Andrzej Tretiak

Andrzej Tretiak (1886–1944) was one of the first Polish professors of English Literature. He published two translations: Hamlet (1922) and Król Lear (King Lear, 1923). Both plays, in editions prepared by the translator, initiated the new National Library series, which later featured three plays edited by Tretiak, but translated by other people.

He studied Polish, German and English Literature at the Jagiellonian University. In 1909 he completed a doctoral thesis about hapax legomena in Shakespeare. It was the first Polish PhD on English Literature. In 1922 Tretiak took the chair in English Philology at the University of Warsaw.

He wrote lots of essays and introductions about English literature, and translated a good deal too. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he became involved in resistance activities, In April 1944 he was arrested and incarcerated in Warsaw’s Pawiak prison. He was executed in the first days of the Warsaw Uprising.

Tretiak was the first translator of Shakespeare who earned his academic degrees in English Renaissance literature. He carried out his work in the spirit of pre-war philology, meeting the needs of the solitary reader with footnotes. His translations were not destined for the stage, but they opened up new possibilities for the theatre, preparing the audience to appreciate Shakespeare’s plays in greater depth. As a rule, Tretiak tried to use iambic pentameter in his translations, with occasional eleven-syllable lines woven in.

Tretiak’s first translations, the inaugural volumes in the series, were reviewed favourably, with special attention placed on the value of the critical commentary. In later years they came to be described as philological and unsuitable for the stage. There are no records of any of these translations being performed. Tretiak’s work, however, filled a significant gap in contemporary Shakespeare studies in Poland. His works of literary criticism received attention, as did his views on other translations. The Institute of English Studies at Warsaw University cherishes the memory of Andrzej Tretiak.