Jakub Jankowski

The aim of this article is to take a closer look at Polish press reviews of Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto, in order to study the novel’s reception. The reviews provide information not only about the assessment of translation quality, but also about the attitude of the target culture towards translated literature. In this case, a novel from a former  Portuguese colony, Mozambique, enters the Polish literary system via the ex-metropole, Portugal. The literary systems involved in the transfer are seen as peripheral, which makes the case interesting in the world of postcolonial order. To legitimise the conclusions, a wider context of Mozambican literature will be taken into consideration, as well as  the Polish context. Couto’s novel is accepted by the Polish audience as an example of exotic writing. The novel’s paratexts, its translator’s explanations, and the position of Mia Couto in the Polish literary system before the publication of Lunatyczna kraina will be considered as factors informing its reception.

Translated from Polish by Zofia Ziemann

The aim of this article is to take a closer look at reviews of Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto published in Polish press and study its recepion. Informations which can be found in reviews enable to gather not only facts about the translation quality, but also to define an attitude that the target culture has towards the translated literature. In the case that we chose to study we face the literature from the former Portuguese colony, Mozambique, which enters the Polish literary system via the ex metropoly, that is, Portugal. The transfer of the work takes place in the field of literary systems that are seen as peripheral, which produces a very interesting situation in a world of postcolonial order. In order to legitimize our conclusions, we chose to execute this analysis in a wider context of Mozambican Literature, taking under our consideration the analysis of the Sleepwalking Land novel as well, and the Polish context, which accepts in its literary system a work that is seen as an exotic one. As the factors defining the reception we point out the existing paratexts, translator's explanations and the position that Mia Couto has in Polish literary system before 2010, the date that Sleepwalking Land was published in Poland.