A Lesson in Loving the Word: Translating Clarice Lispector into Polish

The goal of this thesis is to discuss Clarice Lispector in the Polish context and address the potential gaps in the reception of her oeuvre. Since the principal vehicle of popularizing her writing outside of the Portuguese-speaking world is translation, my thesis also examines the current situation of the Polish translations of Lispector’s work. Based on my research, I contend that the angle of interpretation related to Lispector’s literary awareness has not been well explored in Poland. Given that the perspective related to the creation process constitutes a recurrent characteristic of Lispector’s narrative, I provide a textual analysis of four short stories which specifically deal with this aspect of her writing: “O ovo e a galinha” [The Egg and the Chicken], “A quinta história” [The Fifth Story], “Seco estudo de cavalos” [Dry Sketch of Horses], and “O relatório da coisa” [Report on the Thing]. In order to address and promote this sphere of Lispector studies in Poland, I propose a translation of the above-mentioned four short stories, followed by a description of the challenges I have encountered as a translator of Lispector’s complex poetics. A survey of the most influential translation theories contextualizes both the suggested translations of Lispector’s stories and my own translation experience. With this project, I aim to reintroduce, revitalize, and rewrite – in the form of the presented textual analyses and the proposed translations – Clarice Lispector’s work in the Polish context