wstęp

Translation and World Literature

Compared to the original production within national literary systems, literary translations are traditionally regarded of lesser importance, although it is through translating that the representative works of world literature have been introduced into these very systems (Eysteinsson). The translation is constitutive of world literature, be it understood either as an aggregate of literatures expressed in all the languages of the globe, the canon of “eternal” artworks of humankind, or as the global space of inter-literary relations. The presumed universality of world literature is always already inscribed in particular literary systems through different variants and perspectives articulated by translations, the latter representing the most prominent form of cross -cultural circulation of literature.

Since cultural nationalism saw literature in the standard mother tongue as the pillar of national identity and the main evidence of the nation’s creative originality, literary translations were often discarded as mere derivatives restricted to the realm of cultural consumption. In the first half of the 19 th century, however, the quality and richness of the translation repertoire began to figure also as quasi-international standards for evaluating to what degree the particular “national” language and culture were developed. As early as post-positivist comparatistics, the translation was treated as an important factor of international literary mediation (e.g. Ocvirk), but it is only the late twentieth-century translation studies that raised the reflection on translation to the level of theory enabling to ground a paradigmatic shift of methods for the entire study of literature, in national and comparative literary studies alike (Bassnett, Even-Zohar).

The valorization of translation that is going on since the beginning of the 21st century has been decisively influenced by the global renaissance of Goethe’s Weltliteratur. More than a decade after Ďurišin’s theory of the world literary system and based on the reinterpretations of Goethe’s notion of world literature, a new scholarly paradigm is in full swing that attempts to transcend national literary history, comparative literature, and postcolonialism (Lawall, Casanova, Moretti, Damrosch, etc.). However, the translation was of key importance already in the historical beginnings of the conception of Weltliteratur, with which Goethe aimed at promoting humanist aesthetic cosmopolitanism, creatively reviving national literature and establishing German literature as a new hub of international literary life. The present article focuses on how experiencing translations had formed Goethe’s ideas of circulation and the self-reflection through otherness and how these ideas were recently reinterpreted by Damrosch and Thomsen. Juxtaposing works of various European and “Oriental” literatures (either in the original or in translation), Goethe reflected on his literary and cultural identity and discovered new qualities of his aesthetic experience.

Generally speaking, the translation — because of its position within the asymmetries of the world systems of economy, languages, and literatures — is not only the primary mode of transnational literary circulation and cross-cultural dialogism, but also the relay for the global spread of Western geo-culture and the hegemony of its aesthetic discourse. The possibility of a particular literary text to gain access to the global literary circulation depends, among other factors, on the fact whether the work in question has been produced in a “major” Western language or has been translated in a global language.

Key words: literary translation, world literature, literary systems, comparative literature, Goethe Johann W.

The Development of Translation and Interdisciplinarity

The paper deals with interdisciplinarity as a fundamental paradigm of modern research, presenting some of its characteristics as well as problems related to the concept. Special attention is paid to the development of Translation Studies as an autonomous discipline, which formed out of linguistics, literary studies and some other fields of study, and which is today considered of eminently interdisciplinary nature.

Key words: interdisciplinarity, linguistics, literary studies, translation studies

A Stranger in Us and We in a Stranger: a difference and a similarity or a reminder

The knowledge on translation, which was developed by different methodologies and different disciplines, fulfills the need of taking into consideration the structurally-artistic issues by comparative literary studies, most basic for literature and literary studies, occupying the central place in comparative literature. This shift in comparative interests is accompanied by a revealing lack of works undertaking research into developmental-typological regularities in general literature. Moreover, with the central position of translation in this discipline, it is paradoxical that resigning from text and its subject matter in favour of reception and the results of functioning of translation in the target culture has been declared. While the dislike for systemizing and typologizing facts of general literature is doubly hard because of the disapproval of dogmatic theories and the difficulties within research into the abundance of literary material, the target, the place, the circumstances and the way of functioning in time and in culture are inherent parts of the linguistically-artistic structure, that is, everything that is within interests of the contemporary culturally oriented literary studies.

Key words: translation, comparative study, translation studies, hermeneutic, a „cultural turnabout”.

