Leśmian, Malczewski, przekład

In the paper I survey the connections between Bolesław Leśmian’s poetry and the paintings of Jacek Malczewski in the context of translation. The renditions into English, Russian, Czech and Ukrainian are explored for the following: the presence of fantastic creatures, their corporality, the blending of Eros and Thanatos, motifs of angels and poppies. The sum of the topoi in common allows one to check which of the foreign editions reflect all the shared points of the two poetics. Perception of visual arts is by no means universal and Malczewski’s paintings have in fact proved resistant to reception in the West. Awareness of this leads to posing the question whether the two macrotexts, the poetic (in translation) and the painterly one, come into such an interaction which could enhance and improve the understanding of both Leśmian and Malczewski by the English-speaking audiences.