The point of view as an element creating a sense of humour in Wisława
Szymborska’s poem “A Little Girl Tugs at the Tablecloth”:
An analysis of the original text and Russian translations Cover Image

Punkt widzenia jako element kształtujący poczucie humoru w wierszu Wisławy Szymborskiej Mała dziewczynka ściąga obrus – analiza oryginału i rosyjskiego tłumaczenia
The point of view as an element creating a sense of humour in Wisława Szymborska’s poem “A Little Girl Tugs at the Tablecloth”: An analysis of the original text and Russian translations

Author(s): Krzysztof Jeleń
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Translation Studies
Published by: Oficyna Wydawnicza ATUT – Wrocławskie Wydawnictwo Oświatowe
Keywords: point of view; humour; Szymborska; poetry translation

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the problem of poetry translation and a serious difficulty to build up the same point of view in Russian translations of a polyphonic poem “A Little Girl Tugs at the Tablecloth” by Wisława Szymborska. The main aim was to present how problematic it is to save some compositional concepts which have an impact on a sense of humour which is present in Szymborska’s poem. A contrastive analysis of the original text and its translations into Russian shows that despite many similarities between Polish and Russian some grammatical structures are really difficult to express in the target language. As a result, two different points of view are not as much visible in every translation. Psychological perspective and research concerning language acquisition are used to describe characteristic features of child and adult language, and to identify some specific traits in the original text and its translation which serve to create an impression that in some parts of the poem the reader may hear different voices belonging to a child and an adult. Applying verbs and nouns in particular parts of the poem to show more active or passive viewpoint or using metaphors and diminutive nouns to contrast child’s curiosity and creativity with adult’s knowledge and experience are some of linguistic challenges for a translator. The conducted analysis shows how differently three Russian translators tried to express humour and different perspectives which are important for the poem’s reception in the target language.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 13
  • Page Range: 193-207
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish