„STO DWADZIEŚCIA JEDNA MAŁGORZATA”. ON THE TEXT OF THE FIRST POLISH TRANSLATION OF THE MASTER AND MARGARITA Cover Image

„STO DWADZIEŚCIA JEDNA MAŁGORZATA” O TEKŚCIE PIERWSZEGO POLSKIEGO PRZEKŁADU MISTRZA I MAŁGORZATY
„STO DWADZIEŚCIA JEDNA MAŁGORZATA”. ON THE TEXT OF THE FIRST POLISH TRANSLATION OF THE MASTER AND MARGARITA

Author(s): Grzegorz Przebinda
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Russian Literature, Translation Studies
Published by: Polskie Towarzystwo Rusycytyczne

Summary/Abstract: The first Polish translation of Bulgakov’s masterpiece — done by Irena Lewandowska and Witold Dąbrowski and published in numerous copies between 1967 and 2016 — is treated in Poland as an almost “canonical” text. It has rarely attracted an analytical reading, not to mention a serious critique. My article goes against the grain and tries to argue that the translation is based on an inadequate textual original (the 1969 Frankfurt edition of The Master and Margarita in Russian) and that it contains a number of errors, misreadings and omissions. As the mistranslations have functioned in a text considered canonical for half-a-century they have acquired a cultural dimension. It is then the duty of a humanist and a philologist to stand up for the original Bulgakov — his book is a common good and not the propriety of a single translator or a corporation of readers attached to erroneous translations they read in their youth. The above article attempts such a philological defense of Bulgakov.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 158
  • Page Range: 54-79
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: Polish