This article presents a selection of Czesław Miłosz comments on American culture, economy and politics during his diplomatic service in the United States in the years 1946-1950. They were formulated in his postwar correspondence as well as in a series of articles “Life in USA”, which he published under a pseudonym of Jan M. Nowak in Odrodzenie from 1946 to 1947
The article showcases preliminary remarks and questions about the relation between scientific and religious worldview in Leopold Staff ’s poetry on the example of the astral symbolics appearing in it. It presents the question of the evolution of this author’s scientific language in connection with the transformation of the Interwar poets’ imagination under the influence of astrophysical knowledge gained as a result of important discoveries and cosmic observations. This attempt is an invitation to take a look at the history of the Polish poetry in the 20th century from the perspective of its transformations in connection to scientific, and especially, astrophysical progress. Staff ’s poetry dating from the Young Poland period to the post-World War II time seems to be a good lens, through which such transformations can be observed.
PL
Artykuł prezentuje uwagi wstępne oraz pytania o relację między naukowym a religijnym oglądem świata w poezji Leopolda Staffa na przykładzie występującej w niej obficie symboliki astralnej. Stawia on kwestię ewolucji języka naukowego tego autora w powiązaniu z przemianami wyobraźni poetów dwudziestolecia międzywojennego pod wpływem wiedzy astrofizycznej, powstałej w efekcie znaczących odkryć i obserwacji kosmicznych. Szkic jest zaproszeniem do spojrzenia na dzieje poezji polskiej XX wieku z perspektywy jej przeobrażeń w związku z postępem naukowym, zwłaszcza w dziedzinie astrofizyki. Poezja Staffa obejmująca okres od Młodej Polski do czasów po II wojnie światowej wydaje się dobrym pryzmatem, przez który takie przemiany daje się zaobserwować.
The article discusses the image of the United States depicted in Czesław Miłosz’s correspondence coming from the years 1945-1950. The author of the article refers to the circumstances that led the poet to taking up a job as a diplomat and analyses a variety of opinions on that decision circulating among both Polish and émigré writers. The letters discussed reflect the culture shock and the slow process of acclimatization that the poet went through; his way of perceiving and trying to understand America. The article also focuses on the role Miłosz played as a mediator between the Old and the New Worlds, translating American literature into Polish and trying to popularize Polish culture in the US.
Artykuł analizuje tłumaczenie wybranych elementów kulturowych w Pięknych dwudziestoletnich Marka Hłaski w odwołaniu do teorii Olgierda Wojtasiewicza, Krzysztofa Hejwowskiego i Petera Newmarka. Składa się z czterech części, w których, kolejno, omówione zostały przekłady elementów kulturowych związanych z rzeczywistością komunizmu w Polsce, aluzji kulturowych i literackich oraz pochodzące od tłumacza poprawki wyrażeń anglojęzycznych w utworze. Na końcu sformułowane zostały syntetyczne wnioski z analiz.
EN
The subject of the article is an analysis of the translation of selected culture-bound terms in Beautiful Twentysomethings by Marek Hłasko. The study is based on theoretical assumptions by Olgierd Wojtasiewicz, Krzysztof Hejwowski and Peter Newmark. The study is divided into four parts. The first one discusses translations of cultural elements relating to the Communist realm in Poland. The second focuses on the ways knowledge of the cultural allusions has been transmitted. The third one presents the analysis of the ways literary allusions were translated. The fourth one presents the translator’s amendments of Marek Hłasko’s English expressions. The conclusions complement the study.
Miłosz’s volume Światło dzienne (Daylight, 1953) is conventionally read by critics as the political poetry deeply engaged with history. The article offers a corrective to this traditional reading by interpreting the volume as an interplay of European and American influences. As a European poet, Miłosz had experienced the violent demise of ideals that were the foundation of the Old World. Światło dzienne (Daylight) is, therefore, at one level, an elegiac volume, in which both persons and ideas are mourned. On the other hand, to the extent that for Miłosz America continues the noble ideas abandoned in Europe, he cannot accept what he regards as their misguided or perverse incarnations. This explains the emotional climate of the whole volume, with its dominant mood of disappointment, anger and a refusal of reconciliation. Światło dzienne (Daylight) is American in its outlook on taking seriously America’s status as a superpower and its influence on the future direction of the global history. It is anti-American, however, in identifying America’s perceived failures to live up to the post-war challenge for the human civilization in general, and the consequent dangers. The article intends to assess Miłosz’s debt to English-language poetry in this volume in light of his personal notes from his reading and translation work at the time.
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