Documenting and researching translations as a cultural ecosystem : Polish children’s literature in English (1912–2021)

Dybiec-Gajer, Joanna (author)

The goal of the article is to investigate translations from a language of relatively low diffusion (Pol-ish) into the world’s lingua franca (English) in the period of 1912–2021. In the context of a signifi-cant asymmetry between the import and export of children’s literature in the Polish setting, where numerous titles are translated from dominant languages but few are translated out of Polish and published abroad, the article seeks to address questions about emerging translation patterns across history. Specifically, it aims to identify periods of heightened activity and inactivity, delayed trans-lations, the popularity of specific authors and genres and how such patterns relate to and reflect shifting cultural priorities, institutional support, or global literary trends. The article sets out by considering translation as a cultural ecosystem of historically and anthropologically situated prac-tice, where both texts and contexts matter, to move on to address the methodological and practical challenges of a project dedicated to investigating and documenting the history of Polish children’s literature in English translation (1912–2021) in a lexicon format. These challenges involve periodi-zation, time framework, inclusion criteria as well as macro- and micro-structure of the lexicon. The article also discusses selected findings of the project, such as the establishment of translation-spe-cific turning points in the discussed period and the identification of internal, domestic distribution channels of literary transfer in the historical and political context of the Polish People’s Republic. For the analysed period, a corpus of around 100 translations was established. The most frequently translated genre of Polish children’s literature published abroad was the picturebook, with the Eng-lish translation of richly-illustrated Maps (2013) and its international success paving the way for further translations of visual literature.

• Language: English
• Keywords: translation history, children’s literature, retranslations, picturebooks, Polish children’s literature in English
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 19-40
• Numbering: Vol. 5, issue 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-181697
• UDC: 81'25:821.162.1-93=111
• ISSN on article: 2784-5826
• DOI: 10.4312/stridon.5.1.19-40
• COBISS.SI-ID: 274982659
• Publication date in RUL: 13.04.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Stridon : journal of studies in translation and interpreting
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2784-5826
• COBISS.SI-ID: 68759811

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Dokumentiranje in raziskovanje prevajanja kot kulturnega ekosistema : Polish children’s literature in English (1912–2021)

Abstract

Namen prispevka je raziskati prevode iz razmeroma malo razširjenega jezika (poljščine) v svetovno linguo franco (angleščino) v obdobju od 1912 do 2021. V kontekstu velike asimetrije med uvo-zom in izvozom otroške književnosti v poljskem kontekstu, v katerem so številna dela prevedena iz dominantnih jezikov, medtem ko jih je le malo prevedenih iz poljščine in objavljenih v tujini, se pričujoči prispevek osredotoča na vprašanje, kakšni prevodni vzorci se pojavljajo skozi zgodovino. Cilj prispevka je prepoznati obdobja večje aktivnosti in neaktivnosti, prevode, ki so bili odloženi, priljubljenost posameznih avtorjev in žanrov ter ugotoviti, kako takšni vzorci odsevajo kulturne prioritete in se navezujejo nanje, institucionalno podporo in globalne trende v književnosti. Prispe-vek prevajanje v izhodišču privzema kot kulturni ekosistem zgodovinsko in antropološko situirane prakse, v kateri sta pomembna tako besedilo kot kontekst, v nadaljevanju pa se ukvarja z metodo-loškimi in praktičnimi izzivi projekta, ki se posveča raziskovanju in dokumentiranju zgodovine angleških prevodov poljske otroške književnosti (1912–2021) v obliki leksikona. Ti izzivi obsegajo periodizacijo, časovni okvir, kriterije izbora ter makro- in mikrostrukturo leksikona. V prispevku se obravnavajo izbrani izsledki projekta, kot so prevodne prelomnice v obravnavanem obdobju in prepoznavanje notranjih, domačih kanalov književnega prenosa v zgodovinskem in političnem kontekstu Ljudske republike Poljske. Za analizirano obdobje je bil sestavljen korpus, ki obsega ok-rog sto prevodov. Najpogosteje prevajani žanr poljske otroške književnosti, objavljen v tujini, so bile slikanice, med katerimi je angleški prevod bogato ilustriranega dela Maps (2013) s svojim medna-rodnim uspehom tlakoval pot drugim prevodom vizualne literature.

• Keywords: zgodovina prevajanja, otroška književnost, ponovni prevodi, slikanice, poljska otroška književnost v angleščini