Werkwinkel, 2013, vol. 8(2)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/handle/10593/13644

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    Thirty Years After... The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Kusek, Robert
    Although J.M. Coetzee’s body of works – unique and highly idiosyncratic – defies easy generalizations or summations, it is possible to identify several major tendencies present in his extraordinary oeuvre. Coetzee’s novels published in the 1970s and 1980s, such as In the Heart of the Country, Waiting for the Barbarians and Life and Times of Michael K, were seriously concerned with the power relation between the oppressor and the disfranchised under the oppressive systems and, according to a number of critics, often took the form of an allegory. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Coetzee focused on experimental fiction in which he expertly combined history, biography and fantasy and entered into intertextual dialogue with the masterpieces of Western literary tradition as well as their creators (e.g. Foe and The Master of Petersburg). In the last decade or so, the nature of Coetzee’s work has significantly changed. Old forms have been abandoned and Coetzee, instead, has turned towards other genres such as the memoir, essay, lecture, polemic – all of them being, in fact, intimate conversations Coetzee is having with himself, or, to be more precise, his multiple alter egos that he invents for the purpose of his fiction. Most notable examples include his autobiographical trilogy Scenes from Provincial Life and Diary of a Bad Year. This paper discusses Coetzee’s most recent novel titled The Childhood of Jesus. Will the novel – published thirty years after Life and Times of Michael K – open a new chapter in Coetzee’s oeuvre? Does it hail – as the title seems to suggest – a return to allegorical fiction? Or, perhaps, can it constitute another experiment in self-referentiality? My discussion of the novel will try to position the book in relation to Coetzee’s other works and investigate its formal and thematic aspects in a comparative manner. The paper will also attempt to trace various literary and intertextual references and will ultimately see The Childhood of Jesus as a tribute to Miguel Cervantes and a work of a supreme ironist – a feature that is hardly ever considered when talking about Coetzee and his oeuvre.
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    Streekromans en het Tsjechische ruralisme
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Engelbrecht, Wilken
    In the Netherlands regional novels have never been considered as real literary works. In Flanders regional literature had a better status, especially because several writers of the Van Nu en Straks movement such as Stijn Streuvels wrote about regional themes. In Czech literature since 1848 regional themes was viewed as important in novels and stories, mainly till the end of World War II . In 1932 the Catholic writer Antonín Matula defined the so-called Ruralism, which became a movement of mainly Catholic writers from the countryside. Most of them were severely persecuted in a constructed Stalinist show trial against the Green International in 1951. In his work Hlasy země v evropských literaturách (The Voice of Earth in European Literatures, 1933) Matula discussed nearly all major European literatures, i.e. Flemish regional writers. It is no coincidence that especially Flemish writers such as Ernest Claes, Stijn Streuvels and Felix Timmermans, were translated into Czech during the second quarter of the 20th century.
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    Report on the Situation of Literary Translators in Poland
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Paszkiet, Sławomir
    The purpose of this paper is to present the study of the mechanisms that affect the status of a literary translator in Poland. Factors presented here are grouped into several major topics, which include: economic and social status, visibility, education, relationship with the market, copyright and cultural policies concerning literary translation. This report is based on: data collected from state institutions, the literature related to the topic, interviews conducted by the author with participants of the literary translation market (translators, publishers, publishing editors, academics, scientists involved in translation studies, representatives of associations representing literary translators, booksellers, etc.) and on the author’s own analysis and observations. The article also presents the influence of the political and economic transitions in Poland after 1989 on the change in the status of a literary translator and the level of literary translation in general. The text ends with a SWOT analysis and a formulation of recommendations that could lead to a real change in the situation of literary translators in Poland.
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    De intrede van Multatuli in Hongarije
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Gera, Judit
    This article reflects on the importance and nature of cultural transfer studies. Cultural transfer implies a dynamic meeting of cultures which always happens in concrete political, historical and sociocultural contexts. I argue therefore that political aspects and the concept of emancipation play a crucial role in this type of research. After sketching the reception of one of the best-known Dutch authors Multatuli (1820-1877) in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland I introduce the most important elements of the Hungarian reception. I focus not only on the role of the socio-cultural background of the translator but also on the political, historical and socio-cultural context of Hungary at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the end I demonstrate parallels in the reception of Multatuli in Central Europe at the last turn of the century.
