Error in Literary Translation: F. S. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby in Three Polish Renditions

Abstract

The research was inspired by Dehnel’s translator’s note on his rendering of The Great Gatsby and Kopeć-Umiastowska’s vehement criticism of this translation, based on evidence of errors. The fragments criticized are juxtaposed with the parallel sections in Polak’s neglected translation of the same novel, which demonstrates that Polak’s solutions usually conform to the critic’s expectations. However, further examination of Kopeć-Umiastowska’s argumentation identifies her criterion of error as mostly arbitrary and unfit for literary translation assessment. It is postulated to understand the error in literary translation as a departure from the original that cannot be defended with any valid translation strategy.