Parateksty w polskich przekładach powieści Marka Twaina. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer i The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – między pomijaniem a dopisywaniem

The article discusses paratexts of Polish translations of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which make up large translation series of respectively 14 and 7 texts. The corpus of the article includes almost all Polish translations of the two novels. The analysis has revealed features characteristic of the paratextual framework of the novels. The most striking one is a nonchalant approach to authorial paratexts, especially to its most significant type such as the preface. While the preface is absent from the majority of the editions of Mark Twain’s Przygody Tomka Sawyera (11 out of 18), none of the Polish renderings of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn analyzed includes Twain’s Notice and Explanatory. As for translators’ and editors’ paratexts, they are generally rare and modest; a rich paratextual framework is characteristic of the editions for pupils in the series of „well-prepared reading” (Lektura dobrze opracowana). Most of these paratexts, however, can raise objections due to their quality and pedagogical and didactic usefulness. Summing up, the paratextual framework of the analyzed translations shows that the two novels are in the Polish context addressed almost exclusively to young readers while critical editions are absent. This taps into the reception of Mark Twain in Poland as well as publishing, editorial and marketing practices related to children’s literature, in particular to the obligatory reading from the primary school canon.