Multilingual Shakespeare in the Polish Translation of The Merry Wives of Windsor by John of Dycalp (Placyd Jankowski)
Multilingual Shakespeare in the Polish Translation of The Merry Wives of Windsor by John of Dycalp (Placyd Jankowski)

Summary/Abstract: Puste kobiety z Windsoru (1842) is the first complete Polish translation of The Merry Wives of Windsor and the first translation by Placyd Jankowski (1810–1872), one of the most extraordinary Shakespeare translators into Polish, who published under the pseudonym of John of Dycalp. His work proves to be an interesting case study on two grounds. First, it is an example of the complexities of translating verbal humor, and secondly, an interesting case of literary rewriting which takes into account the specificity of the target audience to the effect of, as it were, relocating the play from the English countryside to the Polish Kresy (Borderlands). Consequently, it is possible to examine Dycalp’s translation as a linguistic experiment, especially with regards to the parts of Sir Hugh Evans, the Welsh parson, and of Doctor Caius, the French physician. Furthermore, Dycalp’s translation serves as an example of domestication directed at a very specific audience, which adds an unexpected dimension to the issue of multilingualism in Shakespeare’s work as well as to the concept of stage as a broadly understood cultural space.

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