Revisiting the French Translations of “Pan Tadeusz”: Self-Reflexivity in the (Re)Translators’ Peritexts

Abstract

Among the most important contributions of French thought to translation studies, two themes are indisputable: retranslation, addressed as early as 1990 in the now canonical issue of Palimpsestes, and the role of paratexts of translation. The names of Antoine Berman and Gérard Genette are now an “obligatory element” of the bibliographies of studies that explore different aspects of these two phenomena.

Using recent advances in research on retranslation and the paratexts of translation, the author focuses on the peritexts added by retranslators to their translations of Pan Tadeusz. She shows that these peritexts are a place where the translator’s subjectivity and self-reflexivity are displayed, as manifested by (1) the choice of elements commented on in the encyclopaedic notes and the way these elements are valued in the comments; (2) the number of “self-corrections” or justifications for the techniques used; (3) the passages interpreted by the translator in the footnotes; (4) a strong link between successive translations, in the form of borrowings from previous versions, particularly the first one.