“They Are All Too Foreign and Unfamiliar…”: Nabokov’s Journey to the American Reader

Author(s): Olga Voronina / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2017

Both in Speak, Memory and in Strong Opinions, Nabokov insists on his early proficiency in English, French. This authorial stance makes it easy to believe that the writer’s transition to English was easy. And yet, Nabokov’s correspondence with publishers and his literary agent, Altagracia de Jannelli, reveals that this conversion was torturous and required extensive support from native speaker editors and translators. The essay documents Nabokov’s inner turmoil at the time when he began to explore the British and American markets. In spite of the publication of Camera Obscura in England (1936) and, as Laughter in the Dark, in the US (1938), his other works’ journeys to the Anglophone reader required time and effort. A close reading of the famous afterword to Lolita, a comparative analysis of Winifred Roy’s translation of Camera Obscura and Nabokov’s self-translation of Laughter in the Dark, and the perusal of the author’s correspondence illustrate the difficulties he had to overcome in order to convey stylistic intricacy of his fiction to this new audience.

“This language still motivates me!” Advanced language students and their L2 motivation

Author(s): Anne Huhtala,Anta Kursiša,Marjo Vesalainen / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

The article focuses on written narratives of 51 Finnish university students who study German, Swedish or French as their major or one of their minors at an advanced level. The study aims to find what keeps these students motivated to study their L2. The data have been analyzed using analysis of narratives (Polkinghorne, 1995). Dörnyei’s (2009a, 2009b, 2014) L2 motivational self system (L2MSS), built around the concepts of ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self and L2 learning experience, is used as the theoretical framework. The results indicate that perceived social pressure (ought-to L2 self) may be important when the study decision is made, but its importance diminishes during the studies. Instead, a future L2-related vision (ideal L2 self) as well as peers, teachers, course contents, and learning atmosphere (L2 learning experience) become increasingly important during the studies. The role of the emotional dimension of possible selves seems to be central in developing and preserving study motivation. At the end of the article, some implications of the results for higher education programs of languages other than English (LOTEs) are presented.

“Thou art translated”: Remapping Hideki Noda and Satoshi Miyagi’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Post-March 11 Japan

Author(s): Mika Eglinton / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

Ever since the first introduction of Shakespeare to a Japanese audience in the nineteenth century, his plays have functioned as “contact zones,” which are translingual interfaces between communities and their cultures; points of negotiation, misunderstanding and mutual transformation. In the context of what is ostensibly a monolingual society, Japanese Shakespeare has produced a limited number of performances that have attempted to be multilingual. Most of them, however, turn out to be translingual, blurring the borders of linguistic specificity. As an example of this, I read A Midsummer Night’s Dream as adapted by Hideki Noda originally in 1992 and then directed by Miyagi Satoshi for the Shizuoka Performing Arts Centre in 2011. Drawing on my experience as the surtitle translator of Noda’s Japanese adaptation “back” into English, I discuss the linguistic and cultural metamorphosis of Noda’s reworking and the effects of its mediation in Miyagi’s rendition, and ask to what extent the production, adapted in post-March 2011 Japan, can be read as a“contact zone” for a translingual Japanese Shakespeare. In what way did Miyagi’s reading of the post-March 11 events inflect Noda’s adaption along socio-political lines? What is lost and gained in processes of adaptation in the wake of an environmental catastrophe?

“Vain dalliance with misery”: Moral Therapy in William Wordsworth’s “The Ruined Cottage”

Author(s): Piotr Kołakowski / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

The following paper will examine how (male) speakers in William Wordsworth’s “The Baker’s Cart” and “Incipient Madness,” which eventually became reworked into “The Ruined Cottage,” narrate the histories of traumatised women. It will be argued that by distorting the women’s accounts of suffering into a didactic lesson for themselves, the poems’ speakers embody the tension present in the chief psychiatric treatment of the Romantic period, moral therapy, which strove to humanise and give voice to afflicted subjects, at the same time trying to contain and eventually correct their “otherness.”

