This paper analyzes problems involved in the Polish translation of proper names contained in Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago. Empirical material was collected from two Polish translations published in book form: by Jerzy Stempowski (Paris: Instytut Literacki 1959) and by Ewa Rojewska-Olejarczuk (Warsaw: PIW 1990). The study aimed to analyze translatorial equivalents taking into account the following criteria: consistency with the named object, informativeness of the name, and retaining the cultural ambience. The following research methods were applied: descriptive, com-parative analysis as well as functional and stylistic analysis. The comparative analysis focused on the adequacy of the applied translation methods.
This article recalls the circumstances of the first edition of the novel by Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago, in Polish translation, which appeared in 1959 in volume XLIV of the Biblioteka ‟Kultury” series, published by the Paris Literary Institute. Reconstruction of the history of this publishing initiative in the context of the political situation is possible thanks to historical sources preserved in the Paris and Warsaw archives, publications in periodicals, memoirs and epistolary culture. The circumstances in which the typescript was imported to Poland and in which the Literary Institute obtained a license for a Polish translation, the choice of translator, and Jerzy Giedroyc and Gustaw Herling-Grudziński’s correspondence are discussed. An important source of information is the lively correspondence between Maria Dąbrowska and Jerzy Stempowski, the son of a publicist and social activist, and Mason Stanisław Stempowski, a longtime life partner of the writer. The fragments of epistolary culture discussed here allow a better understanding of these outstanding individuals of the twentieth century. The content of the correspondence analyzed also allows us to reconstruct many interesting facts from the field of translating Russian literature into Polish, as well as the complex situation of Polish-Russian relations in the post-war period.
In Doctor Zhivago, Pasternak brings scientific and political discourses into dialogue with magical ones. In an emblematic episode, two soldiers from opposing sides each wear a protective amulet containing the „miraculous” text of the 90th Psalm. One dies; one survivesWhile this discrepancy is easily traced to scientific and socioeconomic causes, the episode isdesigned to foreground the least rational explanation: that done right, magic actually worksEmbodying Pasternak’s interest in the interrelationships among science, politics, poetry, andmagic, the textual amulet is especially significant because it represents a magical power that is reserved for words. This article finds that Pasternak’s novel contains numerous examples of such efficacious „magical” texts – from the Gospels to peasant songs, from political slogans to Zhivago’s poems – and argues that reading Doctor Zhivago by the light of these„magic words” yields insights into the aesthetics and design of the novel.
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