Edward Porębowicz

Biographical Outline

Edward Porębowicz (1862–1937) was an eminent literary historian, translator and professor at Lwów University. He translated two of Shakespeare’s comedies: Love’s Labour’s Lost (Stracone zachody miłości) and All’s Well That Ends Well (Wszystko dobre, co się dobrze kończy). These translations complete Porębowicz’s image as an outstanding translator, a reputation primarily founded on his achievements translating from Italian and Romance languages, in particular his canonical version of Dante’s Divine Comedy (Boska komedia).

Approach

In a unique manner, Porębowicz combined his talent as an erudite guide to foreign literature with his talent as a translator, adept at creatively reimagining the conventions and stylistic features of other cultures. He combined a deep philological knowledge of the texts he translated with an excellent understanding of Polish literature of earlier periods, and a sensitivity to the modernist currents in culture. His work is an exemplary instance of the philological ethos in translation, where translation flows organically from literary-critical research, and forms an original poetic creation in its own right. His translations of the comedies modernise the register and the syntax without significantly unsettling the meaning of the text through semantic shifts. He respected the division into verse and prose. In Love’s Labour’s Last he maintained the rhymes in the verse.

Reception

Porębowicz’s translations of Shakespeare were retranslations preceded by Leon Ulrich’s versions. They were included in the edition of Shakespeare produced by Henryk Biegeleisen (1895–1897), and then republished in the Warsaw edition of 1912. These editions apart, the plays did not reach a wide readership, and were only sporadically staged.

Bibliography of translations

[William Shakespeare], Stracone zachody miłosne, tłum. Edward Porębowicz [w:] Henryk Biegeleisen (red.), Dzieła Williama Szekspira, T. 6, Komedye, Księgarnia Polska, Lwów 1895, s. 1–85.

[William Shakespeare], Wszystko dobre, co się dobrze kończy, tłum. Edward Porębowicz [w:] Henryk Biegeleisen (red.), Dzieła Williama Szekspira, T. 8, Komedye, Księgarnia Polska, Lwów 1896, s. 163–250.

[William Shakespeare], Stracone zachody miłosne, tłum. Edward Porębowicz [w:] William Shakespeare, Dzieła dramatyczne w dwunastu tomach, życiorys Shakespeare’a i przedm. do poszczególnych utworów oprac. Roman Dyboski, studyum Shakespeare w Polsce napisał Ludwik Biernacki; wyboru przekładów dokonał Stanisław Krzemiński, T. 3, Gebethner i Wolff, Warszawa 1912, s. 14–86.

[William Shakespeare], Wszystko dobre, co kończy się dobrze, tłum. Edward Porębowicz [w:] William Shakespeare, Dzieła dramatyczne w dwunastu tomach, życiorys Shakespeare’a i przedm. do poszczególnych utworów oprac. Roman Dyboski, studyum Shakespeare w Polsce napisał Ludwik Biernacki; wyboru przekładów dokonał Stanisław Krzemiński, T. 4, Gebethner i Wolff, Warszawa 1912, s. 192–269.