Authors

Kasia Szymanska¹;  ¹ University of Manchester, UK

Discussion

This paper will focus on an ongoing book project on Olga Tokarczuk's global reception and the transnational themes in her writing which travel in translation and transcend national borders. Tokarczuk has become a fascinating case of a writer from a ‘minor’ or ‘lesser-known’ culture going ‘global’ almost overnight thanks to two major literary prizes (the 2018 Man Booker International Prize and the 2018 Nobel Prize). As contributors to our book (co-edited by Joanna Trzeciak-Huss, Kent State University) show, her coming to prominence has taken a very unexpected turn: for instance, in the Chinese context critics used her example to argue that the Nobel prize committee has a new strategy of promoting lesser-known authors from ‘nowhere’; in Portugal, Tokarczuk’s writing style has gained a special label called ‘tokarczukiano’; in Germany, the Nobel prize announcement led to a conflict with her first translator over her surprisingly strong words.

The aim of this presentation thus is to account for those micro-stories, as well as locate Tokarczuk's ambiguous status of a 'minor, yet global' writer within the configurations of contemporary world literature. By tracing a range of intercultural topics which have lent themselves to most intense discussions and transformations in translation, I will also argue that Tokarczuk may be considered a case of a 'born translated' writer as translation, multilingualism and border-crossing are all inscribed in her writing from the outset.