New bibliography of Joseph Conrad's works in translation
The National Library has published a new bibliography of translations of Joseph Conrad's works, Bibliografia przekładów Josepha Conrada.
Conrad wrote in English. However, throughout his life he remained strongly attached to Poland, the country of his birth. This new bibliography lists translations of Conrad's works from English into different languages, including Polish, published from the early twentieth century up until 2017 and is the first bibliography to cover translations of Conrad's works so comprehensively. It reveals how popular Conrad remains today, especially in Europe. The large number of editions of Chinese and Japanese translations indicate that he is also popular on the Asian market.
Joseph Conrad was born Joseph Theodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857 in Berdyczów (today's Berdychiv, Ukraine). For many years he worked as a sailor, rising to the rank of captain. He sailed most of the trade and passenger routes around the globe, this experience forming a recurring theme in his work. Later he settled in the United Kingdom and devoted himself to his writing, the first fruit of which was the novel Almayer's Folly. His later works Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness became a permanent part of the European literary canon. Conrad remained interested in Polish affairs, as revealed by his journalistic works among other things. His death in 1924 did nothing to reduce interest in his work on the European continent. Indeed, thanks to the efforts of his admirers, who included Ugo Mursia in Italy and G. Jean-Aubry in France, the translators of his works, such as Aniela Zagórska in Poland, and various publishing houses, such as S. Fischer in Germany, new translations of his works have appeared over the years in almost every country in Europe.
The new bibliography also reveals which of Conrad's works have appealed most to readers in different countries over time. Thus different works were popular in France (The Rover) than in Spanish-speaking countries (The Duel), Germany (Youth) or Poland, for example.
Bibliografia przekładów Josepha Conrada covers Conrad's literary works, journalistic work (in the broadest sense) and volumes of his letters and aphorisms, as well as individual works appearing in anthologies of English-language writers or maritime writers, for instance. The bibliography is easy to use thanks to its indexes of works, names, and countries of publication.
Bibliografia przekładów Josepha Conrada is available from the bookshop of the National Library of Poland.
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Funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic od Poland
