Edited by Kirsten Malmkjær, Adriana Şerban and Fransiska Louwagie
[Benjamins Translation Library 140] 2018
► pp. 79–92
This article investigates English translations of two contemporary Polish novels – Dorota Masłowska’s Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną (Snow White and Russian Red or White and Red) and Michał Witkowski’s Lubiewo (Lovetown). Both can be regarded as key cultural texts as they describe Poland’s relationship with its communist past. In Masłowska’s novel, the post-1989 transition is seen from the perspective of a drug-addled thug, while Witkowski’s book reminisces about the lives of the Polish gay community of the communist era, which his characters prefer to democratic, modern Poland. Since the tensions accompanying the social and political transition are poignantly inscribed in the novels’ language, failure to transfer certain linguistic aspects in translation threatens these works’ status as key cultural texts.