Conrad in Polish periodicals : The Mirror of the Sea in Wiadomości Literackie (1924)

Abstract

During the years immediately after Poland regained its independence in 1918 the country could boast few literary periodicals. One of them was Wiadomości Literackie (Literary News), which appeared for the first time on 6th January 1924 in Warsaw. Wiadomości Literackie serialized several translations of Conrad’s work, including: “Dusza przeciwnika” (“The Character of the Foe” [collected in The Mirror of the Sea]), “Conrad w Krakowie w r. 1914” (“First News”) and “Książę Roman” (“Prince Roman”). The present article focuses on one translation of “The Character of the Foe” by Józef Brodzki. It explores the strategies used by the translator to domesticate Conrad’s text. These comprised explication, addition, substitution and omission – none of which, however, should be perceived as a limitation. On the contrary, these modifications served the purpose of introducing Conrad’s maritime fiction to the Polish reading public and were a necessary procedure during the early stages of his reception in Poland. They are in line with the Retranslation Hypothesis formulated by Antoine Berman. On the whole, Brodzki’s translation is very effective and conveys the major features of Conrad’s prose by using simpler sentences, paraphrases and neutral language.