Jerzy Stanisław Sito

Jerzy S. Sito (1934–2011) was a poet, playwright and author. He translated eleven Shakespeare plays: Juliusz Cezar (1967), Hamlet (1968), Ryszard III (1971), Poskromienie złośnicy (The Taming of the Shrew, 1972), Makbet (1972), Romeo i Julia (1975), Burza (The Tempest, 1976), Koriolan (1979), Otello (1985), Wieczór Trzech Króli (Twelfth Night, 2002) and Król Lear (King Lear, 2004). Some of them – Hamlet, Ryszard III and Romeo i Julia, for example – have been staged multiple times by the leading lights of Polish theatre. His vivid and innovative approach to translation and his essays on the subject exerted a powerful influence on the post-war reception of Shakespeare.

He studied engineering at the Hammersmith School of Building and took courses at the School of Arts and Crafts in London. In Poland from 1959 onwards, he wrote poetry and plays, including The Passion of Doctor Faust (Pasja doktora Fausta, 1971), its sequel The Damnation of Doctor Faust (Potępienie doktora Fausta, 1972), and Listen, Israel! (Słuchaj, Izrealu!, 1989). He translated works by John Keats and Christopher Marlowe. In 1968 he was awarded the Roy Publishers Prize in New York for his translations. In 1978 he won the Polish PEN Club prize.

Sito explained his approach to translation at length, discussing it in terms of its interplay with the established literary tradition, the relationship between the plays and the stage, and new ways of writing poetry. His essays as a translator were acts of self-expression that went beyond the function of commentary to give the translations new meaning. In this way, the field of Shakespeare translation became an arena for the negotiation of universal literary values, and the translator became a key figure in the cultural conversation, making the initial selection of new material.

Sito’s trademarks were modernisation and a radical disjunction with the norms of Polish translation practice, as he replaced the eleven-syllable line with free verse to deploy lines of irregular length.

Sito’s translations were the first to dominate the Polish stage so soon after their composition, typically before they were published. This unprecedented phenomenon demonstrated the split between the traditional publication practices and the reception on stage, the impact of which – thanks to nationwide press and television – went beyond local theatres. Sito’s translations were staged in nearly seventy different productions in total, nearly half of which took place between 1966 and 1972. The translations met with severe criticisms from other translators. Sito himself passed no comment on the work of his peers.

Over the decades Sito’s work has appeared in the State Publishing Institute (PIW) series. In the twenty-first century eight of them have appeared in a series dedicated to Sito.