Children’s literature and the theory of translation in Poland

Polish children’s literature, like many other ‘minor’ literatures and cultures, has always depended heavily on translated works. Differently from many other national children’s literatures, however, the status of Polish translations for children had been influenced by two important factors which helped them to be considered an integral part of mainstream literary production for children and thus more worthy of critical interest. In the first place, a long practice of adapting rather than translating works from other languages, deeply embedded in Polish literary tradition, created a situation in which the translator is no more “invisible”, but becomes often a recognized co-author of the given book. Furthermore, many extremely talented translators have been active in the field of children’s literature, some of them being recognized and admired writers in their own right. This paper proposes a short diachronic survey of the development of the critical approach to the translation for children in Poland as well as a reflection on the status and importance of translated children’s works in Polish literature.