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TranslatingFeminism
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guage?Dowebecomelinguistichermaphrodites,freaks,Siamesetwins?8
Dowelosesubjectivitythroughitsscandalousexpansion,throughadd-
ingourselvestosomeoneelse?Andperhapsduetothepresenceofthe
translator’snameonthetitlepagewepaytributetoallthosewho–often
imperceptibly–contributedtothecreationofthetextinthis,ratherthan
another,shape?Dowethenmaketranslatorsvisibleandopaqueforamo-
ment?Translationwould,therefore,becapableofhighlightingthecon-
stitutivefeatureoftheso-calledoriginal:poly-authorshipunderstoodas
theeffectofreading,conversations,andexchangeswithotherlanguages/
people.Newtranslationsenteradialoguewithaseriesoftranslations,thus
revealingthecontroversyoverlinguisticdetailswhicharesignificant.They
areinterestingtestimoniestothereception,carefulreadingandpolemic
betweentranslators.
Perhapstheacceptanceofthisinsolubilityofsubjectivityhelpsthose
whoseeffortshavebeendismissedandtrivialisedtoemergefromthe
shadow.WhenIthinkofthehistoricalandculturalcontextsinwhichtrans-
lationoperates,IrecallthemonumentalundertakingofTheBoyLibrary.
Avastandideologicalproject,itaspired,togetherwithFrenchliterary
translations,tousherliberalideasintothePolishconsciousness,butitwas
accusedofcorruptingPolishreaderswith“theclassics”andofrelishing
pornography.BarbaraWinklowaprovesthattheadmirationoverthegrand
scaleoftheLibraryusuallyexcludesthemostimportantparticipantand
partnerintheundertaking,ZofiaŻeleńska.TheauthoroftheBoys’biog-
raphyattemptstoavoidthisomissionbydescribingŻeleńska’smethods,
whichincludededitingandcollatingtextsatnightinbedwithahotflaskof
strongteabythesideandseveralpacketsofcigarettesnottogetupforas
longaspossible.ŻeleńskaeditedBoy’stranslations–asweknowfromher
son–practicallyuntilherdeath(Winklowa2001:64–69).Shecanbeplaced
amongthewomenwhoareknowntohaveworkedlyingdown,suchasZo-
fiaNałkowskaorSidonie-GabrielleColette,buttheyarewriters,creators.
Icanalsothinkoftheheroineswhospendtheirlivesinbedoronthechaise
longue,suchasMaryinJaneAusten’sPersuasion,EmiliainNadNiemnem
(OntheNiemen)orPiotr’swifeinElizaOrzeszkowa’sDziurdziowie(The
DziurdziaFamily).Thesefemalecharactersusuallyactasnegativereflec-
tionsoftherighteousandcourageousfemaleprotagonist;theyareignored,
8IhavedecidedonthesecorporealmetaphorsinspiredbythetextsofElizabethGrosz,
whodescribestheborderlinecasesofcorporealsubjectivityandunderminesthequestions
relatedtothedivisionintothe“normal”and“abnormal”subjectivities(Grosz1996).
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