Polish Translations of Emily Dickinson's Poetry (1965–2020)

Abstract:Between 1965 and 2020, the literary work of Emily Dickinson was in the spotlight of fifteen translators in Poland. Among them, there are thirteen poets. Between 2015 and 2020, three new volumes of translations appeared. In this article, we analyze the problems Emily Dickinson's poetry presents translators at the phonic, lexical, syntactic, metaphorical, and punctuation levels. We thoroughly research translations by Stanisław Barańczak, Ludmiła Marjańska, Maciej Maleńczuk and Kazimierz Żarski. They deserve attention because they reveal new possibilities of approaching the issue of poetic translation. In Barańczak and Marjańska, we see a model of fidelity to the original. Maleńczuk, a poet and rock guitarist, combines words with music, transforming Dickinson's poems into songs. Żarski enters into a dialogue with Dickinson in his poems, creating expressive conversations in which the contemporary poet reconsiders the problems raised by Dickinson. Thanks to the above-mentioned translations, Polish literature is enriched and, at the same time, the popularity of American literature in Europe is strengthened.