On the Translation of Fantasy Literature through the Lens of the Italian Version of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher Series

Studies on the specific features of fantasy literature that can influence translation strategies are becoming more and more widespread among scholars, as a consequence of increasing interest in the rendition of cultural items and the legitimation of fantasy literature as a field of research. Focusing on the Italian version of The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, published in 2010–2016, the article investigates the problems posed by the creation of imaginary worlds and the form of literary cycles as distinctive traits of fantasy literature, as suggested by Guttfeld (2012). The author shows how they can affect cultural and lexical consistency in the translation of anthroponyms, toponyms, units of measurement, culinary terms, and fantastic creatures. Whereas in Polish translations of fantasy texts a foreignizing strategy prevails, due to the domination of anglophone writers and the imbalance of cultural systems, the Italian translation of Sapkowski’s works appears significantly more domesticated.

Savage Heroines? The Treatment of Gender and Genre in Translations of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights

Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights is the first instalment of his award-winning trilogy His Dark Materials. In this alternate-worlds fantasy and children’s literature classic, Lyra and her daemon Pan are catapulted from the relative stability of Oxford to negotiate an increasingly threatening world in a quest to protect free will from cataclysmic adult zealotry. According to prophecy, Lyra is the chosen one; she conforms to the tropes of the fantasy quest performing the paradigmatic steps of the saviour hero.

Pullman’s protagonist transgresses and subverts the stereotypical expectations of the fantasy heroine whose generic destiny is coded in enclosure, passivity and endurance. Lyra is also a coming of age story and here again Pullman’s conceptualisation does not conform to the female pattern in both fantasy and children’s literature where marriage functions as the marker for maturity.

Character is one of the two defining traits of fantasy (Attebery 1992) and it performs a didactic function in children’s literature. Characterisation is created through the reader’s interpretation of textual cues: narratorial description; direct and free-indirect speech. Lyra’s character subverts fantasy stereotypes and depicts a transgressive child who does not conform to gender role expectations.

Genre translation tends to adapt the text to target culture norms and the didactic and socialising impetus of children’s literature has been shown to prompt translation strategies which comply with the receiving culture’s linguistic and behavioural norms. In this paper, we analyse the rendering of character cues in the French, German and Italian translations of Northern Lights:

1. Is the transgressive trope of a) the heroine following the male hero paradigm and b) the coming of age pattern maintained or normalised to conform to genre expectations?

2. Is Lyra’s transgressive character rendered in translation or is it adapted to comply with didactic expectations of behaviour?

3. Are there different notions of the role and function of children’s literature in the target environments and do these impact on translation strategies?

Stanisław Lem’s Space Flora and Fauna Translated into English

The article discusses authorial neologisms coined by Stanislaw Lem and their translation into English on the example of 37 plant and animal names excerpted from the short story entitled Let Us Save the Universe (An Open Letter from Ijon Tichy), which, together with their English equivalents, were subject to comparative analysis. Since these names may create translation problems, the purpose of the analysis was primarily to determine the problem-solving techniques used by the translators, Maria Święcicka-Ziemianek and Joel Stern. Another goal was to make an attempt at explaining their translation choices and to determine the impact of these choices on the way in which the equivalents expressed with neologisms perform their naming function and the function through which they create the narrative world in the target text. Therefore, the article lists the possible causes of translation problems evoked by neologisms and presents the characteristics of the analysed names in terms of translation difficulties they may pose. The analytical material is presented taking into account the relationship between neologisms and their equivalents with the accompanying context and/or illustration. The article provides conclusions on the impact of the techniques used and the elements that determined the final shape of equivalents on the way the naming and creative function of authorial neologisms are reflected in the target text. It also shows the methods of overcoming problems related to translating neologisms into a foreign language.