“War song of America”: The Vigilantes and American Propagandistic Poetry of the First World War

Author(s): Sara Prieto / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

When the United States entered the First World War in April 1917, the Committee of Public Information (CPI) organised several branches of propaganda to advertise and promote the war in hundreds of magazines and newspapers nationwide. One of these organisations was the group of writers known as “the Vigilantes.” This essay examines Fifes and Drums: A Collection of Poems of America at War (1917), published by the Vigilantes a few months after the American declaration of war. The discussion frames the context under which the Vigilantes conceived their poems as well as the main strategies that they employed to poetically portray the role that the United States was to play in the conflict.

“WE STOPPED DREAMING”: JULIE OTSUKA’S (UN)TOLD STORIES OF PICTURE BRIDES

Author(s): Cristina Chevereșan / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

“We Stopped Dreaming”: Julie Otsuka’s (Un)Told Stories of Picture Brides. Focusing on Julie Otsuka’s acclaimed 2011 novel, The Buddha in the Attic, this paper will investigate the picture bride phenomenon as a multilayered trade of lives, identities, emotions and expectations, drawing a vivid picture of the protagonists’ subjection to exploitation, abuse, discrimination and deceit.

“WHAT IS THIS WHICH …” IN A BILINGUAL (COPTIC AND ARABIC) MANUSCRIPT OF THE PENTATEUCH

Author(s): Ofer Livne-Kafri / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2012

he Arabic version of the Pentateuch in MS Paris BN copte 1 (14th century) was basically translated from the Bohairic Coptic version which is set in parallel columns to it. Previous articles published here earlier (Livne-Kafri 2009b; 2011a) were dedicated to a specific a phenomenon. In this article the relative interrogative clause -الذي هذا هو ما is studied in relation to the Coptic parallel ⲞⲨ ⲠⲈ ⲪⲀⲒ ⲈⲦⲀ. Although similar constructions are quite frequent in Middle-Arabic, the instances quoted here are literal translations from the Coptic. The different approaches represented by J. Blau and A. Shisha-Halevy (whose works are essential to such a study) point to a unique Relative construction.

„Całkiem zgrabny epigramacik”. O dawnych polskich przekładach z perspektywy italianisty

Author(s): Olga Płaszczewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2015

The main purpose of the essay is a critical review of recently published monograph on the presence of Italian literature in Poland Jadwiga Miszalska’s. Miszalska’s achievement is presented against the background of previous reflections on translations of older Italian literature in Poland. Her latest book collects and updates the bibliographies and considerations on “narrative prose”, “theatrical texts and dramas” and poetry. The quotations from original Italian texts and from their translations, acting as a kind of inner anthology, are an unquestionable advantage of the book, while meticulous summaries of literary works and the brevity of philological and historical comments constitute its main drawback.

„Dialogo dei testi“. Eugenio Coseriu: Grundzüge der Übersetzungstheorie

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Author(s): Miorița Ulrich / Language(s): German Issue: 03/2010

La communication se propose de présenter et de commenter les quelques principes fondamentaux de la théorie de la traduction chez Eugenio Coseriu. Ces principes pourraient être résumés de la façon suivante : 1. on traduit des textes et non des langues ; 2. « la connaissance du monde » y joue un rôle déterminant ; 3. la relativité et la finalité des normes et des principes traduisants doivent être prises en compte.

„El era Alfa și Omega atunce în Ţara Moldovei” Phraseologien mit Buchstaben des Alphabets und ihre Übersetzung

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Author(s): Miorița Ulrich / Language(s): German Issue: 01/2008

Die oben erwähnten Anführungen zeigen eindeutig, dass die von der Übersetzungstheorie zu Unrecht vernachlässigten Phraseologien (und Sprachspiele), die Buchstaben und Buchstabennamen enthalten, in den geschriebenen und gesprochenen Texten und auch in der Übersetzungspraxis doch erstaunlich oft vorkommen und empirische Grenzen der Übersetzung darstellen. Diesem Faktum sollte die Übersetzungstheorie auch entsprechend Rechnung tragen. Auch hoffe ich, dass es mir gelungen ist zu zeigen, wie ungeahnt komplex, auch im Hinblick auf die Übersetzung, die Problematik um diese „cosa che comincia per elle” (=L) – um die Littera – ist.

