This article analyzes translation strategies and cultural memory in Polish Shakespeare adaptations, highlighting digital tools.
The article presents methodological reflections that emerged following the completion of the project of the digital repository of all Polish Shakespeare translations (19th–21st century) (https://polskiszekspir.uw.edu.pl). Set aside the texts of translations, the site offers extensive studies on translators, translation strategies and reception of approximately three hundred Polish rewritings of Shakespeare’s plays completed over the last two centuries. In particular, the paper exemplifies the relations between retranslation practice and historical context, the specificity of translators archives, and the consequences of the availability of translation corpora. The age of (human) translation represents a distinctive phase of Shakespeare reception, markedby the variability of continuously contested translation norms. This fluidity stemmed from the elevated position of the playwright in the European canon, the evolution of editorial theories and the shifting demands of the theatre. Furthermore, digital resources are interpreted as archives of the knowledge about translations, actively modelling cultural memory by their regressive patronage bestowed on past translations. The conclusion postulates a gradual decline in logocentric models of drama translation.
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Anna Cetera-Włodarczyk (2025) studied this question.
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