Adaptation, not translation: a 1950s manifesto for translating for children

Abstract

In “The Question of Adaptation“ (1952), Irena Tuwim outlines her approach to translation for young audiences: the far-reaching freedom necessary “for the translator to give linguistic works of the highest quality” and the premise of the translator’s agency and high prestige. Tuwim explicitly proclaims “the rule of adaptation, not translation”; most notably she applied this rule in her translations for children, particularly her much-loved and still much-appreciated translations of A.A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh“ (“Kubuś Puchatek“, 1938) and “The House at Pooh Corner“ (“Chatka Puchatka“, 1938), often described as “congenial translations” or even better than the originals.

“The Question of Adaptation“ is not only an important manifesto of an individual translator whose work had an invaluable impact on the Polish reception of English classics but also, in a way, a summary and synthesis of the most prevalent strategy in translating children’s books in Poland up to the 1950s, which was based on far-reaching domestication, freedom in approaching the original and purposeful adjustments for the benefit of the young audience.