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Edward Balcerzan

What is Polish language to the

translator?

Literary Studies in Poland 15, 139-141

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C o m p te s rendu s de livres 139

What Is the Polish Language to the Translator?1

On superficial exam ination o f the records com ing from various epochs we can easily have an im pression th a t tran slato rs view their native language only instrum entally, in term s o f its practical usefulness. (R arely d o the p ractitio n ers o f this craft go into sen­ tim ental ra p tu res a b o u t the beauty o f the speech! R ath er they are apt to show fo rth rig h t aversion, dry sarcasm or sim ply to enum erate dispassionately its m erits and defects.) As long as our tran slato rs w orked the language th a t had n o t yet been form ed and universally recognized to be of the equal value with L atin, they had to face the fact th a t it was “greatly w anting in w ords” (Stanisław G osław - sk i2), and since th ere was no ideology which w ould unequivocally absolve them from the sin o f being u n tru th fu l to the original, there was no end o f com plaints. All those statem ents concerning the dep lorab le state o f the m aterial, expressions o f discontent with the “inad eq u acy ” o f P olish su p p o rted the theory o f the tra n sla to rs’ work as an exceedingly difficult task. L ater, when Polish grew stronger and richer n o t only in its lexical resources but also in “ the aptest usag e” (Stanisław P o to c k i3), there cam e a tim e o f its general apology. Ludw ik O siń sk i4 finds then his native tongue “ free in its course, un h am p ered in its form s, varied in its idioms, and while allow ing great liberty as to the ord er o f words, it is subject to certain rules only insofar as d em and ed by clarity, called

1 T h e c lo s in g p aragrap h s o f p reface to P is a rz e p o ls c y o sztu c e p rze k ła d u

1 4 4 0 — 1974. A n to lo g ia (P o lish W rite rs on the A r t o f T ranslation 1440 — 1974. An A n th o lo g y), se le c tio n o f texts, c o m m e n ta r ie s and p reface by E. B alcerzan, P ozn ań

1977.

2 S. G o s ł a w s k i , “ D e d ic a tio n ” [to his tra n sla tio n of] S im o n S i m o n i d e s ’

C a stu s Jo sep h , C r a c o w 1597. A ll the a u th o rs q u o te d by B alcerzan in his preface

are in clu d ed in the a n th o lo g y .

3 S ta n isła w K o stk a P o to c k i (1 7 5 5 — 1821) —p o e t, p layw righ t, literary critic and h isto ria n , a u th o r o f m em oirs an d o f the fa m o u s satirical n o v el P o d ró ż d o C iem n o ­

grodu (1820); tran slated H o ra ce, C icero , R o u sse a u , esp e cia lly n o te w o rth y is his

tra n sla tio n o f a fragm ent o f S te rn e’s S e n tim e n ta l Jou rn ey.

4 L u d w ik O siń sk i (1 7 7 5 — 1838) —literary critic an d h istorian , after B o g u sła w sk i

d irecto r o f the N a tio n a l T h eatre in W arsaw , lectu red in the D r a m a tic S c h o o l and W arsaw U n iv ersity ; a m o n g th e au th o rs tra n sla ted by him are: O vid , H orace, S h a k esp ea re, C o rn eille, R a c in e , V o lta ire, S ch iller.

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140 B ook R e v ie w s

for by power, fluency and h arm o n y due to every im age.” Still later, flexibility o f the language having grow n im pressingly (although the developm ent took a different course from th a t po stulated by pseudo-Classicists), also the appetite o f its speakers grew m ore in­ satiable. The system o f verbal com m u n icatio n —not only within our language, b u t as regards all linguistic co ntacts — becam e the subject o f d ram atic co ntestatio n . If the sp o n tan eo u s w riting discloses whole regions o f u n tru th in the area o f speech, and if in every attem p t at rendering the w orld in w ords “ the ton gu e lies to the voice, and the voice lies to the th o u g h t,” the tra n sla to r finds him self working at a dou ble disadvantage. H e m ust preserve the verisim ilitude of the u n tru th expressed in a foreign language and at the sam e time he can n o t avoid recreating the deception o f his own language. T he problem is n ot lim ited to the sheer suspicion o f the word —such a d istru st o f language is often deliberately assum ed for artistic purposes —the tra n sla to r feels also restrained by the stan d ard s o f correctness; B o y 5 already stated, in his preface to P ro u st’s novel in his tran slatio n , th a t the P olish re a d e r w ould n o t have excused the tran slato r if he had reconstructed th e original syntax faithfully; now we are told by Zofia C h ą d z y ń sk a 6 a b o u t incessant collisions between C o rta z a r’s experim ents and lim itations o f Polish syntax. M oreover, above the tra n sla to r’s accounts with the language there is an im perative th a t still binds his “supereg o” — to tran slate u n d er­ s ta n d in g ^ . W hat is one to d o , asks M aciej S łom czyński,7 when philological expertise o f the original only increases obscurity and am biguity? W hen in Jo y ce’s rough d ra fts and notes he finds the accum ulation o f “con stru ctio n al ideas, m inu te corrections and inser­ tions, constantly co n trib u tin g to obscurity o f the tex t?” D espite

