Marta Kaźmierczak

A Translation Critic Thinks about Paintings (Selected Parallels Between Bolesław Leśmian’s Poetry and Visual Arts)

The paper is intended as an example of translation criticism that accounts for intersemiotic aspects of translation. The author presents parallels – understood as associative potential (non-obligatory for translation) – between texts of the Polish modernist poet Bolesław Leśmian and certain works of art, and gauges the presence of analogical potential in translations of the poems into English, Russian and Czech. Three visual analogies to the poems are explored: the motif of a window open into the world in German Romantic painting, C.D. Friedrich’s Cross in the Mountains and images of Ophelia in Pre- Raphaelite art. In the course of the analysis the author attempts to show the advantages of the proposed approach in terms of it being conducive to realising functions ascribed to translation criticism.

Poetry and Translation Against Violence (W.H. Auden – Józef Wittlin – Stanisław Barańczak)

The article examines W.H. Auden’s poem “Refugee Blues” and its two Polish translations, by Józef Wittlin (“To miasto…”, dated ?, published 1958) and Stanisław Barańczak (“Blues uchodźców”, 1992). The poem has taken on a new relevance in the face of contemporary refugee crises, and the Polish translations – in view of the influx of refugees from war-ravaged Ukraine. Confronted with the two renditions, a group of young recipients agreed that Barańczak’s variant had a greater emotional impact, and therefore a greater capacity for persuading those whose empathy needs to be stimulated. This prompts the author of the article to try to identify the elements and qualities that give the more recent translation an advantage over Wittlin’s translation, which was held not only excellent, but also probably more poignant than the original by translator and insightful critic Zygmunt Kubiak. It is demonstrated how Barańczak enhances the drama of the text while at the same time inscribing in it a full awareness of the escalation of violence that followed Auden’s poem. Wittlin, on the other hand, although he generally takes the motifs of the original more literally and does not impose elements dictated retrospectively by historical knowledge, creates certain spaces of ambiguity which offer a potentially no less moving reading experience than that of Barańczak, who uses a more direct diction. Biblical echoes that appear in Wittlin’s rendition serve, it is argued, to point to hidden verbal violence underpinning the physical violence. Finally, a scarcity of reception facts connected to either Polish rendition is noted.

The aim of this article is to survey which texts and authors representing Western translation studies have been translated into Russian over the last seven decades and to describe the dynamics of the emergence of these translations as well as possible agendas behind their selection. It also traces, on a partial corpus, to what extent Russian translation scholars tend to cite and quote Western ones. The findings lead to a tentative conclusion that so far TS knowledge has been transferred mainly by unfrequent references to original publications and by way of mediated accounts (reviews, textbook summaries), while translations of particular studies have only recently begun appearing on a wider scale, their impact as yet uncertain.

* Originally published in Polish in Przekładaniec vol. 41, 2020 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864PC.21.001.13583); a shorter version of the article is available in French as: M. Kaźmierczak, “Une théorie itinérante? La pensée traductologique occidentale dans la traduction russe (réception éditoriale)”, trans. D. Karczewska, Romanica Wratislaviensia 68, 2021, pp. 101–118.

The author explores the possibilities of parody translation, based on a 1933 Polish literary example. Poet Julian Tuwim imitates with a vengeance the highly idiosyncratic diction of Bolesław Leśmian, including the latter’s signature trait, neologisms, while styling the piece as a supposed rewriting of a familiar children’s rhyme (folk song) about a kitten. This second hypotext is diagnosed as ancillary and it is argued that a translation of the ‘X as would have been written by Y’ parody should harness a replacement of X which will be functional for the target culture. As an experiment, possible substitutes are suggested for two cultures: Russian and Anglo-Saxon, corresponding to the languages into which Leśmian, the parodied poet, has been most extensively rendered. The author discusses factors conditioning the translatability of parody, including reception in the target context. The analysis concludes with a call for translations. Two such responses to the challenge are appended.

* Originally published in Polish in Przekładaniec vol. 43, 2021, DOI 10.4467/16891864PC.21.031.15145. The Appendix is extended as compared with the Polish version.

The paper outlines a distinction between several allied notions related to intersemioticity, polysemioticity and translation, with examples pertaining to the indicated categories. It begins with an overview of how Roman Jakobson’s concept of intersemiotic translation has been re-interpreted and broadened to account for more types of transformations and for new modes of expression. Secondly, the non-identity of referentiality and transmutation is indicated. Next, the notion of intersemiotic complementation is proposed for instances that involve adding a new code to an existing work, rather than changing its code. A distinction is also drawn between intersemiotic translation and intersemiotic aspects orcontexts of interlingual translation (of a polysemiotic work or a verbal text which refers to non-discursive media). It is emphasized that it is this last category that deserves the attention of translation scholars, and some particular areas of interest are enumerated.

Embracing the Unembraceable

Tadeusz Szczerbowski’s book Rosyjskie teorie przekładu literackiego (Russian Theories of Literary Translation) consists of 32 chapters focusing on scholars and translators who have voiced infl uential ideas on literary translation over the last hundred years. The scholars whose theories are presented include e.g. O. Potebnia, K. Chukovsky, Y. Retzker, A. Fyodorov, Y. Etkind and M. Gasparov. Ukrainian, Armenian, Georgian and Czech scholars have been taken into account as part of the Soviet academic milieu. Importantly, all the material is offered either in Polish translation or in transliteration. Thus, the book presents to Polish readers a wealth of intellectual achievement, until now inaccessible due to the language barrier. The compendium will be of interest to translation scholars; however, it is also perceptibly aimed at students. It describes various individual theoretical models, but in its entirety it also offers an insight into the evolution of translation studies in Russia. Implicit or apparent analogies with the developments in Western Translation Studies are thought provoking – Russian scholars have often anticipated certain trends or concepts. Unfortunately, the compendium is fl awed by over-explaining of historical contexts and by reluctance to evaluate the discussed theories. These weaknesses, as well as the poor editing, call for a second edition of this otherwise useful book.

Translating Parody as a Domain of Experiment

The author explores the possibilities of parody translation, based on a 1933 Polish literary example. Poet Julian Tuwim imitates with a vengeance the highly idiosyncratic diction of Bolesław Leśmian, including the latter’s signature trait, neologisms, while styling the piece as a supposed rewriting of a familiar children’s rhyme (folk song) about a kitten. This second hypotext is diagnosed as ancillary and it is argued that a translation of the ‘X as would have been written by Y’ parody should harness a replacement of X, functional for the target culture. As an experiment, possible substitutes are suggested for the Russian and Anglo-Saxon cultures, correspondent with the languages into which Leśmian, the parodied poet, has been quite extensively rendered. The author discusses factors conditioning the translatability of parody, including reception in the target context. The analysis closes with a call for translations. One such response to the challenge is appended.

The Tower of Babel or Ivory Tower? The Reception of Western Translation Research in Russian-language Translation Studies – a Reconnaissance

The aim of this paper is to survey what texts and authors representing Western translation studies have been translated into Russian over the last seven decades and to describe the dynamics of the emergence of these translations as well as possible agendas behind the choices. It also traces, on a partial corpus, to what extent Russian translation scholars tend to cite and quote Western ones. The findings lead to a tentative conclusion that so far TS knowledge has been transferred mainly by unfrequent references to original publications and by way of mediated accounts (reviews, textbook summaries), while translations of particular studies have only recently begun appearing on a wider scale, their impact as yet uncertain.