Andrzej Tretiak as a translation critic

Małgorzata Nowak

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/fp.2022.30.38030

A b s t r a k t

In 1924, the Polish National Library published Andrzej Tretiak’s edition of George Byron’s tales in verse. In the introduction and numerous footnotes, Tretiak explained why specific translations were selected and ranked them in terms of quality, pointing out the mistakes and the changes made by the translators. Tretiak also evaluated the solutions chosen by the translators, at times comparing them with his own translations. The article presents a critical analysis of Tretiak’s comments to two translations, “The Corsair” and “Lara,” which allowed him to conclude that the best Polish translator of Byron was Julian Korsak, and the worst, Antoni Edward Odyniec.