Translation Policies of Rocznik Literacki [The Literary Annual] (1932– 1938) and the Perception of Foreign Literatures in the Periodical from the Perspective of World Literature

The aim of this paper is to identify and unpack ideological strategies manifested through translation criticism in the Rocznik Literacki, a Polish literary review published in the 1930s, in the context of the notion of World Literature. With the help of the toolbox from comparative literary studies, translation studies, and cultural studies, the article traces the dynamics of socio-political tensions in Poland in the 1930s. It also presents an overview of the reception of foreign literatures in the Polish periodical.

The sections of the annual devoted to works translated from various languages reflected the reviewers’ urge to establish norms for translation and literary market that were apparently solely linguistic in nature. In fact, they reflected the discussions on the role which particular cultures (should) play in the multilingual and divided state shortly after it regained independence. The paper discusses the particularly complex representation of ancient (Latin) and Jewish (Yiddish) tradition in Rocznik Literacki.

The aim of this paper is to identify and unpack ideological strategies manifested through translation criticism in the Rocznik Literacki, a Polish literary review published in the 1930s, in the context of the notion of World Literature. With the help of the toolbox from comparative literary studies, translation studies, and cultural studies, the article traces the dynamics of socio-political tensions in Poland in the 1930s. It also presents an overview of the reception of foreign literatures in the Polish periodical.

The sections of the annual devoted to works translated from various languages reflected the reviewers’ urge to establish norms for translation and literary market that were apparently solely linguistic in nature. In fact, they reflected the discussions on the role which particular cultures (should) play in the multilingual and divided state shortly after it regained independence. The paper discusses the particularly complex representation of ancient (Latin) and Jewish (Yiddish) tradition in Rocznik Literacki.