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.

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.