstanding their linguistic affinity, are often unknown and remote to one another. The authors often take an interest in a third, non-Slavic culture because Slavic literatures function in intercultural communication, which is conditioned politically, socially and artistically. This is why the journal welcomes contributions by researchers who are not Slavists as well, owing to which it is possible to expand the research perspective to include a variety of approaches in translation research thus opening up new contexts and frames of reference for research on Slavic literatures in translation.

The bibliography we are preparing in a team along with researchers from Slavic countries cooperating with us is unique, because it takes into account the contents of those publications which do not have their equivalent, and they are not a repetition of a book titled the same way in the original language, as well as translations and original titles of works published in magazines. Collecting this type of information requires from the authors bibliographical lists of knowledge of the language, literature, culture, institutions and realities of both the source and target culture; in some cases, direct contact with the actors of the publishing field is necessary (publishers, authors, translators). Such a detailed bibliography of translations of South and West Slavic literatures is not prepared by any Polish or foreign institution.

The journal Translations of Slavic Literatures (Przekłady Literatur Słowiańskich) continues to develop in cooperation with both the Polish translation community and with the centers abroad in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. It is reviewed, it has a nationwide range, and evokes interest in university centers abroad. Texts printed in the journal are in Polish and other languages, mainly Slavic ones. All foreign-language articles have two language versions, the original one and translated one so it can address Polish readers. Each article is accompanied by two summaries (in English and in the Slavic language, the literature and culture of which a particular article refers to) and by keywords in English and the respective Slavic language.

Translations of Slavic Literatures is a learned journal predominantly addressing phenomena related to intra-Slavic translation. It targets the audience of international specialists in Slavic languages, literatures and cultures, whose command of these languages is either native or near-native, and who are capable of an indepth analyses of the intricacies and nuances of translation both at the level of the language and at the levels of rhetoric, metaphorics, inter/transtextuality, etc. The uniqueness of the intra-Slavic comparative perspective requires that the languages under discussion take precedence over English or other non-Slavic languages. However, when the problem under analysis concerns translations of Slavic literatures into English or other non-Slavic languages, the English language or other non-Slavic languages may be the language of the whole text. The Journal also publishes articles addressing important translation-related problems—for instance text representing the most recent tendencies in translation research whose scope extends beyond the strict thematic area of Slavic literary translation studies in other, non-Slavic, languages. Such texts present the most interesting and most heuristically productive developments in the area of translation studies.