Bogusława Sochańska

Was a New Polish Translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales and Stories Necessary?
A positive answer to the above question seems obvious after a critical analysis of the
history of the reception of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales and stories in Poland
in the second part of the 19th century and in the fi rst part of the 20th century. On the
one hand, over a hundred years ago the writer was classifi ed as an author of exclusively
children’s literature due to intended or unintended misinterpretations of the spirit of
his prose. This classifi cation was then inherited by next generations of readers and
translators. On the other hand, a huge number of various kinds of mistakes in translation
depleted Andersen’s unique style. The analysis shows how Andersen’s narration was
changed to traditional literary style (especially when it came to dialogues); how humour
and irony were either overlooked, misunderstood or judged improper for children; how
translators miscomprehended Danish grammar and vocabulary; and how little attention
was paid to the consistency of the text.
The effect is a narration which is “too sweet,” often lengthy, boring, and at times
illogical. The analysis compares selected examples from the most recent complete
edition of 167 fairy tales and stories translated from Danish by Boguslawa Sochanska
(2006) with the previous complete edition (of 155 fairytales and stories) translated from
German by Stefania Beylin and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, whose work has enjoyed high
recognition for 50 years. The detailed discussion of mistakes and misunderstandings
in Polish translations done from German also illustrates typical diffi culties that appear
when translating Andersen’s prose. Therefore, the article points out similar problems
with giving Andersen’s prose its proper shape in the most recent Polish edition.

A positive answer to the above question seems obvious after a critical analysis of the reception of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales and stories in Poland in the second part of the 19th century and in the first part of the 20th century. On the one hand, over a hundred years ago the writer was classified as an author of children’s literature due to intended or unintended misinterpretations of his prose. This classification was then inherited by next generations of readers and translators. On the other hand, numerous translatory mistakes depleted Andersen’s unique style. The analysis shows how Andersen’s narration was changed to traditional literary style, especially when it came to dialogues; how humour and irony were overlooked, misunderstood or judged improper for children; how translators miscomprehended Danish grammar and vocabulary; and how little attention was paid to the coherence of the text. The analysis compares the complete edition of 167 fairy tales and stories translated from Danish (Sochańska 2006) and the complete editon of 155 fairy tales and stories translated from German (Beylin and Iwaszkiewicz 1956), which has enjoyed a canonical status. The comparison not only indicates the difficulties in translating Andersen; it also demonstrates how his prose could be restored to its original shape and how it could again address both young and adult readers.