Book of translations as a self-commentary. On “bruchsünden und todstücke” by Witold Wirpsza

This paper examines bruchsünden und todstücke, a 1967 book of translations of selected poems by Witold Wirpsza. The texts come from the volumes Drugi opór (1965) and Przesądy (1966) and have been translated by the poet’s wife, Maria Kurecka. Both Kurecka’s and Wirpsza’s concepts of translation, as well as the translated poems themselves, allow us to consider the German book as a kind of self-commentary to Wirpsza’s oeuvre. Especially the way in which Wirpsza’s unconventional spacing has been transferred to the German volume may be treated as a guide for reading and understanding the more obscure Polish poems.