(Not)Present in Translation – (Not)Present in Memory. On the Latest Polish Translations of the Poetry of Elias Rajzman, a Yiddish Poet from Szczecin Cover Image

(Nie)obecny w przekładzie – (nie)obecny w pamięci? Refleksje na temat najnowszych przekładów na język polski poezji Eliasza Rajzmana, szczecińskiego twórcy w języku jidysz
(Not)Present in Translation – (Not)Present in Memory. On the Latest Polish Translations of the Poetry of Elias Rajzman, a Yiddish Poet from Szczecin

Author(s): Magdalena Ruta
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
Keywords: comparative literature; translation; Polish literature; Yiddish literature; Elias Rajzman; Holocaust; relay translation

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses Polish translations of Yiddish poetry written by Eliasz Rajzman, Jewish writer who was living in postwar Szczecin. His literary output was presented to the Polish readers as early as in the 1960s by translators who either knew Yiddish language or cooperated with the autor in the process of the relay translation. Magdalena Ruta focuses on the latest collection of Rajzman’s poems in order to show some misunderstandings and communication falsifications (at linguistic, historical, cultural, religious levels) which are the result of an relay translation made by two persons: a native speaker who prepares so called philological translation, and a professional poet, who – not knowing the original language of a poem – works on its final version in the target language. Due to the special status of the Yiddish whose nearly all users died in the Holocaust, there is a moral obligation to translate Yiddish literature with special care and diligence in terms of language, history and culture.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 9
  • Page Range: 165-186
  • Page Count: 22
  • Language: Polish