Tomasz Bilczewski, Komparatystyka i interpretacja. Nowoczesne badania porównawcze wobec translatologii. Kraków: Universitas, 2010 Tomasz Bilczewski (redakcja, wstęp, opracowanie), Niewspółmierność. Perspektywy nowoczesnej komparatystyki. Antologia. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 2010

The text discusses two publications by Tomasz Bilczewski. The first one, Komparatystyka i interpretacja. Nowoczesne badania porównawcze wobec translatologii [Comparative Literature and Interpretation. Modern Comparative Studies in the face of Translation Studies] is an extended version of his doctoral thesis. It presents modern comparative literature in the perspective of its tradition, history and relations with translation studies. Bilczewski regards comparative literature as an activity of the deepest and most existential nature, diligently examining cases of breaching and crossing a variety of cultural differences. The author of Comparative Literature and Interpretation puts his examination against many twentieth century humanistic trends (formalism, structuralism, feminism, postcolonial studies, deconstruction), indicating that it cannot be limited to the narrow number of modern literature trends and methodology. Bilczewski’s examination was extended by literature analytical essays and its translations (the author focuses on relations between Mickiewicz and Keats poetry and correlates various Polish translation of Yeats texts), which shows practical application of his comparative studies. The second discussed publication entitled Niewspółmierność. Perspektywy nowoczesnej komparatystyki [Incommensurate. Perspectives of Modern Comparative Literature] is Bilczewski’s original anthology, which includes texts written during past few decades by comparative literature scholars. The comparative literature presented in the anthology shows its anti-essential and anti-institutional inclinations. In this perspective, only the comparative examination seems to be continuously used as the critical tool deconstructing findings of the modern humanities. Bilczewski’s texts, discussed above, surely should be acknowledged as innovative, as they present various original, not often seen in Poland, interpretations of comparative literature. Comparative Literature and Interpretation seems to be the first, fully analysed essay on comparison and translation studies’ problems published within last few years in Poland. Niewspółmierność [Incommensurate] could be treated as compendium and as a guide, the value of which could not be overrated by any comparative literature expert.