From the History of Formal Methods: Poland „integralistic” school and Zagreb School of Literary Studies

The article discusses the two schools of formalistic literary and theoretical orientations: the Polish integralistic school, the principal representative of which is Manfred Kridl, and the Zagreb school of literary studies, the members of which are clustered around the Zagreb magazine „Umjetnost riječi”. The main settings of both schools will be clearly stated with regard to their place and importance in the overall direction and compared with each other, with an emphasis on differences in the theoretical and methodological foundations of both schools. This article presents an overview of sources in which the original settings were formulated, a comment echoed in their local communities and a description of the current status of formalist directions in which they follow.

Key words: formalism, integral method of Manfred Kridl, literary criticism.

There is no other way but comparative studies and translation studies

The world we live in seems to be created for comparative-translation studies. There is real revolution, the change of system in the humanities and philology studies; there is the end of one world and the beginning of new digital era. Research methods and research themes are changing. On the one hand literature has lost its position in society and this is why a new formula of comparative studies cannot be limited to literature or culture but comparative studies must take into account non-artistic spheres of man’s activity; philology studies, if they want to survive, cannot be limited to exclusively literary, text oriented studies. On the other hand age of Internet, globalization, communication, transcultural society cannot function without translation which is the best way to get to know other cultures and enrich each other. The space between culture and languages, border zone which implies multiperspectivism seems to be the most appropriate for neo-philology studies and research.

Key words: comparative studies, translation studies, reception, Croatian Studies abroad

Czech literature „refractions” of the two Wroclaw’s publishing houses: Afera and Książkowe Klimaty

In this paper we consider the theoretical work of the translatologist André Lefevere and apply his model in practical study. Its focus is the analysis of the work of two Polish publishing houses: Afera and Książkowe Klimaty in the context of Lefevere’s work. The Afera Publishing House was created in the year 2010 and the Książkowe Klimaty Publishing House in 2013, in which year they published 11 books. Through their activity they familiarize many readers with interesting books by worth knowing new Czech authors. Their work depends on a very important condition — the close and careful cooperation of said authors with translators and editors during their text preparation process, as well as their commitment to very high quality graphic design. As a result, Afera and Książkowe Klimaty have managed to establish their fame as publishing houses proposing high quality literature of Czech origin. Their focus group is people who are interested only in the highest quality Czech literature, which is the reason why books they publish match their expectations so well.

Key words:manipulation school, refraction, patronage, translation, publisher.

Translated Literature as a natural Phase of History of the Genre? Stefan Minchev’s Project Iz istorija na balgarskija Roman

The paper presents the work of Bulgarian literary critic and scholar Stefan Minchev (1874—1912). In his work Iz istorija na bylgarskija roman (From the History of Bulgarian Novel) created in 1908—1912, the author includes not only Bulgarian pieces, but also translated and adapted (pobalgareni) ones. The paper recounts Minchev’s project and attempts to answer the question about motivation of the literary scholar. Was it unreflective gesture, or rather treating it as a natural stage in history of the literary genre? Was it to gentrify young literature and language, or to show its weakness? And finally — was it based on already existing model or it was innovate, groundbreaking not only in the context of Bulgarian or Slavonic literary translation studies.

Key words: history of translation, history of Bulgarian literature, literary genre.

Intertextual references present in the translation of Witold Gombrowicz’s drama The Marriage into Kashubian in the light of comparative researches

This article is devoted to the issue of intertextuality in the translation of Witold Gombrowicz’s drama The Marriage into the Kashubian language considered on the ground of comparative researches. The analysis includes intertextual relationships founded on the basic relationship between the original and the translation, consisting of intensification or weakening of familiarity and strangeness elements. In particular it consists of intertextuality at the level of polysemy, intertextuality at the level of metaphor and intertextuality at the level of indicators of text organisation. The latter category includes problems with the reflection of the local dialect style, spelling and rhymes experiments which were all present in the original of the drama. It was not always possible to reflect the language experiments conducted by Witold Gombrowicz in the translation into the Kashubian language, even though it was a translation into a closely related language.

Key words: intertextuality, Kashubian, Witold Gombrowicz, West Slavic languages, translation

The Polish Translation of Gordana Kuić’s novel The Scent of Rain in the Balcans to the original version

The article concerns the comparison of Polish and Serbian versions of the novel The Scent of Rain in the Balcans and attempt to answer the question about the similarities and differences in the perception of the novel in Serbia and Poland. 

Key words: Gordana Kuić, Novel, Translation, Comparison, Sephardic Jews

Doubled dialogue of the translation and own artistic work — comparative perspective?

