Emocjonalnie zmienny – podmiot liryczny piosenki Jacques’a Brela w polskich i angielskich przekładach

In the present paper translations of Jacques Brel’s 'La chanson des vieux amants' (The Song of Old Lovers) are investigated for the conveyance of emotional aspects of text. It is established that the lyrical subject’s mood and feelings differ in each of the discussed versions, and diverge from those in the original. The treatment of emotionality can, in fact, prove a factor influencing the expansion of a translation series, as suggested especially by the three Polish renditions discussed. Moreover, in most cases the emotional overtone of the target texts appears to interrelate with some more general approach, e.g. a translator’s understanding of songwriting as such (Wojciech Młynarski), or an interpretation of Brel’s whole oeuvre (Roman Kołakowski, and the makers of 'Jacques Brel is Alive and Well').