Magdalena Pytlak

Losing memory is a kind of axis of the latest novel by a Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov. The article attempts to trace the forms of oblivion and forgetting process that appear in Time Shelter. The point of reference for the considerations is the characters’ attitude to time and history. At the same time, the study is an attempt to read the implied forms of oblivion which seem to be connected with the opposite process – remembering.

The main purpose of the paper is to see how the postmodern Bulgarian popular culture (re)constructs narrative on Bulgarians.
Research material are two historical TV- series – Недадените (Ungiven) and Дървото на живота (The Tree of Life). Although they look at the different historical periods, they have few common points that allow us the comparison. They were both put on air in 2013 and were first Bulgarian historical series since the beginning of the 21st century. Furthermore, in both important element are religious minorities. By analyzing the narrative on the religious minorities we analyze Bulgarian self-narrative.

In 1928, two translations of Dostoevsky’s The Devils were published: one by Tadeusz Zagórski, another by an unknown woman signed as J.B. This article analyses both translations to understand why Zagórski’s version has become canonical. It seems that the main reasons for the privileged status of Zagórski’s translation are, on the one hand, its publisher’s strong position, and on the other – the visual aspect of the J.B. version. The J.B. edition was illustrated: the drawings depict the female characters of the novel. The illustrated plates present also excerpts selected from the novel, which are frequently amorous in tone. Most probably because of its distinctly feminine look, the J.B. translation of The Devils was superseded by Zagórski’s version.

Polish Women Translators Outside the Canon. On a Forgotten Translation of Dostoyevsky’s The Devils

Despite the growing interest in women’s writing, women translators and their achievements are rarely discussed. The article focuses on mechanisms behind the exclusion of women’s writing from literary history and examines the social status of three women translators as contributing to their invisibility. Dora Gabe, Slava Shtiplieva and Anastasia Gancheva were co-workers at Polish-Bulgarian Review. Each developed a different strategy to cope with the unfavorable intellectual climate of interwar Bulgaria. Their biographies show the connections between marital and social status of a woman writer and the esteem of her works. They also confirm the claim that translating, instead of writing, was thought to be more appropriate for women because of the low position translation occupied in the hierarchy of artistic occupations.

In recent years, in Bulgaria returns the belief of untranslatability formulated equally in relation to native literature, as well as culture and is expressed both by the creators and researchers. The term “untranslatability” appears essentially in two spaces – public discourse and scientific discourse. This article focuses on the second one, namely on scientific discourse. The paper analyzes selected articles, debates and scientific studies published in the beginning of 21st century. The purpose of the proposed exegesis is to try to understand what Bulgarian researchers understand using the term “neprevodimost”.