Marta Anna Zabłocka

This article looks at Polish translations of three selected short stories by Rudyard Kipling in order to examine how translation affects the ironic tropes found in those texts. Mateo’s typology of techniques for handling irony in translation (1995) is used to show how this rhetorical device works within the broader cultural and historical context. It appears that the way Polish translators in the early 1900s interpreted irony in contemporary colonial fiction depended on their ability to recognize social problems in the British Empire, to identify the distinctive British sense of humour, and to understand the realities of colonial life. The short stories under discussion are Georgie Porgie, 1888 (translated by Feliks Chwalibóg, 1909), The Limitations of Pambe Serang, 1889 (Feliks Chwalibóg, 1910) and The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes, 1885 (unknown translator, 1900).

Considering the Polish translations of three selected short stories by Rudyard Kipling the author reflects on the translation of the ironic figures that appear in the texts. Using the Mateo’s typology of the translator’s choices while facing the irony (1995) the author tries to show the role of this rhetorical device in the wider, cultural and historical context. The Polish translators’ way of interpreting irony that appears in the colonial fiction in the early 20-th century seems to be determined by their ability of understanding the British Empire social problems as well as their sensitivity to the distinctive British humor and their knowledge of colonial life realities. Among the analysed short stories one can find Georgie Porgie, 1888 (translated by Feliks Chwalibóg ,1909), The Limitations of Pambe Serang, 1889 (Feliks Chwalibóg, 1910) and The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes, 1885 (unknown translator, 1900).