TWAINOWSKI BESTSELLER LITERATURY PODRÓŻNICZEJ INNOCENTS ABROAD PO POLSKU – ANALIZA STRATEGICZNA

Mark Twain’s travelogue Innocents Abroad (1869) was the author’s first sustained narrative form; it became a great literary and financial success during his lifetime. Considered a canonical text of travel writing in English, it was translated into Polish as late as 1992. The article discusses the Polish translation, focusing on the relevant features of the source text: the paratexts and the ‘translational dominant(s)’ that contribute to the original’s popularity. As Innocents Abroad belongs to popular literature, its humor is one of the essential dominants. The analysis demonstrates that the translator made a considerable effort to render the humor of the novel: the differences and compensation strategies result not so much from the differences between the languages and cultures but from the translator’s consistent decisions.