„Gniew człowieka przyniesie Ci chwałę” (Ps 76,11)

Author(s): Wojciech Węgrzyniak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 34/2018

The aim of this article is to analyze Ps 76:11, one of the most difficult verses in the Bible. First, the author analyzes (1) the Hebrew manuscripts and (2) the various ancient versions of this text. He then presents (3) the opinions of different biblical scholars and also (4) the rendering of the verse in selected modern Bible translations. In the conclusion, (5) the author offers three possible interpretations without resorting to emendation of the Masoretic Text.

„Jak działać przekładami?” O tłumaczeniu tekstów dla teatru w kontekście performatywnego zwrotu w humanistyce

Author(s): Ewa Bal / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2015

The article deals with issues related to translation of texts for theatre in the light of the performative and cultural turn in the modern Humanities. While Cultural Studies scholars have abandoned the categories of directness in text translation in favor of analyzing cultural differences and contexts, they have neglected issues connected with language performativity, especially with regard to the dual function of the dramatic text – as literature and as theatre. Following the steps taken by William Worthen, the paper shows the historic dimension of the concept of a theatre play as literature (poetry) and as performance and proves that we have to look at the language of translation from the performative angle (contrasting “performativity” with “performability” as understood by Susan Bennett), not only in a broad cultural and social context. What has to be taken into account are the circumstances of the practice of reading and understating a play, its form as well as the cognitive frames of both the performance creators and the spectators. The argumentation is illustrated by a comparative analysis of two modern Polish translations of Comedic Theatre by Carlo Goldoni, accomplished by Jolanta Dygul and by the author of the article herself.

„Jesteśmy wspólnikami”: Korespondencja João Guimarãesa Rosy z tłumaczami

Author(s): Adam Elbanowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 44/2019

In the article I present the correspondence of João Guimarães Rosa with his German, Spanish, Italian, French and American translators. The case of this most outstanding Brazilian novelist of the 20th century is special, because he was a polyglot and he actively participated in the process of translating his works. The main theme of the letters is the translation of his masterpiece, the writer’s only novel – Grande Sertão: veredas (The Devil to Pay in the Backlands). This correspondence provides an insight into the poetics of the Brazilian writer and his theory of translation, shows specific relations connecting him with his translators, and also reveals various translation strategies used by Guimarães Rosa’s translators.

„Karaś” po polsku. Za kulisami przekładu

Author(s): Monika Krajewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 7/2019

The paper presents a cooperation project between the Pieriewodka [Perevodka] Translation Group (at the Department of Slavonic Studies of the Nicolaus Copernicus University) and the W. Horzyca Theatre in Torun. The project involved translation of the poem Karaś by Petersburg-based playwright Marina Dadychenko by members of the Group; the poem was later performatively read out by actors. This performative reading was intended to be one of the events during the first edition of the ‘Behind the scenes’. Torun meetings with drama festival. The paper focuses on translation issues related to the purpose of the target text and specific to the initial translation, the text performed on stage and the text after its publication. Moreover, translation solutions concerning elements of the source culture and the third culture as well as potential inaccuracies resulting from the incorrect interpretation of the original were discussed. The author’s influence on the shaping of the target text was also emphasized.

„Kaukaz w przekładzie”. Sposoby obrazowania realiów „trzeciej kultury” w anglojęzycznych wersjach „Bohatera naszych czasów” Michaiła Lermontowa

Author(s): Olga Letka-Spychała / Language(s): Polish Issue: 7/2019

The main aim of the article is to extract and to compare the strategies and techniques applied in rendition of the Caucasian realia in both English versions of A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov. In choosing the target texts two factors were taken into consideration. Firstly, it was linguistic and cultural distance dividing Russian and English texts. Secondly, the time disparity between translations that affects language norms and conventions was considered. The theoretical framework for the analysis is Peter Newmark’s typology of culture-bound items, such as: ecology, culture and social life, customs and gestures. The comparative analysis reveals that the most frequent translation procedures is a substitution. It not only destroys the local colour, but also creates a false image of The Caucasus.