Is a Translated Crime Novel Likely to Teach History? About the Translations of Śmierć w Breslau [Death in Breslau] and Głowa Minotaura [The Minotaur’s Head] by Marek Krajewski

Crime novel is considered one of the most important innovations of the twentieth century in the field of fiction. Together with cinema, television and “elite” literature which often take over some of its features (themes and plots), it plays a significant role in creating the representation of reality proposed to the readers. The investigation described in the novels is set in a context which refers to the real world, in its social, political or historical aspects. The realistic dimension of the crime story makes it a kind of “social document”, which attracts the attention of researchers, including non-literary scholars. Reading crime novels allows them to acquire strictly literary information, but also some knowledge about communities, which leads them to an interpretation of relationships between literature and society. In this paper, the translated crime novel is seen as a special means of enriching the reader’s knowledge of the source culture. The realistic character of the work, which is supposed to fulfil a primarily ludic function, implies a certain tension in the work of the translator, who is led to ask himself: “shall I entertain or shall I entertain and teach”? If realism becomes a constitutive feature of crime fiction, if, as stated by Maryse Petit and Gilles Menegaldo, “under the pretext of attracting a crime novel client, the intention is to give him a history lesson or to make him think about a certain state of society”, the translator may be bound to include in the translation some elements that supplement the “encyclopaedic” knowledge of the target reader. The analysis is based on two novels by Marek Krajewski – his first novel, Death in Breslau (1999), set in the inter-war period, featuring the German policeman Eberhard Mock, and The Minotaur’s Head, published a decade later, which action takes Mock to Lwów in the time when it was a Polish city and makes him befriend a Polish commissioner, Popielski. A comparison of some of their translations (eight for the first book, three for the second) shows differences in the treatment of the historical component of the novels, both in the treatment of selected text elements, as a result of the translator’s project, and in the peritexts, which, however, usually do not depend on the translator, but on the publisher.

“First the left hand, then the left hand.” A Translator of Norwegian Crime Novels Faced with Mistakes in the Source Text

Norwegian crime fiction is a genre which has gained enormous popularity among readers around the world over the past several years, and this creates a greater demand for translation of this kind of literature. The purpose of this text is to take a closer look at mistakes in Norwegian source texts a translator has to face when working with this genre. The article gives a short summary of potential causes of these mistakes, attempts to categorize them and describes possible ways of correcting them. The main argument is that the translator’s role and identity change in this process, as the translator often has to perform the tasks of an additional editor or proofreader. The crime novels analyzed here are: Blod i dans [Dance with the Devil] by Gard Sveen, Møt meg i paradis [Meet me in Paradise] by Heine Bakkeid and Alt er mitt [Deep Fjord] by Ruth Lillegraven.

Greasy Scummy Sumps: Translating Specialized Terminology in Detective Fiction

Fictional texts containing specialized terms pose a challenge for literary translators. Rooted in raw factual accuracy, terms can nonetheless be used in extremely expressive ways. Raymond Chandler used oil industry terminology (bull wheel, derrick, oil field, scum, walking-beam, and especially the term sump) in his first novel The Big Sleep (1939) within intentionally artistic phrasings involving alliteration, parallel structuring and repetition. The novel was (re)translated into Spanish many times (El sueño eterno 1947, 1948, 1958, 1972 and 2001), offering a view into how different translators met this challenge. Though the published translations reveal lower frequency of repetition in all cases, inconsistent co-textual use of the terminology and usage of non-terms, omissions and errors, these instances were qualitatively compensated with creatively reproduced alliterative elements and added literary devices. This study of a seldomly explored aspect of literary translation shows how professionals are aware of the importance of language for specific purposes in literature and how effective balances between technical accuracy and literary expressiveness can be attained. For theorists who might believe that literary and technical translation are separate worlds of translatorial action, the results of this study show that literary translators tend to bridge this gap proficiently with both accuracy and literary flair.

* Przełożyła Joanna Sobesto

Challenges of translating cultural embeddedness in crime fiction: a picture from Croatia

