Literary Translation as a Medium of Travelling Memory

Memory has been one of the main topics of the universal literature and nowadays postmemorial prose is an important trend of the Polish literature. A question arises whether the specific character of these works constitutes a peculiar challenge for translators and, thus, whether their translations should be treated as a separate issue within the field of translation studies. Recent memory studies show that contemporary societies consist of many social groups which often have conflicting interests and, therefore, they cultivate different memory practices regarding the same past events. Memory is treated as a dynamic phenomenon, which may be transformed in time and space, so it is constantly actualized. There are five factors which determine movements of memory: carriers, media, contents, practices and forms. Memory may travel thanks to media of different kind, e.g. monuments. Translation can be considered a memory medium, too; it allows memory contents to travel to another cultural space. This approach lets us look at literary translations from a fresh perspective and, consequently, develop a set of new research directions. This article aims at listing some of them. 

Memory has been one of the main topics of the universal literature and nowadays postmemorial prose is an important trend of the Polish literature. A question arises whether the specific character of these works constitutes a peculiar challenge for translators and, thus, whether their translations should be treated as a separate issue within the field of translation studies. Recent memory studies show that contemporary societies consist of many social groups which often have conflicting interests and, therefore, they cultivate different memory practices regarding the same past events. Memory is treated as a dynamic phenomenon, which may be transformed in time and space, so it is constantly actualized. There are five factors which determine movements of memory: carriers, media, contents, practices and forms. Memory may travel thanks to media of different kind, e.g. monuments. Translation can be considered a memory medium, too; it allows memory contents to travel to another cultural space. This approach lets us look at literary translations from a fresh perspective and, consequently, develop a set of new research directions. This article aims at listing some of them.