There were “Boys from Plac Broni”, there will be “Boys from Paweł Street”. “An antidote to horrors and distortions”

I asked for details about changes in the translation of the story about students of a Budapest middle school and, thanks to the publisher’s kindness, I was able to look at the foreword by Krzysztof Varga, which explains a lot. He points out that recently there has been a proliferation of new translations of this book, although previously in over a hundred years we have only had two translations, “including one extremely imperfect one.” What he means here is the work by Janina Mortkowiczowa from 1913.

For years we read a version that “distorted the message of the novel”

According to Varga – and not only – Mortkowiczowa “distorted the message of the novel” by translating it from German and not from Hungarian. In the foreword to the new translation, the Polish writer and literary critic writes about Ferenc Molnar’s novel:

This is not only a story about a group of teenagers growing up and their emotional maturation, but also has a largely patriotic and even anti-Habsburg tone, because in fact Janosz Boka’s little soldiers refer to Lajos Kossuth’s insurgents from 1848, and their motto is a fragment of the National Song. Sándor Petofi: ‘We swear! Never be slaves to us again!’ What did Mortkowiczowa not notice and therefore the Polish reader had no chance of catching this context? Poles therefore saw Molnár’s book as a boy’s game of Indians, not a metaphor for the Hungarians’ national liberation struggle.

He gives an example – Mortkowiczowa translated “Red Shirts” as “red-skins”. This definitely changes the meaning of the story. And although, as Varga notes, “Tadeusz Olszański exposed and corrected Mortkowiczowa’s errors and omissions,” “he agreed with her on one issue – that the title ‘Boys from Plac Broni’ is just right.” And here we have a change now. After all, the fight took place over Broni Square, but the heroes were not “from” it, but from Paweł Street.

The boys from Plac Broni return to Paweł Street, like Anne to Zielone Szczyty

In 2022, a hybrid appeared on the Polish market. Wojciech Maziarski titled his translation: “Boys from Paweł Street, formerly Boys from Plac Broni”. Now, following the example of the original and numerous language versions (the novel has been translated into at least 42 languages), we have “Boys from Paweł Street”.

This is yet another bold translation of youth classics recently. In January 2022, “Anne of the Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery, previously known for years as “Anne of Green Gables”, was published, also by Marginesy. Later it was joined by, among others: “Anne from Redmond” (formerly “Anne at the University”) or “Anne from Złotych Iskier” (“Anne from the Golden Shore”). Anna Bańkowska is responsible for the translation, which aroused great controversy at the premiere of the first volume.

I killed Anne, destroyed Green Gables and deprived it of its room in the attic. However, I am asking for a lenient sentence, considering that someone once had to undertake this thankless task

– translator in the introduction of the new translation. The 1911 version known to all of us was a translation of a translation from Swedish, not the original Canadian edition. Therefore, there were many distortions here too.

Is there any point in re-translating ‘Boys…’?

As for modern translations of Molnar’s novel, Varga refers to the translator Karolina Wilamowska, who in “Literatura na Świecie” (2023, no. 9–10) stated that “the conclusions for these translations are devastating. Not only that, some of them were written by ghost authors (Stefan Mrowiec), completely unknown to Hungarian studies and even to Internet search engines, and their real name and surname is probably Google Translator, in addition, some of them were translated from languages ​​other than Hungarian, and some of them modernized Molnár’s prose too much.

He emphasizes that the conclusion from Wilamowska’s text was that the classic translation by Tadeusz Olszański from 1989 is still perfectly valid. “Then the question arises: does it make sense to translate ‘Boys…’ again, since the first Polish translation from the Hungarian of this book, even though it has been on the market for thirty-five years, still works perfectly? Yes, of course, because all translations, even the most faithful ones, “should be refreshed, and Miłosz Waligórski’s excellent translation will be an antidote to the horrors of translations (and distortions) that appeared after the copyright to Molnár’s legacy was released, when seventy years have passed since his death in 2022,” Varga replies to himself.

What will the book “Boys from Paweł Street” be about?

In the Pest part of the Hungarian capital, at the intersection of Paweł and Marii streets, there is a plot of land called the Square. It’s the perfect place to play: it can replace the American prairie, and the tree depot at the back can be a forest, rocky mountains, or a fortress – anything that the imagination of the boys playing here can create. No wonder that Janosz Boka, under whose leadership Czonakosz, Gereb, Czele, Weiss, Kende, Kolnai and Nemeczek were grouped, ordered the construction of fortifications to prevent the enemy from taking over the Square. And there is something to be afraid of: one day, Feri Acz, the leader of the Red Shirts, sneaks into the Square while the boys are away and takes the banner belonging to their group! This is a clear signal that the Red Shirts will soon want to take back the Square, but the boys are not going to give it up without a fight.

Can Boka count on the loyalty of his soldiers? Why does Private Nemeczek, treated unfairly by his comrades, go to Botanika – the playground of the Red Shirts? Which of the boys will betray and which will turn out to be a hero?