30044 - Polish Literature 1 (2nd cycle)

Course contents

Below is the syllabus for the courses in Polish Language, Polish Literature 1, and Polish Literature 2.

 

Polish Language

The course is divided into two modules:
FromTranslation Studies toTranslation, taught by Prof. Andrea Ceccherelli;
Introduction to Literary Self-Translation in the Polish Context, taught by Dr. Nadzieja Bąkowska.
The first module will begin with an overview of Polish translation studies and its contributions to the study of translation, before focusing on the translation analysis of selected literary texts and on practical exercises.
The second module will begin with a theoretical framework of the phenomenon of self-translation and will then focus on the practice of self-translation, with part of the lectures devoted to textual and translational analysis within the Polish linguistic and cultural context. In particular, the course will examine the bilingual works of several 20th-century Polish writers (Miłosz, Gombrowicz, Jasieński, Barańczak, Kuncewiczowa). 

Polish Literature 1

Polish writers read Dante

The course examines Polish writers’ works on Dante, from the Romantic poets to 20th-century giants such as Milosz and Gombrowicz. The Polish writers’ interpretations of Dante provide an opportunity to shed light on their own thought and poetics.

Polish Literature 2

Italian-Polish literary relations from Bona Sforza to Wisława Szymborska

The course will focus on major authors and literary phenomena of Italian origin as they appear reflected or refracted in the Polish tradition, an opportunity to discover what, of our literary culture, has been seen as important - and why, and how - by the Other, in this case the Polish. The more purely cultural aspect will not be neglected, from the role of the Princess of Bari and Queen of Poland Bona Sforza in the spread of the Renaissance in Poland to the brotherhood that united the two peoples during the Risorgimento. There will also be a focus on the most important cultural phenomena of Polish origin that established themselves in Italy, so much so that they became two -isms: Quovadism and Szymborskism.

Readings/Bibliography

Polish language

First part

E. Balcerzan, E. Rajewska, Pisarze polscy o sztuce przekladu 1440-2005, Wydawnictwo Poznanskie, Poznan 2007 (brani trattati a lezione: Kochanowski, Górnicki, Irena Tuwim, Tulli, Jarniewicz)

S. Baranczak, Maly lecz maksymalistyczny manifest translatologiczny, in Idem, Ocalone w tlumaczeniu, Wydawnictwo a5, Krakow 2004 (disponibile online su “Teksty Drugie” 1990, 3)

A. Ceccherelli, O tym, jak Zamoyski stał się Bourdellem. O Witkacym „przetłumaczonym” przez Dacię Maraini. In: «Roczniki Humanistyczne», 60 (2012), z. 1, pp. 31-52 (in it. disponibile online in «Europa Orientalis» XXIX (2010), pp. 189-208).

A. Ceccherelli, Trascrivere il processo traduttivo (sull’esempio di una poesia di Adam Mickiewicz). In: “Europa Orientalis” 2021, pp. 79-106.

L. Costantino, Teoria della traduzione in Polonia, Sette Città Editore, Viterbo 2009 (introduzione e 5 saggi a scelta dello studente).

or

M. Heydel, P. de Bończa Bukowski, Wstęp, in Polska myśl przekładoznawcza. Antologia, pod red. M. Heydel i P. de Bończa Bukowskiego, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2013

For all students the reference grammar book is: B. Bartnicka, H. Satkiewicz, Gramatyka języka polskiego dla cudzoziemców, Wiedza Powszechna, Warszawa 1990

Second part

Bąkowska, N. (2022): [https://cris.unibo.it/handle/11585/891826], in: Lezioni di Traduzione 1, Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne (LILEC), Università di Bologna, Bologna, pp. 41- 62.

Bąkowska, N. (2022): [https://cris.unibo.it/handle/11585/1050758], in: Lezioni di Traduzione 4 (Self-Translation as Self-Inclusion of Diversity / Autotraduzione come autoinclusione della diversità), Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne (LILEC), Università di Bologna, Bologna, 2025, pp. 159-180.

Balcerzan, E. (1968): Styl i poetyka twórczości dwujęzycznej Brunona Jasieńskiego. Z zagadnień poetyki przekładu, Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich (solo le pagine relative all’autotraduzione di Palę Paryż).

Barańczak, S. (1990): Tablica z Macondo, Osiemnaście prób wytłumaczenia, po co i dlaczego się pisze, Wydawnictwo Aneks, London (parti indicate dalla docente).

Costantino L. (2020): Stanisław Barańczak autotraduttore: il caso della prosa saggistica, in: F. Regattin (a cura di), Autotraduzione. Pratiche, teorie, storie, Casa Editrice Emil di Odoya, Città di Castello, pp. 133-150.

Besemeres, M. (1995): Rewriting One's Self into English: Miłosz Translated by Miłosz, in: The Polish Review, 1995, 4, pp. 415-432.

Ceccherelli, A. (2013a): Introduzione, in: Ceccherelli, A., Imposti, G., Perotto, M. (a cura di), Autotraduzione e riscrittura, BUP, Bologna.

