Translation as mission : Wanda Dynowska-Umadevi and her Polish-Indian/Indo-Polish project

This chapter discusses selected aspects of the life and work of Wanda Dynowska aka Umadevi (1888–1971), a Polish theosophist, social activist, educator, journalist, poet, translator and editor, and co-founder of a publishing series whose self-proclaimed aim was “to show India to Poland and Poland to India”. Her major accomplishment with regard to literary translation into Polish was a six-volume anthology of works from various Indian languages. Taking the approach of Translator Studies and a ‘humanised’ translation history and drawing on secondary biographical sources, as well as archive research and paratextual analysis, the authors look into the political contexts of Dynowska's activity, her personal motivations, practical constraints and solutions, and textual strategies, showing that translator-centred research problematises general categories and reframes well-worn translation metaphors.