Dlaczego warto badać heraldykę w literaturze fantasy (i jak wykorzystać do tego warsztat przekładoznawczy)?
Why is it worth examining heraldry in fantasy literature (and how to use translation studies for this purpose)?

Summary/Abstract: Many fantasy works utilize heraldic motifs: not only individual coats of arms and their bearers, but also the seeds of heraldic systems and elements of the language of blazoning. They usually imitate the heraldry of medieval and modern Europe, but radically simplify it, eliminating even such basic rules as a limited number of tinctures and the principle of alternation. The analysis of seven fantasy cycles set in the realities stylized on the Middle Ages (The Once and Future King, the legendarium of J.R.R. Tolkien, Lyonesse, Discworld, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, The Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire) shows that the basic functions of heraldic motifs in these works are the axiological determination of the presented world and social commentary. A significant reduction or extension of the number of people entitled to wear a coat of arms may serve to represent a relatively egalitarian society; extensive heraldic systems with elements of correct blazoning most often have a satirical function. Heraldic elements are very often particularly difficult for translators. The reasons for these difficulties include: the lack of a single coherent Polish blazoning language, the incompatibility of Polish and English heraldry and untranslatable heraldic terminology. Omitting or syntagmatic translation of English blazoning can lead to distortion of the text, introduction of inconsistencies, obliteration of satirical commentary or references to the real world. With several examples, I demonstrate how translation errors in passages containing heraldic motifs (or situations in which it is impossible to find an exact equivalent) cause the picture of the world presented in translation to differ from the original text.

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