The subject of this article is concerning the area of translation created by an author, a writer. In such case not only the dialogue between poetics of an author’s primary texts and the poetics of self-translated texts is at importance. The relation in which particular translation is involved with the original author’s passages also cannot be diminished. Those problems open a wide space for the translation and comparative studies research. The translation is perceived as an interpretation seen accordingly to the postulates of modern comparative studies — so as an intercultural dialogue, the dialogue of literature, opening itself for further relations in the sphere of ultimate culture and the own artwork of the author of the translation. In Poland it applies to works (original and translational) of — among others — Stanisław Barańczak, Julian Tuwim or Czesław Miłosz. In reference to the translations of Slovenian literature in Poland and Polish literature in Slovenia (after year 1990) one of the fascinating phenomenon in this context would be mutual translation of their own texts of two poets — Adam Wiedemann and Primož Čučnik. Their translations function as a complement rather than polemic factor. The authors explicitly point to initiating the intertextual relations between their texts. The resemblance of the poetics and choices made in the scope of translation unveil the relationship in terms of an idea, outlook on the world and aesthetics.

Key words: literary translation, comparative study, Adam Wiedemann, Primož Čučnik, dialogism

Pełen tytuł:

„Le drugo ime za ljubezen…”. Novejš knjižo italijanjenje slovenskega leposlovja (2000—2013) / „To tylko inna nazwa miłości…”. Nowe włoskie przekłady słoweńskiej literatury pięknej (2000—2013) (tłum. Joanna Cieślar) oraz Italijanski knjižni prevodi slovenskega leposlovlja / Włoskie przekłady słoweńskiej literatury pięknej (opracował Miran Košuta)

„Just a kind of love…“. Recent Italian translation of the Slovenian literature (2000—2013).

Between 2000 and 2013, 160 volumes of Slovene poems, plays and prose texts were published in Italian translation. This article investigates this corpus of translations in terms of quantitative, qualitative and aesthetic issues, while also comparing it with previous receptions of Slovenian literature in the Italian cultural milieu and observing/stressing the significant increase in the literary exchange between Slovenia and Italy since 2000 (particulary after the entry of Slovenia into the European Union and the Schengen area). Within the field of Translation Studies, this article also illustrates some fundamental typological paradigms of dialogue between numerically large and small languages, literatures and cultures.

Key words: translation, reception, Slovenian literature, Translation Studies, dialogue

Translator’s false friends and his true enemies in the practice of Bulgarian‑Polish artistic translation

Issues presented in the title are considered from the perspective of a practicing translator and illustrated with examples from the Polish translations of Bulgarian fiction. It is pointed out that for a professional translator the proximity of two languages, is more of an obstacle than a convenience. Different types of lexical interlinguistic homonyms (translator’s false friends) are viewed in comparison with corresponding translation solutions. The role of context and textual distribution of lexical units is highlighted. The specifics of phraseology as the object of translation is analyzed. A peculiar group of difficulties is generated by the so-called by the author „translator’s true enemies”, which include: problems caused by differences in the grammatical system of the two languages (distribution of prepositions; desemanticization of prepositions; the semantic load of double object, the specificity of the imperceptive mood, the abundance of pronominal forms) and subjective factors associated with creative behavior of the translator (lack of necessary pedantism; moments of inattention or fatigue, inadequate linguistic and extra-linguistic competence). In the end of the paper the possibility of translations and translators contributing in the development of Bulgarian-Polish lexicography is emphasized.

Key words:Polish language, Bulgarian language, closely related languages, artistic translation, interlinguistic homonymy, phraseological unit, linguistic competence

The Other in the Other: literary citations in Polish and Italian translations of Anton Ingolič’s youth novel Gimnazijka

The paper discusses the translation of literary citations in Polish and Italian translations of the Slovenian youth novel Gimnazijka by Anton Ingolič. With the help of literary citations the author shapes his narrative (autoreferentiality) and also informs the reader — by using concrete text examples — of the authors included in the canon of world (cf. Shakespeare, Molière) and Slovenian (cf. Kette, Murn, Gradnik) literature (referentiality). In the analyzed translations of Gimnazijka, text fragments with citations are frequently simplified: Polish translator has opted for preserving three, the Italian only two citations out of five. In both translations the text fragments with citations have been frequently simplified, even if the citation itself is preserved (the summary translation has been used more widely by Italian translator). In such a way, the analyzed translations have not only reduced the stylistic qualities and the content complexity of the source text, but also diminished its referentiality (informative-didactic dimension) by disregarding some of the literary citations.