The aim of the present study is to examine the specific features of translating crime fiction genre in Croatia in the 2000s. Frederic Jameson (qtd. in Rolls, Vuaille-Barcan & West-Sooby 2016) foregrounded the notion of crime fiction’s role as the new Realism due to the importance it places on historical and geographical specificity, and the social fabric of our daily lives. In line with this, an assumption could be made that the overvaluation of place in crime fiction may present a particular challenge in translation, not only in terms of translation strategies chosen by translators, but also in terms of preferable marketing strategies pursued by publishers and editors and the correspondence between them. The focus of this study is on the patterns of handling source-culture embeddedness, typical of this genre, in translation. The study examines how diverse agents (editors, translators and language revisers) involved in the production of translations of this genre interact and how their interaction influences the decisions on handling the genre’s embeddedness in a particular, source-culture, reality. As crime fiction novels are a highly popular translated genre in Croatia, crime fiction novels make a substantial portion of the production of the publishing sector. For the purposes of this study we have selected a number of crime fiction novels by several frequently translated authors (P. D. James, Ruth Rendell, Michael Connelly) that have been published by Croatian publishers of diverse profiles, ranging from well-established publishers with long presence on the market to start-ups with a relatively short market life. The data analyzed include interviews with the agents involved (translators, editors and language revisers), peritext of these editions and analysis of selected textual segments.

* przełożyła Aleksandra Kamińska

Local Genre – Universal Reception? Polish Literary Reportage from the Two First Decades of the 20th Century Read by the French-Speaking Audience

The article examines the reception of Polish contemporary authors associated with the genre of “literary reportage” among the readers of their French translations. The analysis starts with the assumption taken from the thoughts of Tzvetan Todorov, who claimed that genre – shaping both the author’s writing model and the reader’s horizon of expectations – can be an important mechanism of mediation driving the literary communication.

The analysis includes translations of books by Wojciech Tochman, Jacek Hugo- Bader, Mariusz Wilk and Mariusz Szczygieł. In the first part, the publishing peritext is examined, through which French publishers create the perception of Polish authors and the literary genre they can be associated with. The second part of the analysis is devoted to the reception of translations of the above-mentioned authors – both among professional critics and amateur reviewers or readers – with particular emphasis put on the genre classification made by the audience.

The summary attempts to determine whether French-speaking readers perceive Polish authors in accordance with the specific rules of “literary reportage” and what role the publishing peritext may play in this process. The issue of marketing potential of the literary genre as an important tool in creating the publisher’s offer is also discussed.

Sex Education and Translations of Books for Children and Young People – Ideologies, Characteristics, Controversies

This article discusses sex education books for children and young people published in Poland in 1945–2018. After defining the ideological profile of 111 examined publications as conservative, moderately conservative, neutral, moderately liberal or liberal, the authors compare the whole set of books translated from other languages with the whole set of books by Polish authors, taking into account the date of publication and the age of the intended reader. The analysis shows that translations differ from texts written originally in Polish, because they promote other values. Polish books, especially those published before 1989, are usually neutral or moderately conservative, while translations mostly propagate moderately liberal or liberal ideologies. There is also a close correlation between those ideological categories and the age of the reader: books for the youngest audience are ideologically charged to the smallest degree, and the ideological content increases with the age of the reader. This seems to be related to the growing percentage of translations in the older age groups. Translations, which usually reflect the liberal ideology, fill a gap in Polish culture by complementing or replacing the conservative sexeducation available at school and by encouraging Polish authors to write sex education books expressing similar views.

Images of Irreverence: Nonsense Poetry in Translation as Exemplified by Edward Lear’s Poem The Akond of Swat

The paper deals with selected “rewritings” of Edward Lear’s nonsense poem The Akond of Swat, focusing specifically on the translators’, illustrators’, adapters’ and editors’ attitudes towards the allusive nature of the poem – the reference it makes to the historical figure of the Pashtun religious leader Abdul Ghaffūr, also known as the Akond (or Wali) of Swat or Saidū Bābā, which may be viewed as problematic from a postcolonial viewpoint. Recent translated and illustrated versions of the poem inscribe it with new aesthetic and ideological values. Two Polish translations considered in the paper, produced by Andrzej Nowicki and Stanisław Barańczak respectively, demonstrate changing approaches to the nonsense genre displayed in Polish literary circles (gradual transition from pure to parodistic nonsense). Graphic representations of the poem discussed in the paper testify to the artists’ interpretive powers in redefining the genre of Lear’s poem: rebranding it as an infantile fairy tale on the one hand and a disturbing reflection on tyranny and “the war on terrorism” on the other.

