Poland in Ireland

The video is set in Sweny’s Pharmacy, which had been made famous by the novel and is still being run by volunteers like PJ Murphy. In the video the Polish Ambassador Anna Sochańska, dressed in the fashion of 1920’s, celebrates the centenary and introduces Maciej Świerkocki the author of the latest translation of Ulysses into Polish.

 

“Ulysses” is probably one of the most challenging novels to translate. It has been translated into over 20 languages. However, there are not many versions of the translation as very few writers dare to face the challenging material. For example, “Ulysses” was translated to Polish only twice.

 

The first publication of “Ulysses” in a Polish translation in December 1969 caused a literary sensation in Poland. In a matter of hours it became a bestseller with 40,000 copies disappearing from bookshops immediately. Maciej Słomczyński spent 13 years translating the masterpiece. In order to translate “Ulysses”  one has to visit Dublin. In the 1960s Słomczyński sponsored his visits to Ireland by writing criminal stories under pen name Joe Alex.

 

Poland had to wait over 50 years for the next full translation of Ulysses into Polish. Maciej Świerkocki published his translation in October  2021, just a few months before the novel’s centenary on 2^nd of February 2022. It took Mr. Świerkocki 7 years to translate it – exactly the same amount of years it took Joyce to write it. In the video Mr. Świerkocki tells us about his visit to Dublin during the work on the translation and how by mistake he walked to Sandymount Martello Tower instead of the Sandycove Martello Tower.