Polish translation and reception of “L’herbe à brûler” by Conrad Detrez

The reception of literary translation can be seen as a space of intercultural encounter. As a complex phenomenon, it should be studied by referring to various testimonies, in which we can include the translation itself and newspaper articles. The analysis of these documents allows us to visualise the reception of a single work or the author’s entire presence in a given culture. The aim of this article is to examine the Polish translation and reception of Conrad Detrez’s novel L’herbe à brûler (A Weed for Burning) published in 1978 (in Polish: Wrzucić w ogień jak zielsko, published in 1987, translated by Ewa Gryczko). Detrez is one of the most important writers of the Belgitude period. In his work, many references to the complicated social situation in Belgium and the disputes between the Walloons and the Flemish can be found. Our analysis showed that Polish literary criticism has not paid attention to this aspect of Detrez’s novels and the translation techniques used do not help the Polish reader to understand Belgium’s complex political and social situation.