Interpreting of Children and for Children in the Actual Migration Situation in Poland

The paper describes the actual scene of public service interpreting and translation in Poland since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the influx of a vast number of Ukrainian refugees into Poland. In particular it is focused on the role played by volunteer interpreters and translators who offer linguistic and cultural assistance to Ukrainian children in medical and psychotherapeutic contexts. It also deals with the activities of non-governmental organizations offering linguistic and translational support for immigrants in Poland.

Liquidation of the Target: Between doxa and episteme

The author of the paper argues that Translation Studies and translation pedagogy might profit from the implementation of the theory of 4EA Cognition. The assumption that cognition is embodied, embedded, enacted, extended and affective might help to explain how people think about the world: cognition is a process whereby the relation between the cognizant subject and the (intentional) object of cognition is constantly modified by dynamic changes of factors pertaining to human body, brain and environment. As illustration, the author analyses a sequence of Polish media reports of a much publicized incident that occurred at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Translation as a Tool for Reconciliation? Translation of Canadian Indigenous Literatures into French in the era of Decolonization

The common assumption is that translation helps to share ideas and build bridges between societies, cultures and languages. Nevertheless, in Canadian history translation has been a tool of colonial domination and oppression of indigenous communities as well as francophone minorities scattered across Canada after 1763. In view of the above, this paper aims to show from a translational point of view the attempts to redress decades of persecution and assimilation that are currently taking place, particularly in light of the findings and recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released in June 2015. The analysis covers a unique context, involving the translation of works of Indigenous Literature into a minority language such as French in Canada. After presenting current trends in this area, the paper will discuss an autobiographical novel Halfbreed by Metis author Maria Campbell, which appeared in French translation in 2021 almost half a century after the original was published.

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.

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.

Rape on Stage (the Case of Terence)

In four of his six comedies the Roman playwright Terence uses rape as the key element of intrigue which in the plot of his plays leads to marriage and a happy ending. This poses a major problem to translators, not only because such a drastic act is incompatible with the genre of comedy but above all because it is always committed by the main protagonist – a young man, romantically infatuated, a character the audience or the readers are supposed to like. What is worse, the act of violence, often graphically depicted, which is assessed unequivocally according to our standards, within the convention of ancient comedy is relativized depending on the status of the victim. The harm done to slaves, courtesans and foreign women who cannot count on legal protection is considered humanum (‘human thing’) in comedy. Rape is considered criminal only after the victim is discovered to be a daughter of a noble family and therefore capable of legal marriage, which in turn gives the play a happy end. The challenge for the translator is not to turn the protagonist into a villain.

The term stuprum (rape/seducement) does not help the translator either, as it is very wide and denotes any extramarital sexual contact with a freeborn girl of a noble family, including consensual one. If the text fails to provide clear signals of the use of force, the translator faces the temptation to soften the nature of the act.

The article discusses the various strategies used by translators in order to present complex socio-legal realities of the ancient text which are incongruous with our standards, and to avoid anachronism in rendering the image of the main character – the perpetrator.

Violent Verses. Transformations of Horror Fiction and Translational Strategies of Polish Popularizers of Gothic Poetry – the Case Study of Anthologies by Robert Stiller and Leszek Lachowiecki

The article discusses strategies used in translation of horror poetry in Polish anthologies of this genre in late 1980s and early 1990s when, thanks to political and social transformation, Western popculture with some of its characteristic features became available and popular in Poland. Comparative analysis of the selected translations collected in the volume Danse macabre (1993) by Leszek Lachowiecki, compared to their English, French or German originals (by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Robert Frost, Richard Wilbur, Vachel Lindsay, Charles Baudelaire and Georg Heym) and earlier Polish versions by Robert Stiller (published in 1986), proves that the later variants amplify and/or introduce numerous lexical items denoting or connotating violence, fear and disgust. Thus, the techniques used by Lachowiecki – aimed at a brutalization of language and emphasising the themes of cruelty, terror and dread – can be perceived as an application of old-fashion style and means (typical for modernist or “Young Poland” literature) in order to adjust aesthetic standards used in poetry to broader cultural trends dominating in contemporary horror fiction.

Anamorphosis. From Kafka Translator’s Workshop

Based on my own translations of Franz Kafka’s texts (first of all The Diaries), I analyze past and contemporary translation trends, especially with regard to translations of works published in critical editions. The texts left by Kafka were repeatedly subject of far- reaching editorial modifications before their first publication. From the point of view of modern editorial standards, these modifications should be considered too big. That is why the critical edition of Kafka’s works, initiated in Germany in the 1980s, aimed at cleaning the texts of later retouches and returning to the “original” Kafka. This also presented translators with previously unknown tasks – many of Kafka’s works had to be translated anew in practice.

Translation as Interpretation: How Translation Criticism Organizes Literary Studies Scholars’ Interpretations

The article discusses the concept of translation as interpretation. I propose an analysis of translation techniques used by two Polish literary scholars and translators, Tadeusz Komendant and Michał Paweł Markowski. I compare their translations and divide them into two categories: “critical” and “unnatural” (in the case of Komendant) and “vulnerable” and “existential” (Markowski). I argue that a critical analysis of translation is necessary to justify the adopted strategy of interpretation which occupies a privileged position in these texts. I also use translation criticism as a “structuring” criterion to establish a certain hierarchy which exists, more or less explicitly, in the field of literary scholars’ translations. In order to do so, I juxtapose Markowski’s views with the those of Tomasz Swoboda in his Repetition and Difference (2014). I attempt to demonstrate that translation criticism allows not only for the articulation of the underlying pattern behind a translation, but also problematizes some issues related to the translator’s and author’s subjective scope of responsibility. In this way, I come to the conclusion that translation criticism reveals important qualities of a text, usually overlooked by strictly literary approaches. I acknowledge and confirm an important role it plays in building self-awareness and participating in self-knowledge within literary studies.

Javier Franco Aixelá, Christian Olalla-Soler (red.). 2022. 50 Years Later: What Have We Learnt after Holmes (1972) and Where Are We Now?, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Uni- versidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Servicio de Publicaciones y Difusión Científica.

“The Great Cambrian Explosion”, or the True Origin of Translation Studies Diversity

The article discusses the collective book 50 Years Later: What Have We Learnt after Holmes (1972) and Where Are We Now? edited by Javier Franco Aixelá, Christian Olalla- Soler (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Servicio de Publicaciones y Difusión Científica 2022). The author of the review draws attention to the challenges and difficulties associated with writing the history of Translation Studies.