REFERENCES TO ANTIQUITY IN BOLESŁAW LEŚMIAN’S POETRY AND IN ITS TRANSLATIONS INTO EASTERN SLAVONIC LANGUAGES

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to explore selected intertextual elements in the poetic oeuvre of Bolesław Leśmian and the ways in which they have been rendered in translations into Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. The recent growth of the corpus of Ukrainian versions makes it possible to undertake analyses of multilingual translation series in Eastern Slavonic languages. Translating within the so-called closely related (cognate) languages is usually examined primarily for linguistic problems; however, dealing with intertextual issues, like in the present research, motivates a focus on cultural and interpretative implications. In the case of the Polish modernist poet Bolesław Leśmian, the difficulties of re-creating any intertextual dialogue are amplified by the problems posed by his individual poetics, which notoriously defies translation.

The choice to examine the particular intertextual domain has been dictated by the broad resonance and importance of the macrotext of the ancient Mediterranean culture. From a theoretical point of view, references to antiquity are considered – due to the broad dissemination of the archetext(s) – to be relatively easily translatable. Therefore, the postulate to preserve such allusions in translations does not need a spacious justification, and it is possible to assume that the intertextual signals will be legible for all target audiences, regardless of the different dynamics of development of literary cultures in particular Slavonic receiving domains. Such conditions make it possible to focus on factors other than objective obstacles in translating intertextuality. The material presented in the paper is diversified in terms of the level of explicitness of intertextual markers and the degree to which it is obligatory to read them in order to understand the poem. The discussion begins with an open reference and one fundamental for the meaning of the poem, then proceeds to potential, optional ones and to references imposed by translators. In one case the author of the paper surveys not only poetic translations, but also the treatment of a certain intertextual element in the literary-studies discourse in a given receiving culture, in line with a broad understanding of rewriting procedures as described by André Lefevere.