The Hypergeneric Spectrum of Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon in Polish Translation

The study deals with the issue of genre in translation with reference to the Polish rendition of Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Upon analysing the hypergeneric and heteroglottic aspect of the novel, by enumerating the possible classifications of the novel’s genre and facets of language variety, the study offers a new perspective on genre classification from the vantage point of Jacques Derrida’s philosophy, namely by the introduction of the term quasi-transcendental as the name of a superordinate genre, which could include not only Pynchon’s but also Derrida’s works. The recreation of a genre defined in this way in the act of translation consists in determining the pivotal elements in the text, which activate the process of signification concerning chains of binarities in Gravity’s Rainbow, i.e. the motifs of “interface” and “linearity” (related to the motif of “fold”, which could also become a diagrammatic model for the whole quasi-transcendental genre). Finally, the study offers conclusions as to the theory and practice of translation of higher-order genres such as the one posited herein.

Problems of Translating Legal Language Based on William Shakespeare’s Selected Plays

The paper discusses major problems and issues of translating law and legal language into Polish as illustrated by selected examples from William Shakespeare’s three plays: King Lear, The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure. The common feature of the plays is the context of the court and the trial. In King Lear, Shakespeare depicts a mock-trial of the main character’s two daughters, Regan and Goneril. The crux of The Merchant of Venice is the proceedings instigated by Shylock against his debtor, Antonio. Measure for Measure features a summary trial of two local rogues, Froth and Pompey, who are brought to justice by the constable Elbow. A comparison of the English original law-embedded scenes with their Polish counterparts shows that Polish translators approached Shakespeare’s legal lexicon differently. They frequently neutralised legal language or offered the equivalents that do not overlap with the source text. The different treatment of legal language by the translators results in various readings and interpretations of the original. The paper also provides a commentary on the basic concepts and institutions of English law in Shakespeare’s analysed plays.

A Multidimensional Image of the Russian Constitution – Linguistic, Cultural and Cognitive Reflections

This article deals with the transposition of concepts in the process of translating legal texts. The material basis was the original text of the constitution of the Russian Federation and the constitution of Russia, which was translated into Polish. The primary assumption of the analyzes made is the thesis that the constitution is the foundation of the system, norms and principles. The Constitution also sets out the main directions of community development. As the superior document of a social and political nature, it confirms the most important national values and social beliefs. The awareness of the highest rank of this normative act should also be considered as an important factor in the process of translating the constitution into other languages. Depending on the context and depending on the structural and conceptual flexibility of the original text, the transposition of a generalized vision of the community world can be a complex task or a process that does not require a lot of work.

The subject of the article is the relation between the Constitution of the Russian Federation and its Polish language version. The analysis includes the linguistic and non-linguistic reality in which the constitution of Russia is present. The research covered: the current constitution of Russia of December 12, 1993 in the Russian and Polish language versions. The legal act in Polish was made available on the official website of the Biblioteka Sejmowa (biblioteka.sejm.gov.pl). The aim of the review was to identify the possibility of reconceptualizing the Russian legal reality and determining the efficiency of transposing the concepts to the target text. The author wanted to answer the questionwhether the translation text can be treated as a source of knowledge and understanding of cultural and civilizational norms and values, building the state and Russian society. The first part of the study was devoted to general concepts that created the state system. Attention is paid to their functionality in the source and target area. The essence of the image of the world was taken into account. Using the concepts of Родина and Отечествo, has been explained the lexical context of translated lexemes. The second part of the review concerned the reconstruction of the collective memory of the Russian nation. This level focuses on the text of the preamble as a component containing generalized ideas of the political system. The third part was a substantive summary of all findings. This part of the article was based on a comparative study, covering the relation between the text of the constitution and the content and context.

Virginity Lost in Translation: The Analysis of Individual Style of Zuzanna Ginczanka in Polish Original Poems and Their Ukrainian Renditions

The aim of this article is a comparative study of original poems by Zuzanna Ginczanka (Zuzanna Gincburg) and their translations into Ukrainian language by Yaroslav Polishchuk. The poetess crafted a distinctive, highly dynamic style in Polish literature. Among the particular features of her style are: phonetic experiments, neologisms, lexical and grammatical repetitions, ironic utterances and extended metaphors. The loss or rendering of these features will be the key criterion in judging Polishchuk’s translations. The study focuses on the poem called Virginity, but numerous examples are taken from many other poems and their Ukrainian versions.