Centenarian Weird Fiction from Providence in Contemporary Poland. Translational Models and Reception of Short Stories by Howard Phillips Lovecraft – the Case Study of Dagon

Abstract

The article discusses the most common among Polish translators of the weird fiction by Howard Phillips Lovecraft conventional models and translation techniques. The proposed classification of such models, aimed at either „popularization”, „stereotypization” or „revision” of Lovecraft’s short stories, presents the impact of extra-textual factors (vision of the writer, target group of readers, cultural and political influences) on content, language and style of translated works by the American author. The comparative analysis provided takes into consideration one of the early short stories by Lovecraft, Dagon (written in 1917, published: 1919), and its Polish versions by Arnold Mostowicz (1973), Robert Lipski (1994) and Maciej Płaza (2012).