Anita Kłos

On Maria Konopnicka’s Translation of Ada Negri’s Fatalità and Tempeste

Maria Konopnicka’s translation of Ada Negri’s two early poetry volumes, Fatalità and Tempeste, was published in Warsaw in 1901. The article examines Konopnicka’s translation in its historical and comparative context and presents her principal translation strategies. Since her début in 1890s, Negri’s originals and Konopnicka’s writings have been considered similar because of their social engagement and sensibility. Konopnicka’s decision to translate Fatalità and Tempeste is usually seen as a result of her social interests. On the basis of Konopnicka’s and Negri’s letters and metaliterary enunciations, it can be assumed that Negri’s vision of creative act as a sudden and unstoppable inspiration of the inner spirit was also highly appreciated by the Polish poet. In her translation Konopnicka tends to naturalize the Italian originals on all the levels of expression, deploying her own favourite rhythmic patterns and figures of speech.

The aim of the paper, which brings together the results of a reconnaissance research, is to provide a preliminary overview of selected issues and textual practices related to indirect translation in the Polish-Italian intercultural exchange in the 20th century. In Polish literary translation studies, the significance of indirect translation has been seriously undervalued, especially in research on literary translation from Polish as a source language. Many classical works of Polish prominent authors (like Witold Gombrowicz,  Czesław Miłosz, Stanisław Lem) were published in Italy as a result of indirect translation (translated via one of the “central” languages, usually French or English, or by a bilingual team of translators). After discussing main terminological and methodological issues, the study presents two “microhistorical” examples – La casa delle donne: Zofia Nałkowska’s Dom kobiet translated in 1930 by Sibilla Aleramo via intermediary translations into French and Italian, and Witold Gombrowicz’s Ferdydurke, translated into Italian in 1961  by Sergio Miniussi via French and Spanish, under the supervision of Konstanty A. Jeleński. These two cases, exemplify different text typologies and practical approaches to the translation process.

Maria Konopnicka’s translation of Ada Negri’s two early poetry volumes, Fatalità and Tempeste, was published in Warsaw in 1901. The article examines Konopnicka’s translation in its historical and comparative context and presents her principal translation strategies. Since her début in 1890s, Negri’s originals and Konopnicka’s writings have been considered similar because of their social engag ement and sensibility. Konopnicka’s decision to translate Fatalità and Tempeste is usually seen as a result of her social interests. On the basis of Konopnicka’s and Negri’s letters and metaliterary enunciations, it can be assumed that Negri’s vision of creative act as a sudden and unstoppable inspiration of the inner spirit was also highly appreciated by the Polish poet. In her translation Konopnicka tends to naturalize the Italian originals on all the levels of expression, deploying her own favourite rhythmic patterns and figures of speech.

The article contains a review of the translation of Dire quasi la stessa cosa. Esperienze di traduzione by Umberto Eco (Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2021) into Polish, authored by Jadwiga Miszalska and Monika Surma-Gawłowska. Notwithstanding the significant popularity of Eco’s literary and scholarly work in Poland, his influential volume of essays on translation was published in Polish almost twenty years after the original edition. In the first place, the review focuses on the translators’ approach to multilingualism and Italocentrism of Eco’s source text. It also addresses the issues of validity and actuality of Eco’s semiotic contribution to translation studies, by confronting it with recent trends in translation scholarship, especially with Kobus Marais’s bio-semiotic theory of translation.

Despite its title, Invisible Cities (1972) is the most visible book by Italo Calvino. Calvino included visibility in his literary testament, Six Memos for the Next Millennium, as one of the fundamental values of literary creation. He often emphasized the significance of visibility in his writings and pointed out its close connection with exactitude, another value that he felt important for the next millennium. Translated into Polish by Alina Kreisberg, the book was first published in 1975 and republished in 2005 and 2013. The translator, who considers the book a record of an inner journey “around one’s head”, openly admits to having modified various details of Calvino’s images, recognizing that certain terms would sound too exotic, encyclopaedic and elitist in Polish. Her translations of architectural and art historical terms are particularly noteworthy,  leading sometimes to a change in the style of buildings evoked by Calvino’s text. The translator’s decisions make the  images of Invisible Cities even more surrealistic and mythical.

Invisible Cities(1972) is – despite the title – the most visible book of Italo Calvino. Calvino included visibility in his literary testament, Six Memos for the Next Millennium, as one of the fundamental values of literary creation. The author often emphasized the significance of visibility in his writings and accented its close relation with exactitude, another value that he felt important for the next millennium. Translated into Polish by Alina Kreisberg, the book was first published in 1975 and twice republished in 2005 and 2013. The translator, who considers the book a record of an inner journey “around one’s head”, openly admits to having modified the various details of Calvino’s images, recognizing that in Polish some terms would sound too exotic, encyclopedic, and elitist. Especially noteworthy are her translations of architectural and art historical terms, sometimes leading to a change in the style characteristics of buildings evoked by Calvino’s text. The translator’s decisions make the images of Invisible Cities even more surrealistic and mythical