Open Sesame! : the polish Translations of "The Thousand and One Nights"

Abstract

The author discusses the Polish twentieth-century translations of The Thousand and One Nights indicating different translation strategies and shortcomings of the Polish versions of the book. This article also signalises the process of mythologisation, orientalisation, and fairytalisation of the tales. The author indicates the need of retranslation of The Thousand and One Nights and proposes to perceive the translations of the book and its numerous versions and adaptations through the metaphor of the sesame overfilled with translation treasures which are ‘discovered’ by the reader in the act of reading.