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    Op reis van Ninive naar Nergenshuizen: de reacties van Janus Verrezen (1795-96) op de politieke situatie van Polen rond de derde deling
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Urbaniak, Jan
    Janus Verrezen (1795-1796) was a Dutch satirical periodical, which critically commented politics at the end of the eighteenth century. The authors of the journal were not only interested in changing of local circumstances but also commented on the situation of other states and nations, including Poland. In my article I analyze how Janus Verrezen reacted to one of the most crucial moments of Polish history, namely the third partition (1795). I focus on the rhetorical devices used to create a satirical image of the partition and the situation of the inhabitants of Poland in this period. This article not only helps to reconstruct the image of Poland at the end of the eighteenth century, but also sheds light on those, who created this image – the Dutch and their opinions about such topics as freedom, slavery or human rights. These issues were central to public debate during the first years of the Batavian Republic (1795-1806).
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    Dominee Nicolaas Beets: "De familie Kegge" (1851) in het perspectief van de afschaffing van de slavernij
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Rutgers, Wim
    Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism (1993) offers opportunities for rereading and re-interpretation of canonical historical literary works by way of focussing on the relation between culture and empire. Nicolaas Beets, “De familie Kegge,” seems to be a good example for this “contrapuntal reading.” The short novel protests in a mild way against slavery and behaviour of slave owners and plantation owners in the Caribbean. In later work Beets proves to have become a fierce anti-slavery advocate, an aspect of his work that until now is hardly ever discussed and has been neglected in traditional criticism.
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    Amazonen en volksmoeders: overeenkomsten in representaties van vrouwen in Zuid-Afrikaanse en Poolse nationale mythologieën
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Drwal, Małgorzata
    This paper discusses similarities in the working of mechanisms responsible for the creation of idealized representations of women in South African (or Afrikaner) and Polish national mythologies. It is argued that in both cases two realisations of a patriotic attitude can be observed. The first of them, South African volksmoeder or Polish Matka Polka, is perceived as the dominant and neutral one. It defines the embodiment of female virtues as prescribed by social norms. The other one, the Amazon, refers to a rebellious woman warrior who constitutes a disturbing mixture of both stereotypically female and male features. The attention is drawn to the role of literature in the forming and preserving of these models. Furthermore, the discussion focuses on the question whether the Amazon can be perceived as a model of a proto-feminist.
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    Vertaaloperaties in literair vertalen: het verschil tussen keuzes gemaakt door studenten en de erkende vertaler
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Eszenyi, Réka
    When translating a text, the translator always has to make choices, which determine the quality of the translated text in the end. Depending on the distance between the typology and the culture of the source language and the target language, transformations need to be performed at the level of grammar and vocabulary in order to make the translated texts comprehensible for the readers of the target language. In the case of translating from Dutch, an Indo-European language, into Hungarian, a language that belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family, it is essential that the translator is aware of the need for these transformations. The following investigation focuses on the transformations used in the Hungarian translation of a Dutch novel by an acknowledged translator, and by university students of Dutch who have just started literary translation. The results of the pilot study show that the students use much less transformations and that might deteriorate the comprehensibility of the translated text. The didactic lesson one can learn form the investigation is that in translation classes students should be sensitized to the exsistence and importance of these transformations, by analysing acknowledged translators’ and students’translations.
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    H. P. Grebe. Op die keper beskou: Oor die ontstaan van Afrikaans
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Roberge, Paul T.
    A review of H. P. Grebe (†) Op die keper beskou: Oor die ontstaan van Afrikaans Pretoria: Van Schaik Uitgewers, 2012 167 pp. ISBN 9780627030215
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    Giving up the Struggle for Life: J.M. Coetzee’s Life and Times of Michael K and Disgrace
    (Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2013) Kucała, Bożena
    This article discusses two novels by J.M. Coetzee, Life and Times of Michael K and Disgrace, with reference to the Darwinian concept of the struggle for life. The novels depict a world riven by conflict, struggle and competition for resources, which is partly ascribable to the socio-political context of South Africa. In both stories the protagonists are confronted with extreme situations, both facing moments when their survival comes under threat. In the light of Darwinian concepts, Coetzee’s characters fail to adapt to the changing environment and ultimately face extinction. Despite the very significant differences between Michael K and David Lurie – including the degree of their selfunderstanding – they both undergo harrowing experiences, as a result of which they descend to the level of animal existence, retreating to, as Lurie’s daughter puts it, “the only life there is. Which we share with animals.” The implications of the protagonists’ affinity with animals are discussed with regard to Darwin’s claims about the continuities between human and animal life. This article examines the protagonists’ actions and decisions with relation to the biological imperative to struggle for life.