Serce ( Heart) by Edmondo de Amicisa in the translation by Maria Konopnicka. Analysis of selected fragments

Abstract

The subject matter of this paper is the language and stylistics of selected fragments of „Serce” (“Heart”), a children’s novel by Edmondo de Amicisa in the 19th-century translation into Polish by Maria Konopnicka. With reference to selected translation theories, the conducted analysis covers the strategy adopted by the translator, that is one consisting in familiarising the Polish reader with foreign realities while preserving their originality and “foreignness” (i.e. the simultaneous “domestication” and “foreignisation”). This determines the faithfulness and up-to-dateness of her translation, re-editions of which have been published to this day as it is appreciated for its rich language and accurate rendition of the original style. Due to the similarity to her own writing technique, the translator appropriately refl ects the nature of the work, enriching it with elements of school jargon and colloquial language. Despite the presence of archaisms, Konopnicka’s language has remained comprehensible to the contemporary reader. Keywords: artistic language – language of translation – translation studies – Edmondo de Amicis