Maria Skibniewska

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Maria Skibniewska (née Skibińska; 3 May 1904 - 28 October 1984) was a Polish translator, primarily of English- and French-language literary fiction works. She graduated from the Cecylia Plater-Zyberkówna High School and studied Polish literature at the University of Warsaw. Her studies in Romance languages were interrupted by World War II, during which she worked as a home-based weaver and survived the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, she worked as a clerk and in 1947 made her debut as a translator of literary fiction. She also served as a translator during the trial of the Auschwitz camp personnel in Kraków (1947) and at the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace in Wrocław (1948). From 1950 to 1971, she worked at the Czytelnik Publishing House, initially as a stylistic proofreader and later as the head of the Romance languages literature department. Throughout this time, and during her retirement, she focused on translations, primarily of literary fiction. She translated around 100 books into Polish, including works by Jean Genet, Graham Greene, Henry James, Thomas Wolfe, Bruce Marshall, William Saroyan, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Updike, and Patrick White. She was highly regarded for her translation work. Her older brother was…Citește mai mult

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Maria Skibińska was born on 3 May 1904. Her father, Władysław, was a civil servant who worked at the Ministry of Finance from 1920 and was previously involved in fine arts. Her mother, Zofia née Królikowski, taught at secondary schools in Warsaw. Maria had three siblings: two brothers, Franciszek, who later became a divisional general in the Polish People's Army, and Józef, an aviator who died in 1939, as well as a sister. She attended the Cecylia Plater-Zyberkówna High School in Warsaw, where she passed her humanities maturity exam in 1922. She then began studying Polish philology at the University of Warsaw. On 18 September 1928, she married Stanisław Skibiński, an electrical engineer, and, having interrupted her studies, moved with him to Baden, Switzerland, where he was undergoing professional training and where they lived until 1930. She completed her Polish studies at the University of Warsaw that same year, after returning to Poland. Her thesis was dedicated to realism in the works of Honoré de Balzac and Joseph Conrad. In 1936, due to her husband's work, she moved with him to Sweden. A year later, Stanisław was appointed technical director of the Warsaw Power Plant in Powiśle and later became…Citește mai mult

Maria Skibniewska a publicat o actualizare

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General characteristics Maria Skibniewska made her debut as a translator with a work classified as popular literature – Lost Horizon by James Hilton. However, she quickly moved on to translating notable authors, beginning with Dolores by H. G. Wells, which was published in Poland in 1948. Among the other writers whose works she translated are Frederick Buechner, G. K. Chesterton, Joseph Conrad, Lawrence Durrell, Maurice Druon, William Faulkner, Graham Greene, Henry James, Bruce Marshall, Guy de Maupassant, Flannery O'Connor, J. D. Salinger, William Saroyan, J. R. R. Tolkien, Thomas Wolfe, John Updike, and Nathanael West. She developed an affinity for some of these authors, as evidenced by her translations of multiple works from certain writers. One of her favorite authors was Patrick White, the Australian Nobel laureate of 1973. While she primarily translated novels and short stories from English or French, her body of work also included books on different subjects such as biographies, historical studies, several plays by Jean Genet, and articles on theater by Edward Gordon Craig, Paul Claudel, Jacques Copeau, and G. B. Shaw. Some of these translations may reflect her interest in painting and theater arts. Skibniewska was highly regarded for her translations. The criticism repeatedly…Citește mai mult

Maria Skibniewska a publicat o actualizare

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Translator of Tolkien The first book by J. R. R. Tolkien that Maria Skibniewska translated was The Hobbit, published in Polish in 1960 by Iskry Publishers. She signed the contract for the translation of The Lord of the Rings with Czytelnik in 1958. There are no records detailing the course of her work. However, it is known that in June 1959, she wrote a letter to Allen & Unwin, asking for guidance to assist her with the translation, which was forwarded to Tolkien. He promised a prompt response, but due to family issues, he took a long time to reply. It wasn't until after reminders from Czytelnik that he provided some general advice, which was sent to Skibniewska. There is no evidence of any direct correspondence between the author and the Polish translator, but it is possible that her letter, forwarded to Tolkien, is preserved in his archives at the Bodleian Library. The three volumes of The Lord of the Rings translated by Skibniewska were published in 1961, 1962, and 1963, with the majority of the poems in the novel not translated by her but by Włodzimierz Lewik (volumes I–II) and Andrzej Nowicki (volume III). This was the third translation…Citește mai mult

Maria Skibniewska a publicat o actualizare

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Bibliography "Cmentarz Wojskowy" [Military Cemetery]. www.cmentarzekomunalne.com.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-09-23. Derdziński, Ryszard (8 January 2009). "Ona przełożyła dla nas Śródziemie, cz. 2" [She translated Middle-earth for us, part 2]. Elendilion (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-09-23. Gumkowski, Marek (2002). "Nota wydawcy" [Publisher's note]. In Tolkien, J. R. R. (ed.). Władca Pierścieni [Lord of the Rings] (in Polish). Vol. 1. Translated by Skibniewska, Maria. Warsaw: Muza SA. ISBN 83-7319-172-0. Sylwanowicz, Agnieszka; Leśniewski, Michał; Miklas, Sławomir, eds. (2023). "Historia polskich tłumaczeń dzieł Tolkiena: z Agnieszką Sylwanowicz i Michałem Leśniewskim rozmawia Sławomir Miklas „Bombadil"" [The History of Polish Translations of Tolkien's Works: An Interview with Agnieszka Sylwanowicz and Michał Leśniewski by Sławomir Miklas "Bombadil"]. Poznaj Tolkiena w Poznaniu. Tolkien Reading Day i konferencja naukowa 25–26 marca 2022 roku [Meet Tolkien in Poznań. Tolkien Reading Day and Academic Conference, March 25–26, 2022] (in Polish). Poznań: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu. ISBN 978-83-67372-92-3. Konarski, Stanisław (1997). "Skibniewski Stanisław Maria". Polski Słownik Biograficzny [Polish Biographical Dictionary] (in Polish). Vol. XXXVIII. Warsaw; Kraków: Polish Academy of Sciences. ISBN 978-83-86301-01-0. Lichański, Jakub Zdzisław (2003). Opowiadania o... krawędzi epok i czasów Johna Ronalda Reuela Tolkiena, czyli metafizyka, powieść, fantazja [Stories about... the edge of epochs and times of John Ronald…Citește mai mult