Marzena Chrobak

Literary Translation during World War 2 – A Reconnaissance

On the basis of studies by literary historians (especially the monumental Polish Literature and Theatre in the Years of World War II) and memoirs of initiators, creators and recipients of translations in the years 1939–1945, I present examples of translators who died during the war and those who managed to survive and work. I show the place of translations in the underground publishing movement and theatre; I discuss different ways translations made before the war as well as new ones, undertaken within structures such as the Secret Theatre Council or on private initiative, were present in occupational cultural life.

This paper, based on research conducted by the pioneers of the history of
oral interpreting (A. Hermann, I. Kurz) in the 1950s and on modern archaeological
evidence, presents the earliest references to interpreters in the Bronze Age, in the Near
East and the Mediterranean area (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, Carthage). It discusses
a Sumerian Early Dynastic List, a Sumerian-Eblaic glossary from Ebla, the Shu-ilishu’s
Cylinder Seal, the inscriptions and reliefs from the Tombs of the Princes of Elephantine
and of Horemheb, the mention of one-third of a mina of tin dispensed at Ugarit to the
interpreter of Minoan merchants and the Hanno’s stele, as well as terms used by these
early civilisations to denote an interpreter: eme-bal, targumannu, jmy-r(A) aw, and mls.

A Look from Afar: History of Literary Translation in Poland from the Perspective of the Research Project “Histoire de la traduction littéraire en Europe médiane”

Inspired by the questionnaire answered while working on the international research project “Histoire de la traduction littéraire en Europe médiane” (Inalco, France, 2009–2018), the author discusses the reasons behind and the characteristics of pseudotranslations published in Poland after 1945 and of the “urgent” translations done in Poland  between 1945 and 1989.

For a solder rod. The archeology of interpreting
This paper, based on research conducted by the pioneers of the history of interpreting
(A. Hermann, I. Kurz) in the 1950s and on modern archeological evidence, presents the
earliest references to interpreters in the Bronze Age, in the Near East and the Mediterranean
area (Mesopotamy, Egypt, Crete, Cartagina). It discusses a Summerian Early
Dynastic List, a summerian-eblaic glossary from Ebla, the Shu-ilishu’s Cylinder Seal,
the inscriptions and reliefs from the Tombs of the Princes of Elephantine and of Haremhab,
the mention of a 1/3 mina of tin dispensed at Ugarit to the interpreter of Minoan
merchants and the Hannon’s stela, as well as terms used by these early civilizations to
denote an interpreter: „eme-bal”, „targumannu”, „jmy-r(A) aw”, „mls”.