Agnieszka Gajewska

W artykule autorka omawia monografię Krystyny Kłosińskiej zatytułowaną Neuroza. Zagrożone męskości. W syntetycznym ujęciu recenzentka sytuuje najnowszą książkę Kłosińskiej w kontekście jej wcześniejszych prac naukowych oraz studiów nad męskościami. Autorka ukazuje, że dla Krystyny Kłosińskiej neuroza to kategoria ogniskująca dziewiętnastowieczne obsesje, fantazje i uwewnętrznione lęki, związane z rozwojem technologicznym, wyzwaniami dotyczącymi przeobrażeń politycznych oraz gospodarką kapitalistyczną. Kłosińska stawia w centrum swoich dociekań figury męskości i interpretuje je z perspektywy podziałów genderowych dziewiętnastego stulecia.

Neurotic Masculinity. On Krystyna Kłosińska’s Book Neuroza. Zagrożone męskości

In this article, the author discusses Krystyna Kłosińska’s monograph entitled Neuroza. Zagrożone męskości. In a synthetic approach, the reviewer situates Kłosińska’s latest book in the context of her earlier scientific works and masculinity studies. The author shows that for Krystyna Kłosińska, neurosis is a category that brings together nineteenth-century obsessions; fantasies and internalized fears related to technological development; challenges related to political changes and the capitalist economy. Kłosińska puts the figures of masculinity at the center of her research and interprets them from the perspective of nineteenth-century gender divisions.

Pointing to manifold and long-lasting connections between feminism and translation, the article first presents a selection of multilingual writers (Narcyza Żmichowska and Deborah Vogel), translators (Zofi a Żeleńska and Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna) and translation commentators (Joanna Lisek and Karolina Szymaniak) to ask why the work of early Polish feminists is neglected. It seems that one of the causes might be the current colonization of Polish feminist discourse by English. For ethical reasons it would be advisable to recommend a certain sensitivity to locality in feminist translation studies and a recognition of regionalism in cultural studies. The theoretical considerations include two issues: the potential hermaphroditism of the Polish language when its users are women and the “scandal of ‘another’s speech’,” a polyphony and a constitutive lack of autonomy (a feminist discussion of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory). From this vantage point it becomes clear that linguistic choices made by the translator are always individual one-off solutions which resist homogenization, paradigms or (theoretical) generalizations.

Translating feminism

Pointing to manifold and long-lasting connections between feminism and translation, the article first presents a selection of multilingual writers (Narcyza Żmichowska and Deborah Vogel), translators (Zofia Żeleńska and Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna) and translation commentators (Joanna Lisek and Karolina Szymaniak) to ponder why the work of early Polish feminists is neglected. It seems that one of the reasons might be the current colonization of Polish feminist discourse by English. For ethical reasons it would be advisable to recommend a certain sensitivity to locality in feminist translation studies and a recognition of regionalism in culture studies. The theoretical considerations include two issues: the potential hermaphroditism of the Polish language when its users are women and the ‘scandal of „another’s speech”,’ a polyphony and a constitutive lack of autonomy (a feminist discussion of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory). From this perspective it becomes visible that linguistic choices made by the translator are always individual one-time solutions which resist homogenization, paradigms or (theoretical) generalizations.