Pan Tadeusz (English and Polish Edition)

You'll find here a poetic rendition of Mickiewicz's brilliant epic poem about Polish life in the days of the nobles and the gentry. To retain the poetic form, the translator did not do a word-for-word translation, but he renders the spirit of the original, and offers helpful explanatory notes. The book is useful for reading the English version, as well as for help in translating the Polish.

My Mother was born in the USA when her parents fled Poland when WWI threatened. At 6 years of age they returned to Poland where she went to school. Recalling this book from her childhood, I bought it for her. She was thrilled and reread it before she died bringing back happy childhood memories.

The condition was rated as "good" and I would indeed say that was the truth upon receiving this book. Arrived very quickly, in about half the estimated shipping time, so thank you. Highly recommended. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this one, as the poetic translation into English seemed to be well done.

My girlfriend is polish, I purchased this book after she mentioned it. It reminds her of Poland and growing up, she loves the poetry, I can't read polish but I think it's a great book because it makes the woman I love smile.

I had read Pan Thadeusz a couple of years ago and i was pleased to find an edition with the English translation next to the Polish. Adam Micckiewicz's writing is timeless.

This is one of the great literary works in the Polish language with an excellent translation. It gives a detailed picture of life in Poland in the early 19th century.

I loved it.

As the blurb says, "Pan Tadeusz" is Poland's best known literary work; itenjoys iconic status in Poland and is a monument of European literatureas well. The Polish language text is subtle and varied and in places rises to great heights of eloquence and descriptive beauty. The blurb notes that Mackenzie's parallel version is widely regarded as the best of the three available in English. That said, while it keeps quite close to the original,it is not a literal translation, but a "poetic" version in rhymed couplets. It is consequently not a reliable "crib". Rhymed couplets work well in Polish because the grammatical inflexions make for a multiplicity of rhymes. This is much more difficult with English, especially in a long poem. Pope's "Iliad" is an exception which proves the rule. Mr Mackenzie is no Pope: An example taken at random from page 82 illustrates the problem: "But where she had been standing, he discerned/The little willow basket, overturned/And empty, which still poised upon the leaves/E'en now upon a sea of verdure heaves". An earnest effort, but the last line is a real plonker, and not untypical. Better to provide a stylish word for word prose version alongside, on the lines of Robert Fagles' translations of Homer. But Hippocrene are to be congratulated on their effort.

What a gem! Extraordinary well translated! Very difficult book to translate, don't think anybody before achieved this level of perfection and accuracy, while keeping the rhyme and rhythm of the original text. I was extremely impressed and can recommend it to everybody with passion for Polish classics.

As I read my BA in Kraków for three years, "Pan Tadeusz" was a literary delight to discover whilst there. This is a wonderful volume, consisting of English text to the left page and Polish text to the right page, with both being quite readable.

What a book! This translation is absolutely fantastic and the story and characters are completely compelling and enthralling. A wonderful work and a marvelous edition

Absolutely perfect conditions; and the best translation so far. Also the shipping time was very fast for me that I live in italy