Key words: youth novel Gimnazijka, Anton Ingolič, literary citation, faithful translation, partial translation, summary translation

An Encounter of Cultures in a Bilingual Lexicon

Not only in translated texts but also in bilingual dictionaries as a special sort of texts the cultures of the source and target languages are compared. Translation equivalents in a dictionary range from a continuum between the isomorphism on the one side and the anisomorphism on the other. Anisomorphism presents a crucial problem in finding translation equivalents. Among the plethora of equivalent relationships the most tangible one for the lexicographer is the »logical equivalence relationship« according to which there are three types of equivalence: full, partial and zero equivalence, the latter being the toughest nut to crack. In contrast to a translator who can omit an individual word in a longer stretch of translated text without violating its sense, a lexicographer must provide an equivalent for every single entry word. The examples from the Dutch‑Slovene Dictionary illustrate the different strategies of dealing with the zero equivalence. Solving the problems of anisomorphism is an activity par excellence which places bilingual lexicography also among the comparative cultural studies.

Key words: anisomorphism, bilingual dictionaries, bilingual lexicography, translation equivalence, zero equivalence, lexical gap, grammatical gap, referential gap, culture-specific terms.

Analysis of the hybryd texts of the European Union — se.lected methodological aspects

Multilingual European community requires certain efficient translation methods. Translation can be simplified by standardization of texts, but then the texts resulting from the translation process seem to be somewhat “inadequate” for the target culture. These texts, often described as “hybrid”, weren’t broadly analysed before. This paper presents a possible methodology for conducting such an analysis.

Key words: hybrid texts, translation in the EU, methodology

The Comparative Translator: A Translator Involved in Language. Regarding Two Poetic Grammatical Categories in Polish and Slovenian

The translator as a mediator between the original and the translation is a person who is simultaneously working between two languages, two cultures and two literary heritages, which have experienced different developments. The work of translation is similar to that of comparativism (comparing, text analysis, exploration of literary and cultural contexts, differences and similarities), so it is possible to say that the translator is an ideal comparatist, or a „comparatist — practitioner”, who must cope with the diversity of languages and cultures during the whole process of translation. Translation from the original to another language reveals relativism, which sometimes cannot be overcome. The different linguistic nature may appear not only at the level of semantics, or in the pragmatic conventions, but also in the field of grammar: for example, grammatical forms, which enable the creation of a certain poetic “visionism” in the original language, do not allow translation into another language, as the latter uses a different grammatical system. Thus, the Polish instrumentalis, which does not need to use the preposition s/z, is untranslatable into Slovenian and, considering the same principle, the Slovenian “intimate” category of the dual form is untranslatable into other languages. The differences between the various linguistic conceptualization are observable only through a comparative analysis between the original and the translation, which — in practical action — is done by the translator, and — in theory — by the translation critics.

Key words: translator-comparatist, relativism of languages, grammatical categories, instrumentalis in poety, dualis in Slovenian, lost in translation

 Jozef Marušiak — the translator — the perfect comparatist?

In the article under the title Jozef Marušiak — the translator — the prefect comparatist? the author Marta Buczek raises the problem of necessary relationships between new Comparative Studies and Translation Studies. The theory of Comparative Studies and Translation Studies presented in this paper shows that that disciplines are closely connected to each other by the subject of research. The subject of interest of the Comparative Studies is consistent with the interest of research in Translation Studies. Turning towards comparative perception of the translation has focused its attention on the creative role of translation in the culture and the creative role of the translator. In the next part of the article the author analyzes the translation activity of well known Slovak translator of Polish literature — Jozef Marušiak. The author answers the question, who is the perfect comparatist and if the Slovak translator can be assumed for the perfect comparatist.

Key words: new comparative studies, translation studies, literal translation, Jozef Marušiak, Polish literature in Slovak

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Indeks tłumaczy

Recenzja numeru specjalnego czasopisma „Postscriptum Polonistyczne”, nr 2 (12),zatytułowanego Polonistyka w Bułgarii — wczoraj i dziś, który został w całości poświęconywspółczesnemu oraz historycznemu obliczu polonistyki bułgarskiej.