What does literary translation bring to an understanding of postcolonial cultural perceptions? on the Polish translation of amos tutuola's the palm-wine drinkard

Dorota Gołuch

pp. 149-167

in: Antoinette Fawcett, Philip Wilson (eds), Literary translation, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

Translation (generally and figuratively speaking), translation (literally speaking) and literary translation (in particular) are relevant and revealing subjects of research from the perspective of postcolonial studies. This chapter focuses on the case of literary translation, suggesting that the sustained study of translations and the reception of postcolonial literature contribute to mapping out the discourses that surround postcolonial cultures in a receiving culture. Consequently, the study of literary translation leads to a better understanding of the cultural perceptions and relations revised or re-enacted in response to post-colonial literature. To demonstrate this approach, this chapter examines Ernestyna Skurjat's 1983 Polish translation of The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952) by the Nigerian author Amos Tutuola. The chapter shows how Skurjat's standardizing strategy and a universalist discursive framing fit into the broader framework of cold war Polish–Nigerian relations and the Orientalist legacy of Polish perceptions of Africa.