Dorota Szczęśniak

From Achleitner to Zweig – Three Decades of Austrian Literature in Poland
The bibliographical research on Polish translations of Austrian literature and their
reception was published in 2009 as Austrian Literature in Poland from 1980 to 2008.
An Annotated Bibliography (Literatura austriacka w Polsce w latach 1980-2008.
Bibliografi a adnotowana, edited by Edward Białek and Katarzyna Nowakowska). This
monumental work of over twenty Polish scholars features 266 authors on 500 pages.
It tracks down translations of fi ction and non-fi ction; it lists monographs, articles and
reviews (including theatre and TV adaptations and their reception). The abundance
and variety of the material documents well the familiarity of the Polish audience with
Austrian literary output. Relatively a small country, Austria nevertheless enjoys a great
popularity in Poland. The image of Austrian literature that the bibliography uncovers
is fl attering: the authors presented through translation and literary discussion are wellchosen
and representative, although there are some inexplicable absences – for example,
Karl Kraus – which may be caused by delay, rather than by lack of interest. Three
reasons for such a thorough presentation of Austrian literature in Poland are worth
mentioning: the well-recognized contribution of Austrian authors to the world literature
(it is enough to mention Arthur Schnitzler, the “inventor” of the stream of consciousness;
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Georg Trakl; concrete poets such as Friedrich Achleitner,
Hans Carl Artmann, Konrad Bayer and Ernst Jandl; prose writers and playwrights such
as Stefan Zweig, Thomas Bernhard or Elfriede Jelinek); the common history of Austria
and Poland; and the presence of excellent translators.