„Metamorfozy” Owidiusza w przekładzie Stanisława Schneidra

Author(s): Dariusz Rott / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article presents the figure of an esteemed classical philologist, historian of literature, translator and teacher at the secondary schools in Przemyśl and Lvov, Stanisław Schneider (1858–1917). His translatorial debut consisted of “excerpts from ancient poets.” He translated Homer, Horace, Ovid and Vergil. The collected works were then published in „The Report of the Headmaster of the Imperial‑Royal Secondary School in Przemyśl for the School Year 1888”. It was the third full translation of Ovid’s „Metamorphoses” into Polish (after the 17th‑century translations by Jakub Żebrowski and Walerian Otwinowski). Moreover, the article contains excerpts from Schneider’s translation of Ovid’s „Metamorphoses”.

„Mistrz Mojej Myśli”. Epigramaty Grzegorza Z Nazjanzu Na Cześć Bazylego Wielkiego

Author(s): Wojciech Ryczek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

The main aim of this paper is to present a translation into Polish of epigrams written by Gregory of Nazianzus and dedicated to his deceased friend, Basil of Caesarea. The cycle of twelve epigrams creates a micro-narration about the history and nature of their friendship. Gregory’s poetry is strongly structured by its historical and autobiographical circumstances. One of them is the death of his beloved friend. The epigrams praising his virtues become a source of consolation for their author.

„O powszechną płci naszej chwałę”: Tłumaczki epoki stanisławowskiej

Author(s): Karolina Dębska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 44/2019

This article presents women translators in Poland in the years of the reign of King Stanisław August Poniatowski (1763-1795) in order to establish who they were, what they translated and why, as well as sketch their collective profile and its impact on their translatorial practice.

„Opowieści, których nie trzeba przekładać?” – Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo (2012) i Davida Hare’a (2014)

Author(s): Aleksandra Kamińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 33/2016

Katherine Boo’s award-winning non-fiction book (2012) and David Hare’s play Behind the Beautiful Forevers (2014) are set in a Mumbai slum called Annawadi. They tell a story of one family’s struggle with the Indian judiciary system, describing the life in a Mumbai slum in the process. The article purports to analyse the translation element of Boo’s narrative, as well as the book’s translation (Polish translation by Adrianna Sokołowska-Ostapko) and adaptation (Hare’s play). The first part of the article is focused on various shifts occurring in those secondary texts. Special attention is paid to ideological consequences and motivations of various decisions, which, consequently, leads to the question about the oppressive potential of translation (inspired by theories of Edward Said and Gayatri Spivak). The second part of the article deals with the fact that although translation remains an essential and obvious component of Behind the Beautiful Forevers for all three authors (Boo, Hare, and Sokołowska-Ostapko), this issue has been largely neglected (or misrepresented) by readers and critics. This, in turn, leads to the question (based on Itamar Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory) to what extent the case of Behind Beautiful Forevers can be interpreted as a product of various forces conditioning the scope and future of postcolonial translation.

„Oto głowa zdrajcy”. O sporze Czesława Miłosza z Philipem Larkinem i Robinsonem Jeffersem

Author(s): Przemysław Michalski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Abstract: The aim of the article is to employ the category of treason, which is relatively seldom used in literary studies, in discussing Czesław Miłosz’s approach to the work of two very different poets, namely Philip Larkin and Robinson Jeffers. The charges of treason were brought against Larkin by Miłosz in his angry rejection of the Englishman’s poetry, which he saw as a betrayal of human values. My intention is to show that Miłosz’s reading of Larkin’s work is highly subjective and patently biased. The most egregious examples of his prejudice against Larkin is a short poem “Against the Poetry of Philip Larkin”, which is little more than a hurried dismissal of his work and worldview. My ambition is to try to redress the balance by identifying and exposing the prejudices and hostilities which shape Miłosz’s interpretation of Larkin’s poetry. While the poet from Hull never fails to be censured by Miłosz for his alleged misanthropy, the majestic verse of Jeffers’s identification with nature meets with far more understanding and appreciation, though – as I try to prove in this essay – the American poet’s was really a poetry of treason and defection to the enemy. I contend that Jeffers betrayed humanity by willful desertion of human vantage point and observing the baffling follies of mankind from the perspective of inhuman nature.