Suspense, Surprise and Information Supply in Polish Translations of Detective Fiction

Robert Looby

Robert Looby The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities

Keywords: suspense; surprise; translation; detective fiction

Abstract

If the key to suspense and surprise is the careful dealing out and withholding of knowledge, how do translators and their readers deal with the tendency for translations to clarify texts? Sometimes this clarification is forced on translators by the nature of the target language. Polish, for example, must specify the gender of the subject in past tense singular constructions. The English author may not have wanted this information to be made clear. How do translators prevent their language and customs from forcing them to reveal too much? This article studies the problem of information supply in Polish translations of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald. It finds that in fact translators’ preconceived notions about the detective fiction are more likely to give the game away.

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