The Art of Translation with Marek Kazmierski

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is the well-known compiler of the “Bibliotheca Forensica” and author (under the nom de plume of Issachar Marx) of the Polish versions of Schiller’s “Wallenstein” and Rabelais’s “Gargantua”. A resident of Harlem, New York since 1839. A fictional character in one of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, and a very real patron saint of “Przekrój”’s translators’ questionnaire.

In the Valdemar Questionnaire, we give voice to translators who reflect on their work and role as intermediaries between languages and cultures. In this instalment of our series, Valdemar takes on Marek Kazmierski, a translator of Polish and author of the featured translation of the chapter “This Fable Along with Others” from the book Professor Inkblot’s Academy by Jan Brzechwa.

You can read Marek’s translation of the excerpt from Jan Brzechwa’s “Professor Inkblot’s Academy” here.

How and why did you become a translator of Polish literature?

Thrilled by the short stories found at the back of Andrzej Stasiuk’s Dukla (a lovely book of his literary ruminations), I just sat down, translated and sent them to the author some 15 years ago. Stasiuk referred me to his German publisher, who owned the rights to all of his works… they never got back to me.

Do you ever regret becoming a translator? (Valdemar wants to know…)

Every time I see news reports about how

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Ernest Valdemar:

is the well-known compiler of the “Bibliotheca Forensica” and author (under the nom de plume of Issachar Marx) of the Polish versions of Schiller’s “Wallenstein” and Rabelais’s “Gargantua”. A resident of Harlem, New York since 1839. A fictional character in one of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, and a very real patron saint of “Przekrój”’s translators’ questionnaire.

Publish date: 31.05.2020

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Bolesław Leśmian:

is today considered one of the greatest Polish poets of the 20th century, although he was a marginal figure during his lifetime. Leśmian (1877–1937) was the author of four volumes of poems, alongside three books of fairy tales for children. His innovative idiosyncratic style, chalk full of neologisms, earned him the name of the great innovator of Polish poetry, as well as that of a largely untranslatable poet.

The Adventures of Sindbad the Seafarer is one of the most beloved Polish books for children. Written in 1913 by one of the greatest Polish poets of the century, Bolesław Leśmian, the book is loosely based on the stories of Sinbad the Sailor from the classic Middle Eastern collection One Thousand and One Nights. However, Leśmian developed this material very differently, introducing completely new episodes and characters, like Sindbad’s poetry-writing uncle, Tarabuk, and his cunning but sympathetic nemesis, the Sea Devil.

In the following excerpt from the book’s First Adventure, we find Sindbad in one of Leśmian’s newly-invented episodes. Our story begins as Sindbad is leaving the palace of King Miraz, to whose daughter he is now engaged, in order to visit the mysterious island of Kassel—the seat of the evil sorcerer Degyal. Perhaps the only thing that makes him a bit uneasy is the king and princess’s strange habit of mispronouncing his name as “Hindbad.” But, for now, this does not seem all that important.

The Art of Translation with Marek Kazmierski

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The Adventures of Sindbad the Seafarer

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