Seria w przekładzie : polskie warianty prozy Josepha Conrada

Abstract

The present work analyzes one aspect of Translation Studies – a series of translations on the basis of Joseph Conrad’s prose. The first chapter is a theoretical analysis of the concept of ‘a series of translations’ in Polish as well as Western Translation Studies. In Western Translation Studies scholars use the term retranslation. This chapter delineates the evolution of the term ‘series of translations’ introduced by Edward Balcerzan and its development as well as modifications supplemented by Anna Legeżyńska and Grzegorz Ojcewicz. As far as the concept of retranslation is concerned the works of Antoine Berman, Paul Bensimon, Yves Gambier and Lawrence Venuti are discussed. Moreover in this chapter deconstruction approach to translation is explicated on the basis of the works of Giles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida who undermine the central opposition of the original and copy. The second chapter is devoted to cultural implications of Joseph Conrad’s translations. The outline of Conrad’s reception in Poland was divided into several periods: Young Poland, Interwar Period, War Years, Contemporary Times. The approach to Conrad’s works and manner in which his books were interpreted and received in Poland depended on the cultural, historical and political context. Analyzing Conrad’s translations and their impact on Polish culture one can detect the phenomena of “manipulation”, “refraction” and “re-writing”. According to different types of patronage Conrad’s works were to be included in the canon of Polish literature (Stefan Żeromski’s patronage) so that they would become “transparent”. The writer was enmeshed in ideological debates with Western capitalism in the socialist People’s Republic of Poland (PRL) and in consequence crossed out from publishing and reading lists in Poland (socialist state authorities’ patronage). Chapters III to V are analytical in nature. In each of those chapters the cultural and historical context was delineated (the views of British critics, the writers’ opinions expressed in private correspondence, last but not least the opinions of Conrad himself triggered by the critical reception). Moreover the translators’ profiles were presented as well as the cultural context in which the translated text was produced. Additionally paratexts of translation (forewords, afterwords, footnotes, glossaries, translators’ press interviews) were commented upon. The analytical chapters concentrate on several major translatological issues. The third chapter is devoted to the retranslations of The Nigger of the “Narcissus” produced by Jan Lemański (1920) and Bronisław Zieliński (1961). The translation issues that were chosen for this comparison comprise translation of dialects and terminology. The fourth chapter consist in the analysis of Polish retranslations of Typhoon by Jerzy Bohdan Rychliński (1926), Halina Carroll-Najder (1972) and Michał Filipczuk (2000). For this novella a crucial translatological problem was the semantic dominant used a noun not an adjective (dominanta semantyczna). The last chapter focuses on intertextual chains on the basis of Polish retranslations of The Shadow-Line produced by Jadwiga Sienkiewiczówna (1925), Jan Józef Szczepański (1972) and Ewa Chruściel (2002).