In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• Heart of Darkness: Polish Transformations
• Ewa Kujawska-Lis (bio)

Heart of Darkness is arguably the best-known Conrad work in Poland. This novella had for years been set as compulsory reading in Polish secondary schools, but was removed from the curriculum by the government in the year commemorating Conrad’s 160th birthday (2017) and established by the Polish Parliament as the year of the writer. Irrespective of these politically-driven paradoxes, for Polish readers, this novella—together with Lord Jim—remains a household name. Sadly, however, when asked whether they understand and enjoy this work, first-year students of English Studies (nineteen-year-olds) invariably answer in the negative. The reason for this might be twofold: firstly, secondary school teachers may not have sufficient critical background to be able to explain this text’s intricacies and nuances; secondly, the problem may lie in Conrad’s oblique language and its reconstruction in Polish. Both of these issues have, however, been addressed. Many versions of the novella are published with accompanying notes for students and commentaries in line with the curriculum. In such publications, appropriate quotations are marked in the text; a synopsis guiding interpretation is included, as well as an overview of events presenting the action chronologically to facilitate students’ comprehension of Marlow’s narration. Additionally, sample answers and essays compatible with the examination key are provided, as well as questions to check students’ familiarity with the text. All cultural references are also explained, thus leaving the students little opportunity to explore such allusions on their own, guided by their teacher. It is not surprising, then, that Heart of Darkness is disliked—students do not actually study and interpret it but are encouraged to learn appropriate answers without a true understanding of the text.

Attempts to address the second problem have resulted in various retranslations; Heart of Darkness stands alone as Conrad’s most-often translated work. Thus far, seven translators have offered their versions of this classic text: Aniela Zagórska (1930), Jędrzej Polak (1994), Barbara Koc (2000), Ireneusz Socha (2004), [End Page 57] Patrycja Jabłońska (2006),¹ Magda Heydel (2011), and Jacek Dukaj (2017). Spanning a period of nearly a century, these versions differ primarily at the stylistic layer, some of them attempting to modernize the language for contemporary readers, others trying to create a late-nineteenth-century ambience. The latest version, created by the Polish fantasy and science-fiction writer Jacek Dukaj,² is the most radical departure from the original. My purpose here is to examine this literary experiment, illuminating ways in which Dukaj modifies Conrad’s text, and to set his endeavor against other, more traditional Polish translations.³ I comment initially on Zagórska’s twentieth-century text, then on the twenty-first century translators, and finally on Dukaj.

ANIELA ZAGÓRSKA—CONRAD’S MOST EMINENT TRANSLATOR

The first translation of Heart of Darkness was prepared by Conrad’s cousin, celebrated for years as his best translator. Her relationship with Conrad is well known and well documented in their correspondence. However, suggestions of his influence on her translatorial choices seem much exaggerated. Conrad was outraged with the initial Polish translations of his works, as is evident in this extract from an interview in 1914. When asked by Marian Dąbrowski: “Do you like the Polish translations of your books?”, he answered with indignation:

Oh, not at all! To begin with I was never even asked for permission to translate my books and besides, the translations are extremely poor. It is real agony for me to read things that were written in English in my native language. After all, I know Polish and French quite well. And the Polish translations are so careless, so unfaithful to the original. The French are faultless, but the Polish always irritate me. For example this fragment in a Lwów daily paper. Awful, absolutely awful. Even ‘Malay’ has been translated as ‘little Negro’ . . .

(Dąbrowski 200).⁴

Knowing Zagórska personally, and trusting in her linguistic skills and intellectual abilities, in a letter of 10 April 1920, he transferred to her an exclusive copyright to the publication of his works in Polish: “I give you my best...

中文翻译：

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黑暗之心：波兰转型

代替摘要，这里是内容的简要摘录：

• 黑暗之心：波兰转型
• Ewa Kujawska-Lis（生物）

黑暗之心可以说是波兰最著名的康拉德作品。这本中篇小说多年来一直被设置为波兰中学的必修课，但在纪念康拉德诞辰160周年的那一年（2017年）被政府从课程中删除，并由波兰议会确定为作家年。不管这些政治上的悖论如何，对于波兰读者而言，这本中篇小说—与吉姆勋爵一起-仍然是家喻户晓的名字。然而，可悲的是，当被问及他们是否理解并喜欢这项工作时，英语学习的一年级学生（19岁）总是回答否定。原因可能有两个：首先，中学教师可能没有足够的批判背景来解释本书的复杂性和细微差别。其次，问题可能出在康拉德的斜语及其在波兰的重建中。但是，这两个问题都已解决。中篇小说的许多版本都已出版，并随附与学生相符的注释以及与课程设置相一致的注释。在此类出版物中，在文本中标记了适当的引文；内容提要包括指导性解释，以及事件的概述，这些事件按时间顺序显示了该动作，以帮助学生理解Marlow的叙述。此外，还提供了与考试重点兼容的示例答案和论文，以及用于检查学生对课文熟悉程度的问题。还解释了所有文化参考，从而使学生几乎没有机会在老师的指导下自行探索此类典故。因此，毫不奇怪黑暗之心是不受欢迎的-学生们并没有真正学习和解释它，但被鼓励在没有真正理解课文的情况下学习适当的答案。

试图解决第二个问题导致了各种重新翻译。黑暗之心》是康拉德最常翻译的作品。到目前为止，已有七位译者提供了该经典著作的译本：AnielaZagórska（1930），JędrzejPolak（1994），Barbara Koc（2000），Ireneusz Socha（2004），[End Page 57] PatrycjaJabłońska（2006），¹ Magda Heydel（2011）和Jacek Dukaj（2017）。这些版本跨越了近一个世纪，主要在风格层上有所不同，其中一些试图为当代读者提供现代化的语言，另一些则试图营造19世纪后期的氛围。最新版本由波兰幻想小说和科幻小说作家Jacek Dukaj创作，²是最原始的变化。我在这里的目的是研究这项文学实验，阐明杜卡伊（Dukaj）修改康拉德（Conrad）文本的方式，并将他的努力与其他更传统的波兰语译本相对。³我首先评论Zagórska的20世纪著作，然后评论二十一世纪的译者，最后评论杜卡伊。

ANIELAZAGÓRSKA-康拉德最杰出的翻译

《黑暗之心》的第一版译本是康拉德的表弟编写的，该表弟多年来一直被认为是他最好的翻译。她与康拉德（Conrad）的关系是众所周知的，并且在他们的通信中有据可查。但是，有关他对她的翻译选择的影响的建议似乎被夸大了。康拉德（Conrad）对他的作品的最初的波兰语译本感到愤怒，从1914年的一次采访摘录中可以明显看出。当玛丽安·多布罗夫斯基（MarianDąbrowski）问：“您喜欢书中的波兰语译本吗？”，他愤慨地回答：

哦，一点都不！首先，我什至从未被要求翻译我的书，此外，翻译非常糟糕。对我来说，阅读用英语写成的母语内容实在是一件很痛苦的事情。毕竟，我对波兰语和法语非常了解。波兰语的翻译是如此粗心，对原文不忠。法国人是完美无缺的，但波兰人总是让我恼火。例如，Lwów日报中的此片段。糟透了，绝对糟透了。甚至“马来人”也被翻译成“小黑人”。。。

（Dąbrowski200）。⁴

在1920年4月10日的一封信中，他亲自认识了Zagórska，并信任她的语言能力和智力，他将其波兰语出版物的专有版权转让给了她：“我给你我最好的...