Published: 2018-12-301

„A Polish lady eager for the affairs of her homeland.” On Romantic Women Translators – The Guardians of the Nation’s Memory

Karolina Dębska

Abstract

In the 1840s in Wielkopolska, the first team of Polish women translators was gathered
by Konstancja Raczyńska to render texts connected with the history of Poland into Polish. In this
article, I would like to study the roles assumed by these translators. Were they traditional, invisible
servants of their authors? Did they translate to make a living? Or perhaps, taken with the authority
of the texts and their authors, did they try to be gatekeepers, keeping out the uninitiated? Or, just
the opposite, did they attempt to spread the gospel of the texts to their fellow Poles? To answer these
questions, I will begin with a short overview of their situation and biographies to find out who they
were, how they worked, what their competences and motivation were, and why they translated.
This information will serve as the basis for the translators’ profiles and for establishing their roles
in Polish history and culture.

Keywords:

romantic historiography, Romanticism, translation, translation history, women translators

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Citation rules

Dębska, K. (2018). „A Polish lady eager for the affairs of her homeland.” On Romantic Women Translators – The Guardians of the Nation’s Memory. Prace Literaturoznawcze, (6). Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uwm.edu.pl/index.php/pl/article/view/2658

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