How to Cross Cultural Borders While Discussing National Literature Internationally

Abstract

: In this article, various intercultural connections of Polish literature, considered to be a “ minor ” literature, are explored in order to situate it within a European context and demonstrate how Polish literature has functioned outside the national context. The article focuses on three possible ways of introducing foreign readers to Polish literature: by discussing texts that were originally written by Polish (and bilingual) authors in “ major ” languages, by interpreting world-lit-erature texts that are intertextually connected with Polish ones and/or their authors, and by the comparative analysis of translations that have been produced by different translators of Polish literature working in different parts of the world. “ Minor ” -literature strategies are connected with the need to adopt widely read languages, which is often driven by mechanisms of the World Republic of Letters as described by Pascale Casanova. When “ minor ” literary authors/works estab-lish themselves internationally, they enter other literatures and produce intercultural intertextuality. Translations play a crucial role in the above-mentioned pro-cesses, and they can serve as tools for comprehensive understanding and interpretation, which will also be explored in depth in order to add a currently missing element to our knowledge of what European literature is, and how particular European literatures contribute to it.