Ceccherelli, A. (2013b), Autotraduttori polacchi del Novecento: un saggio di ricognizione, in: Ceccherelli, A; Imposti, G.; Perotto, M. (a cura di), Autotraduzione e riscrittura, BUP, Bologna.

Ceccherelli, A. (2014a): C’è Ferdydurke e Ferdydurke. Peripezie autotraduttive gombrowicziane, in: Montini, Ch. (a cura di), La lingua spaesata. Multilinguismo oggi, BUP, Bologna, pp. 73–85.

Ceccherelli A. (2014b): Tekst dwujęzyczny i jego różnice: Świadectwo poezji alias The Witness of Poetry, in: Bilczewski T., Marinelli L., Woźniak M. (a cura di), Rodzinna Europa Czesława Miłosza, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków, pp. 139-150

Grutman, R. (2009): “Self-Translation”, in Baker, M., Saldanha, G. (a cura di), Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, 2nd edition, Routledge, London, pp. 257-260.

Kampert M. (2018): Przekład autorski: między literaturą narodową a „obywatelstwem światowym” (na przykładzie Marii Kuncewiczowej i Janusza Głowackiego), “Przekładaniec”, 37, pp. 48-63

Kraskowska E. (1993): Dwujęzyczni pisarze w Polsce, in: Słownik literatury polskiej XX wieku, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław etc., pp. 229-233.

Polish literature 1:

Mandatory reading in Polish: W. Gombrowicz, Ferdydurke

Moreover:

A. Ceccherelli (ed.), Dante and Polish Writers From Romanticism to the Present, London & New York, Routledge, in corso di stampa.

Michał Głowiński, Gombrowicz poprawia Dantego, in Idem, Gombrowicz i nadliteratura, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 2002, pp. 223-241.

W. Gombrowicz, “Fragment z dziennika.” Kultura, no. 12 (December) 1966, pp. 7-18 (in italiano: Su Dante, trad. di Riccardo Landau, SugarCo,Milano 1969).

L. Marinelli, Noster hic est Dantes. Su Dante e il dantismo in Polonia. Roma, Lithos Editore, 2022.

J. Mikołajewski, Tradurre Dante in polacco, Forum, Udine 2004.

Polish literature 2 LM:

Readings will be indicated during the course. A general reference title is:

Związki literackie polsko-włoskie, in Słownik literatury polskiej XX wieku, Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich, Wroclaw-Warszawa-Krakow 1993 (available on Virtuale)

Teaching methods

Lectures, classes

Assessment methods

The assessment test is written and oral for Polish language, only oral for Polish literature 1 and 2.

Polish Language:

The final exam aims at verifying the acquisition of the four linguistic skills (written and oral comprehension, written and oral production) at the CEFR level indicated in the section of the course programme titled “learning outcomes”.

The exam consists of two parts: a 4-hour written test and an oral interview. All students (included Polish native speakers) have to pass the written exam to access the oral one.

The written test aims at assessing the students' writing skills, both active and passive, whereas the interview has the aim of evaluating their capacity of speaking and oral understanding. Both the test and the interview will base on the topics developed during the classes and on the works indicated in the pogramme bibliography.

In case of Polish-born non-attending students, the exam will base on the specific texts indicated in the programme bibliography.

Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities: we suggest that you contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) and your teacher immediately to work together to find the most effective strategies for attending classes and/or preparing for exams.

Any requests for exam accommodations must be made at least 15 days before the date of the exam, by sending an email to the teacher and copying (Cc) the email address disabilita@unibo.it [mailto:disabilita@unibo.it] (in case of disability) or dsa@unibo.it [mailto:dsa@unibo.it] (for students with Specific Learning Difficulties).

The final mark will be the average of the marks obtained in the written test and in the oral interview.

Moreover the student will be requested a paper on a specific topic as well as some translation exercises. Non-attending students are asked to agree the paper and the translations with the teacher: both will have to be delivered not later than 1 week before the written test.

Polish Literature 1 and 2:

The oral test for students of Polish literature consists in an oral interview which has the aim of evaluating the competence as well as the critical and methodological ability of the students. The students will be invited to discuss the tests on the course programme. The student must demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the bibliography in the course programme.

Those students who are able to demonstrate a wide and systematic understanding of the issues covered during the lessons, as well as of the readings indicated in the programme bibliography, are able to use these critically and who master the field-specific language of the discipline will be given a mark of excellence (28-30).

Those students who demonstrate a mnemonic knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability and ability to synthesize, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be given a 'fair' mark (23-27).

A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be rewarded with a pass mark or just above a pass mark (18-22).

Students who demonstrate gaps in their knowledge of the subject matter, inappropriate language use, lack of familiarity with the literature in the programme bibliography will not be given a pass mark.

During the course the student may be asked to present some brief written and oral works, which will not produce a mark, but will contribute to the overall assessment of the student's proficiency.

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations, film, videos

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Ceccherelli

See the website of Agnieszka Nadzieja Bakowska