2023-06-24

The translation and reception of foreign drama in Polish theater has been a recurring theme in Pamiętnik Teatralny; after all, we cannot talk about the development of drama or theater in Poland, about their dialogue with the traditions of European theater (and beyond), without taking into account the role of translations and translators. On the one hand, the first translation, enabling the Polish premiere of a given work, can already be seen as the culmination of a process; this perspective suggests research questions such as: Who translated it? Why this particular text? Whose idea was it? In what circumstances was the translation prepared? On the other hand, this is only the beginning of the reception of a given text or author: How was this foreign work received? Did other translations follow? Retranslations of the same drama, in turn—sometimes clearly polemical in relation to their predecessors—testify to its relevance and high position in Polish culture, as well as its interpretive and, consequently, theatrical potential.

In 2024, we want to devote an independent thematic issue to translations and their histories. We welcome traditional comparative analyses examining changes to the source text and/or differences between its multiple translations, but we would also like to encourage the authors to consider translations in various contexts: literary and cultural, as well as historical, sociological, political, economic, and legal. Suggested approaches and topics regarding the functioning of drama translations in Polish literary and theater culture include, but are not limited to, the following:

• reception cross-sections: the significance and influence of a particular foreign traditions, genres, authors, or works present in Polish culture thanks to translation;
• interpretive close-ups: translational transformations and adaptations;
• translation (co-)authors and patrons: translators; translating theater directors and playwrights; translating for a specific performer; theater as a translation patron; translating for theater festivals;
• canon and representation: what gets translated and what does not (why?);
• literary and theatrical aspects of drama translation;
• ideological and political factors;
• spectacular successes and flops: which translations have made history and which have gone unnoticed (why?).

This thematic issue has been inspired by the National Science Centre-funded research project A Hundred Years of Translation: Translators and Their Work in Polish Literature after 1918 (NCN OPUS; PI: Prof. Magda Heydel, Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University in Kraków). Therefore, we are mostly interested in the histories of translations published or staged in Polish in the 20th and 21st century (regardless of the dating of the source text). However, we will also consider article proposals concerning earlier historical periods and/or translations from Polish into other languages.

The deadline for abstract submission by email (pamietnik.teatralny@gmail.com) is 15 September 2023 (ca. 250-350 words, the selected references may be enclosed). The authors of provisionally accepted proposals will be asked to submit their full texts via our website by 15 December 2023. Please refer to the journal’s Author Guidelines at: https://czasopisma.ispan.pl/index.php/pt/dlaautora. The description of peer review process: https://czasopisma.ispan.pl/index.php/pt/recenzja. Our Code of Ethics: https://czasopisma.ispan.pl/index.php/pt/etyka. To the right on the site, you can click on your preferred language—English or Polish.