Catena vs Semantic Dominant, or How to Translate Szymborska
This review of Agata Brajerska-Mazur’s Filutka z fi ligranu paraduje w cudzym losie. Wisława Szymborska w anglojęzycznym przekładzie Stanisława Barańczaka i Clare Cavanagh includes a brief presentation of the author’s methodological approach. In particular, it focuses on the catena method which Brajerska-Mazur applies to the analysis of Wisława Szymborska’s poems with a view of producing a translation brief. The brief then is used as a yardstick to assess the quality of Barańczak’s translations. According to the author, the catena method allows her to establish translational proprieties much more objectively than Barańczak’s arbitrary semantic dominant. It is argued that, although the book presents a meticulous overview of the reception and criticism of Szymborska’s poetry, the method applied by the author, contrary to the her claims, is not objective and some of her assessments are arbitrary and prescriptive.
