Stanisław Dygat

Stanisław Dygat (1914–1978) translated just one Shakespeare play: Wieczór Trzech Króli (Twelfth Night, 1951). He set aside his study of architecture and philosophy in order to pursue a career as a writer. The novels Jezioro Bodeńskie (Lake Constance, 1946) and Pożegnania (Farewells, 1949) made him famous. He continued to write fiction: Podróż (The Journey, 1958), Disneyland (1965) and Dworzec w Monachium (Munich Station, 1973). He also wrote plays and screenplays. He was a reluctant translator, but completed several translations from Russian, Greek and French. He had a passion for travelling.

Dygat undertook the translation during the occupation in the Second World War. At that time, he was in close contact with Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and Czesław Miłosz, both of whom had already translated Shakespeare. In his version of Twelfth Night he intended to foreground the more serious elements of the comedy, defining it against his experience of pre-war productions. He worked with no plan for the play to be staged, but when the opportunity arose, he was happy for ad hoc alterations and adaptations to be made.

Reviews of the 1950 premiere were generally unfavourable. It was criticised for its mistakes, modernisations and unsuccessful poetry. The translation appeared, however, in a series issued by the National Library. It was published by the State Publishing Institute (PIW) and reissued twice (in 1958 and 1960). No other translator of Shakespeare making their debut at that time had their work in so many editions and reissues. The translation was published most recently in 1999. The translation has also had success in the theatre: by the end of the twentieth century, it had been staged nearly forty times and filmed twice for Polish television. There has been one production this century, using Dygat’s text as part of a compilation of translations.