Brzozowski and Żuławski – Two Poetic Perspectives on the Book Of Job

This paper discusses parallel fragments of the two poetic paraphrases of the biblical Book of Job by Karol Brzozowski and Jerzy Żuławski. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the main idea of Job’s argument is handled in a very loyal and faithful manner by both translators. However, both translations differ in obvious ways. Both poets are looking for their own mode of expression – without rejecting the language of the denominational traditions they represent. As a Protestant, Brzozowski stays close to the Radziwiłł Bible, while Żuławski makes references to the Catholic Bible by Wujek. The translations differ considerably in terms of stylistic solutions adopted by the two translators. While Brzozowski attempts to make the text more poetic, universal and up-to-date, Żuławski resorts to archaisation. Both translators introduce substandard lexical items into their texts, which is owing to their own poetic interests