Rozrywka z Niemiec
Entertainment from Germany

Polish Translations of German Novels and Chivalric Romances at the end of the Reign of Sigismund Augustus

Author(s): Krystyna Wierzbicka-Trwoga
Subject(s): Cultural history, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, History of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: narrative fiction; popular literature; entertainment; translation; Mikołaj Szarfenberger
Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the question of the origin of four Old Polish prose novels: "Historia wdzięczna o szlachetnej a pięknej Meluzynie", "Historia o Magielonie, królewnie neapolitańskiej", "Historia piękna i krotochwilna o Otonie, cesarzu rzymskim", and "Fortunat" that form a coherent group in the panorama of 16th century Polish prose. They were translated from German into Polish towards the end of the Jagiellonian period, and in literary history they are referred to as the first Polish chivalric romances; moreover, they have acquired the status of longsellers in Polish literature. The question I’m asking concerns the criterion for choosing these texts for translation. Whose idea was it: the translator’s, the printer’s, or perhaps the publisher’s? Why were these four chosen from among the many texts of popular literature published in Europe? The paper analyses earlier decisions of publishers and translators in this field, who introduced the tradition of ancient and medieval narratives to Polish readers, to conclude that the four texts discussed here were surprising in their novelty against the background of previous translations of popular literature. I put forward the thesis that the key to the riddle of the choice of the four must be sought in someone’s individual decision and that it must have been someone with contacts in Germany; the person I indicate is Mikołaj Szarfenberger, the printer-publisher of the Fortunatus and Octavianus stories and collaborator of Marcin Siennik, the translator of the Melusine story.

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