The Unstable Text of Pan Tadeusz

Maria  Prussak

Titles

The Unstable Text of Pan Tadeusz

Abstract

The article discusses the changes introduced by the successive editors of Adam Mickiewicz’s narrative poem to the text version published by the poet himself. The most important one is undoubtedly the addition of the poem considered the “epilogue” to Pan Tadeusz, allegedly lost by Mickiewicz. No less radical are the interventions consisting in supplementing the text with fragments from the autograph or with the poet’s later additions made to the already printed text, as well as in corrective conjectures in instances regarded by the publisher as slips of the pen. The article compares the surviving authorial versions of the text, demonstrating that Mickiewicz himself treated his work as a continual process and tested new solutions on various occasions however, there is no evidence that he intended to introduce them into the printed text.

Translated by Jessica Jensen Mitchell.

* Originally published in Polish in Przekładaniec vol. 41, 2020 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864PC.21.007.13589).

The article discusses the changes introduced by the successive editors of Adam Mickiewicz’s narrative poem to the text version published by the poet himself. The most important one is undoubtedly the addition of the poem considered the “epilogue” to Pan Tadeusz, allegedly lost by Mickiewicz. No less radical are the interventions consisting in supplementing the text with fragments from the autograph or with the poet’s later additions made to the already printed text, as well as in corrective conjectures in instances regarded by the publisher as slips of the pen. The article compares the surviving authorial versions of the text, demonstrating that Mickiewicz himself treated his work as a continual process and tested new solutions on various occasions however, there is no evidence that he intended to introduce them into the printed text.

Translated by Jessica Jensen Mitchell.

* Originally published in Polish in Przekładaniec vol. 41, 2020 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864PC.21.007.13589).

Keywords

autograph, conjecture, text modernization, authorial intention, text dynamics

References

Gabler H.W. 1987. “The text as process and the problem of intentionality”, Text. Transactions of the Society for Textual Scholarship 3.

Górski K. 1969. Wstęp, [in:] A. Mickiewicz, Dzieła wszystkie, vol. IV, Pan Tadeusz, K. Górski (ed.), Wrocław: Ossolineum.

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Illg J. 2018. “Zagram ci to kiedyś…”, Stanisław Radwan w rozmowie z Jerzym Illgiem, Kraków: Znak.

Loth R. 2006. Podstawowe pojęcia i problemy tekstologii i edytorstwa naukowego, Warszawa: IBL PAN.

Méyet L. 1906. “Z korespondencji Mickiewicza”, Kurier Warszawski 326, p. 5.

Mickiewicz A. 1870. “Listy Adama Mickiewicza do A. E. Odyńca”, Kronika Rodzinna 19.

Mickiewicz A. 1995. Dzieła, t. IV, Pan Tadeusz, Z.J. Nowak (ed.), Warszawa: Czytelnik.

Mickiewicz A. 2003. Dzieła, t. XV, Listy. Część druga 1830‒1841, M. Dernałowicz, E. Jaworska, M. Zielińska (ed.), Warszawa: Czytelnik.

Mickiewicz A. 2003. 2012, Pan Tadeusz czyli Ostatni zajazd na Litwie. Historia szlachecka z roku 1811 i 1812 we dwunastu księgach wierszem, twelfth revised edition, S. Pigoń (ed.), J.Maślanka (appendix), Wrocław: Ossolineum.

Mickiewicz A. 2003. 2018, Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania, trans. B. Johnston, New York: Archipelago Books.

Naruszewicz A. 1959. Korespondencja Adama Naruszewicza 1762–1796, from Ludwik Bernacki’s archive, supplemented, edited and published by Julian Platt. T. Mikulski (ed.), Wrocław: Ossolineum.

Pigoń S. 1928. “Egzemplarz korektowy”, in: Ze studiów nad tekstem „Pana Tadeusza”. Trzy notatki, Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Książki.

Piechota M. 2014. “Jeszcze o ‘psach i chartach’ z Pana Tadeusza (Słynny w mickiewiczologii lapsus calami i jego domniemane klasycystyczne źródło)”, in: Eklektyzmy, synkretyzmy, uniwersa. Z estetyki dzieła epoki oświecenia i romantyzmu, A. Ziołowicz, Dąbrowski (eds), Kraków: Księgarna Akademicka, s. 201–220.

Prussak M., Rączka-Jeziorska T. 2018. Nieznany autograf Adama Mickiewicza. Dwie strony inwokacji „Pana Tadeusza”, Warszawa: IBL PAN.

Starnawski J. 1992. Praca wydawcy naukowego, Wrocław: Ossolineum.

Stefanowska Z. 2001. Mickiewicz – tradycja i nowatorstwo, in: Z. Stefanowska, Próba zdrowego rozumu. Studia o Mickiewiczu, 2nd ed., Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza Rytm.

Winek T. 2011. „Pan Tadeusz” Adama Mickiewicza. Autografy i edycje, Toruń‒Warszawa: Wydawnictwo IBL PAN.

Wyka K. 1963. Pan Tadeusz. Studia o tekście, Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.

Zgorzelski C. (ed.). 1998. Wiersze Adama Mickiewicza w podobiznach autografów. Część druga 1830‒1855, Z. Stefanowska, M. Kalinowska (eds), Wrocław: Ossolineum.

Information

Information: Przekładaniec, Issues in English, Special Issue 2022 – East-West. Transactions, pp. 53 - 66

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864ePC.22.010.16930

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

The Unstable Text of Pan Tadeusz

English:

The Unstable Text of Pan Tadeusz

Authors

Maria Prussak

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1432-8368

Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Published at: 2022

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY

Percentage share of authors:

Maria Prussak (Author) - 100%

Jessica Jensen Mitchell (Translator) - 0%

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English

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Number of downloads: 332

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