Does Each Generation Have Its Own Ania? Canonical and Polemical Polish Translations of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables

Abstract

Almost every child knows Anne of Green Gables. This remark may prompt one to think about the reasons behind the undiminished fame of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s book. However, careful reading of the original makes one wonder if this novel was originally dedicated to younger audiences or perhaps to another group of readers. This issue cannot be considered separately from the problem of translation, as it enables the Canadian author’s novel to exist in Polish culture. Moreover, for the last century Anne of Green Gables has not only been an inspiration for writers but also a challenge for translators. Since it was first published in 1908, there have been more than ten Polish renderings of this book, which may, in fact, be regarded as a series of translations. Comparing them, it is possible to observe and analyse not just how the translators’ decisions can influence the reception of the original text, but also how the translational norms and conventions have been changing over the course of time. As a result, many texts are commonly viewed as children’s literature, although they did not belong to this genre originally. To show the connections between translator’s strategies, dominant translational norms and reception of foreign works, this chapter focusses on two Polish translations of Anne of Green Gables by Rosalia Bernsteinowa (1911/1912) and Paweł Beręsewicz (2012), which can be seen as opposing approaches (in terms of the meaning, but not the chronology) of the Anne of Green Gables Polish series of translations.