The editor in translation and his/her intratextual role

Abstract

In English — like in Polish — the term ‘editor’ is attributed to at least two types of meanings. The first, wider meaning refers to the person who designs the editorial plan, who analyses the relations between the text and the hypothetical market or the reader and takes the decisions connected with the size of the print, distribution model etc. In reality, it is a role corresponding to that of a producer in the film-making terminology. It is an undoubtedly an extratextual role, situated between the text and various contexts of the book. Thus, the matters concerned are actually the marketing decisions, such as the role of shaping the taste, the choices designing the popular reception of the work, which come from an earlier study of addressee’s expectations and the economical decisions originating from that study. As for this wider role, the name ‘producer’ or ‘publisher’ in Polish has been adopted, while the term ‘editor’ is used for describing different functions. In the Polish editorial tradition there exists a term ‘adjuster’, which depicts a role closer to the concept of editor proposed here. Let’s consider the place an intuitively recognised participant of the literary communication in preparing of a translation text. (fragment tekstu)