Emilia Żybert-Pruchnicka

Before recently, there was no full Polish translation of Apollonius Rhodius’
Argonautica. However, fi ve Polish classical scholars, W. Klinger, Z. Abramowiczówna,
J. Łanowski, W. Steffen and W. Appel, have translated excerpts of this Hellenistic epic
into Polish. A comparative analysis of these excerpts with the relevant passages from
the fi rst complete Polish version of the Argonautica by E. Żybert-Pruchnicka makes it
possible to trace the individual strategies of the translators. The most important decision
which every translator of epic poetry has to take at the beginning of his or her work is
to choose the form in which the poem will be rendered. In Polish there are three main
traditions of translating epics: in thirteen-syllable meter, in prose, and in hexameter.
The last type of versifi cation was chosen by fi ve out of six of the translators mentioned
above; only Świderkówna decided to render the Apollonian poem in thirteen-syllable
verse. There are also stylistic and language differences that occur in the passages, due to
the individual preferences of the translators, as well as the writing style characteristic for
the times in which they lived. Klinger, for instance, prefers modernist stylistics, while
Steffen chooses to archaise the language of the poem. However, the aim of this article
is not to evaluate the translations but to open a discussion on how poems written over
two thousand years ago might be rendered in an adequate and contemporary fashion.

Until now there has been no Polish translation of Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica,
although five Polish classicists: W. Klinger, Z. Abramowiczówna, A. Świderkówna,
W. Steffen and W. Appel, have translated some fragments of this Hellenistic epos. The
paper attempts at comparing these fragments with the first complete translation of the
poem done by Emilia Żybert, in order to trace the strategies used by the translators.
A translator of epic poetry must first of all decide on a form the poem is going to have in
Polish, where there are three main traditions of translating eposes: thirteen-syllable
verse, prose or hexameter. Hexameter was chosen by five out of the six translators; only
Świderkówna decided to render the Apollonian poem in thirteen-syllable verse. There
are also stylistic and lexical differences, due to individual preferences of the translators
as well as to the language style characteristic of their times. Klinger, for instance, prefers
the stylistics of Modernism, while Steffen uses archaization. However, the aim of the
article is not to evaluate the translations, but to open up a discussion on the most adequate
contemporary form for poems written more than two thousand years ago.