Szkice o przekładzie literackim : literatura rodem z Quebecu w Polsce

Abstract

The book Sketches on literary translation. The literature of Quebec origin in Poland is the first work on the Polish ground aiming at description of the existing Polish language translations of Quebec literature and their wider dissemination among Polish readers. The author combines historical and literary perspectives, thus disclosing the context and issues of the analysed works, as well as the translatology perspective to the domestic recipient, by presenting the selected area of research through the prism of the specific theoretical framework that appears most appropriate to demonstrate the most representative phenomena and problems of translation. In the preface to the work, apart from outlining its major subject, the author describes in detail the issue of problematic terminology related to the field of her research interest and points out the necessity of using the adjective ‘Québéc-ian’ (‘quebecki’), which does not exist in the Polish language dictionaries, while referring to the literature created in Quebec. Moreover, she clarifies the issue of nomenclature, explaining the difference in the meaning of terms such as ‘Francophone Canadian literature’ or ‘Canadian French-language literature’ and ‘Quebec literature’ and setting the evolution of these terms into a broader historical context. The introduction to the book also comprises a brief description of the specific character of the publishing market in Quebec. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the Quebec literature translations in Poland together with establishing the motives the publishers are inspired by while taking decisions on publishing. The result of this is a publication list, which has been segregated according to the literary genre and type (novels, poetry, theatre), and due to the specific place of publication (anthology, literary magazine). Chapter 2 is devoted to para-texts of Quebec novels translated into Polish, and constitutes a contribution to the reflection on the specifics of the para-texts of the translated works. The author broadly outlines factors affecting the reception of a particular work, such as the profile of the publisher who releases the translated work, thefact of its being (or not) a part of a publication series, the character of the cover with special emphasis on the fourth page, the manner in which the title of the work, its preface and afterword have been translated. The first two chapters constitute an attempt to create possible images of Quebec literature on the basis of the list of Polish translations and the influence of the paratexts, while the subsequent chapters deal with selected translation problems illustrated by examples of specific literary works. Thus, Chapter 3 provides an analysis of the only existing translation series in Polish language, that is, Maria Chapdelaine – the emblematic novel by Louis Hémon, two translations of which were made at an interval of almost a hundred years. The author pays particular attention to the way the two translators dealt with linguistic and cultural aspects specific to Quebec. In Chapter 4, also devoted to translations of prose works, the attention is focused on the translator and the positive traces he/she leaves in the literary text they work on. On the basis of the translation of four works – significant for the development of the novel in Quebec: Agaguk by Yves Thériault, Une saison dans la vie d’Emmanuel by Marie-Claire Blais, Kamouraska by Anne Hébert and La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes by Gaétan Soucy, the author explains the role of the translator and his/her invention, which is indispensable in their work. The two following chapters are also related to prose works, which are part of the current of Migrant Writing (fr. écritures migrantes), i.e., formed by the authors born outside Quebec who – often due to dramatic personal and historical turmoil, had to leave their homeland. Chapter 5 is devoted to Dany Laferrière, the writer coming from Haiti, and his fine literary works, which appeared on the Polish ground thanks to the translation of his three novels: Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer, Le goût des jeunes filles and Pays sans chapeau. Such a wide representation available in Polish version allows demonstrating the specificity of Migrant Writing, which – due to the multiplicity of cultural codes present in the original – presents an unusual challenge for the translator. In Chapter 6, the basis for the analysis has been provided by Polish translations of two short stories and a fragment of the novel by Régine Robin – a key figure of the current of écritures migrantes, who is of French and Jewish descent, whose parents came to Paris from the pre-war Kałuszyn. Based on the concept of the space and time of the original and its translation, which has been widely described by Bożena Tokarz from the viewpoint of translatology, the selected literary works constitute a starting point for the reflection on the necessity of re-defining what is alien and what is familiar in the translation, as well as for creation of a new description of the scheme of the translation process taking place in the hybrid world. The issues concerning translation of the text intended for the theatre are discussed in Chapter 7, which deals at great length with the specific character of the works of Michel Tremblay – the most important playwright for the development of Quebec theatre, and with joual – a sociolect used in Montreal, which plays a prominent role in all Trembley’s works, including prose. The author carries out a detailed analysis of the three Polish translations of the plays by the Quebec playwright: Les Belles-soeurs and Le vrai monde ? translated by Józef Kwaterko and Albertine, en cinq temps translated by Jacek Mulczyk-Skarżyński, with particular emphasis on the role of language and possibilities of its translation. Chapter 8 is an attempt to describe the specifics of the anthology, which is typical of the translation publishing market. The pretext for examining this issue is the presence of two anthologies on the list of Polish translations of Quebec literature: a bilingual anthology of Quebec poetry (Antologia poezji Quebeku / Anthologie de la poésie québécoise, ed. J. Heistein, 1985) and the anthology of the contemporary Quebec short story (Antologia współczesnej noweli quebeckiej, ed. K. Jarosz, J. Warmuzińska-Rogóż, 2011). In this chapter, the reflection upon the specific character of this type of publication, determining the reception of the translated literature, is combined with an attempt to describe the specificity of Quebec poetry (since the collection edited by Józef Heistein is the only publication in Polish language which deals with it in such a complete manner) and with the issue of the role of the short story, which has become significant in the literature of the province recently. The last chapter is thematically bracketed with Chapter 1, since it is an attempt to supplement the description of the idea about Quebec literature which may be developed by a Polish reader on the basis of the translated works and critical texts published in literary journals. The purpose of Chapter 9 is also cataloging the translated works and critical texts that have been published both in well-known magazines, such as ‘Literatura na Świecie’, ‘Twórczość’ or ‘Dialog’ and in smaller scale periodicals (‘Midrasz’ and ‘Fraza’, ‘Er(r)go’, ‘Kwartalnik Literacki TEKA’). This chapter also constitutes a contribution to the reflection on the important role of literary journals in creating the image of foreign literature. The book ends with an annex containing a list of Polish translations of Quebec literature.