5 T a d eu sz Ż eleń sk i (B oy, 1 8 7 4 — 1941) —theatrical critic, satirist, a u th or o f n u m e­ rou s essays o n cu ltu re and m ann ers; a u th o r o f a g igan tic series o f tran slation s from F rench: D ic tio n a ry o f M o d e rn P olish W rite rs (W arszaw a 1963) gives 112

t i t l e s - o f b o o k s and fragm ents o f b o o k s tran slated by Ż e le ń sk i; a m o n g them are the w ork s o f B alzac, B e a u m a rch a is, B édier, C h a tea u b r ia n d , D id e r o t, G id e, M érim ée, M u sset, P a sca l, P rév o st, P ro u st, R a b e la is, R o u sse a u , S ten d h a l, V oltaire.

6 Z ofia C h ą d zy ń sk a (b. 1912) —tra n sla to r fro m S p an ish , a m o n g the au th o rs translated by her are C ortá za r, B orges, C a r d o so , R o d o ra d a .

7 M aciej S ło m c zy ń sk i (b. 1920) —a u th o r o f several n o v els and plays, translated su ch m a sterp ieces o f E nglish literatu re as M ilto n ’s P a ra d ise L o s t, J o y c e ’s U lysses and C a rro ll’s A lic e in W onderland.

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C o m p te s rendus d e livres 141

the theory o f language deceptions the tra n sla to r has to find out the m eaning o f th e w ork, he m ust play a do ub le gam e and show uncom m unicability o f the vision by detecting elem ents o f com m uni- cability th a t are projected into it. This is the requisite o f his activity. While searching for th e key to Finnegans W ake, writes Słom czyński, “ I read the book for I do not know which time and still I co uld not find a passage which I could tran slate with the feeling th a t I m ade a tran slatio n , i.e. th a t I w rote in Polish w hat the a u th o r w rote in an o th er language.”

R ecords included in this anthology com e from various times. F or w hat P io tr K o c h an o w sk i8 shares with M aciej Słom czyński, S tanisław P otocki with Boy Żeleński, and Bolesław L eśm ian9 with Zofia C hądzyńska, is th e ap proach to their language, treated not only as a repository o f instrum ents (m ore or less useful in their craft) b u t also as a concrete literary task. T ran slatio n , to be sure, reveals em barassing “sh ortcom ings” o f the system ; b u t at the same tim e it supplies w hat is lacking, fills up th e gaps and repairs the speech. T he “en richm en t” o f Polish (of which P io tr K ochanow ski w rote) th ro u g h the a rt o f tran slatio n differs from analogical en­ d eavours o f original w riting in th at it is liable to precise m easure­ m ents: linguistic possessions are n o t estim ated against supposed, often im palpable needs o f the society, b u t in direct co nfro n tatio n s with the actual possessions and possibilities o f languages — and thereby experiences — o f o ther societies. T o tran slate is to introduce into the consciousness o f the readers experiences stored in a foreign speech.

E d w a rd B alcerzan

T ransi, b y M a ria -B o żen n a F edew icz

x Piotr K o c h a n o w sk i (1 5 6 6 — 1620) —p o e t, tran slated in to P o lish T a s s o ’s G erusa-

lem m e lib e ra ta and A r io s to ’s O rla n d o fu r io s o .

9 B o le sła w L eśm ian (1 8 7 8 — 1937) b egan his literary career as a b ilin gu ial,

P o lis h -R u ssia n , p o e t; w h ile sh o w in g in his p o etry th e id io m a tic ch aracter o f P o lish , its lexical and p h r a se o lo g ic a l particu larities, its arch aism s and lo ca l id io m s, as w ell as its in ex h a u stib le p o ssib ilitie s o f w ord fo r m a tio n , he e x p licity adm itted foreign in sp ira tio n s o f this p oetry.

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