Lustra królowej. Obraz tragedii w perytekstach staropolskich i oświeceniowych przekładów Corneille’a i Racine’a
The Queen’s Looking Glasses: Images of Tragedy in the Peritexts of Old Polish Translations of Corneille and Racine

Summary/Abstract: This essay analyses the prefaces, introductions and dedications to the first editions of Polish translations of Corneille and Racine’s tragedies (ca. 1690-1750). Bajer demonstrates how these secondary and immediate texts reflect classicistic theories of tragedy. The paratextual elements analysed point to a reduced view of tragedy: the genre is seen to be marked by a tragic tone, courtly pomp, the characters’ moral sense and representation, educational goals, and elements of political reflection. Simultaneously, paratexts play an important role mediating between foreignness (which is typical of the context in which the translated works have been created) and the domestic Polish context. Their succession functions within categories of sedimentation, as these tendencies overlap and create a living tradition of appropriation.

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