Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, tłumacz dawnej literatury francuskiej
Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński: A Translator of Early-French Literary Writings

Author(s): Maciej Abramowicz
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: early French literature; imagery; popularization; scandalists; “Shakespeare of translation”
Summary/Abstract: Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński abandoned his career as a medical doctor to fully commit himself to the popularisation of French literature and culture amongst the Polish readership. By the time of his untimely death in 1941, he had translated around a hundred works of thirty-five French authors. Although he translated the works of early and modern literature – ranging from La Chanson de Roland to Marcel Proust’s magnum opus – he preferred the former period. Apart from his impressive work as a translator, Boy went to great lengths to popularise his translations in his translator’s prefaces and introductions as well as series of readings and lectures on French literature, which helped him gain recognition in French and Polish academic circles. Seemingly haphazard, the choice of literary works for translation revealed a consistency of Boy’s idea of French literature, which, for him, was to combine reflection, reason, the profoundly human character, clarity, and comprehensibility. This idea led the translator to favour readability and adherence to the meaning of the source text over verbal equivalence. This translation method allowed Boy to take sometimes farreaching liberties with the French source texts. The quality of the Polish language in these translations is also truly impressive. Boy employed a wealth of registers and styles, wide-ranging vocabulary, and phraseology. Boy’s unmatched command of his mother tongue enabled him not only to introduce the astonishing canon of French literature to the Polish reader, but also, as noted by Jan Błoński, “write a (missing) chapter of the history of Polish literature. ”Boy’s incomparable translation skills deterred many translators from offering new translations of the works formerly translated by him for years to come. This impasse has been recently overcome as new translations of the works of Molière, Racine, or Proust have begun to emerge. Despite these noble efforts, the position of the “Shakespeare of translation” remains uncontested.

• Details
• Contents