Przekłady starożytnych utworów dramatycznych – w zgodzie czy wbrew normom?

Abstract

The history of Polish translation of ancient tragedies begun in XIX century, when drama was considered to belong to the realm of literature rather than to the realm of theatre and when its theatrical values were considered as less important than those literary ones. But in V BC – in a century when the most distinguished ancient playwrights presented their plays – they were definitely regarded as works whose aim was to be presented on theatre stage. Thanks to some theatrical movements at the turn of XXth century, drama regained its due honours and place but still there is no unanimity among the scholars about many issues concerning translation of any ancient tragedy. They still raise questions about the connection between literature and theatre, or the connection between possible staging inserted in the words of drama and the stage possibilities from the translator’s time; how the literary or theatrical norms influence the translators’ decisions; should a translator facilitate the reception of a translated text or should he/she make it difficult; are there any borders or limits of a translation. I would like to dedicate the paper to some of those problems any translator of any ancient tragedy is supposed to solve, but especially to find the answer whether the existing norms or tradition of translation of those particular texts influence the translators and how they deal (discuss or change) with them.