Artificial paradises of probability. On funtions of negation in Wisława Szymborska’s Railroad Station and its English translation by Stanisław Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh Cover Image

Sztuczne raje prawdopodobieństwa. O funkcjach negowania w wierszu pt. Dworzec Wisławy Szymborskiej i jego angielskim przekładzie autorstwa Stanisława Barańczaka i Clare Cavanagh
Artificial paradises of probability. On funtions of negation in Wisława Szymborska’s Railroad Station and its English translation by Stanisław Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh

Author(s): Anna Stanisz
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: poetics of negation; negation; possible worlds; literary translation; linguistics and

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to interpret Szymborska’s poem entitled The Railroad Station and its English translation, from the point of view of the key poetics of negation. From the point of view of linguistics, literary studies, and translation studies, the poem is demonstrative of the variety of forms of negation and their semantic functions used in Szymborska’s entire oeuvre. The translators use numerous and various forms of formal and semantic negation as well, but they lack the central pragmatic negation. Szymborska doubts whether ‘our’ world is the best of possible worlds: since there is only one course of events, ‘the paradise of probability’ is ‘artificial’; the world is a burial ground of possibilities that did not come true.

  • Issue Year: 19/2017
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 259-271
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish