This paper will present details of a project (a grant proposal submitted to the Polish Ministry of Science) whose overall aim is effective and long-lasting promotion and popularization of William Blake in Poland. A large part of this project is a translation of the complete works of Blake into the Polish language and their publication in the form of a critical edition in four volumes: I will describe the conception of each of the volumes (including the visual component), the character and range of the editorial apparatus and critical commentary, as well as the logic and dynamics of the publication process. Other important elements of this project include: a) the creation of an interactive web-page, which will offer, among other things, glimpses of the translatorial work in progress and the translators’ commentary, but is also meant to become a platform of communication and exchange of ideas with our future readers; b) setting to music a selection of Polish translations (these will be the first ever attempts to sing Polish Blake/Blake in Polish): I will talk about the process of transforming a poetic translation into a translated lyric as well as, more generally, about the promotional role of music in this project (for example, how it may support the process of the publication of each of the four volumes); c) the organization of a Polish-language transdisciplinary conference, featuring, among other people, Polish artists whose works have been inspired by Blake (including Olga Tokarczuk and the film director Agnieszka Holland); d) the organization of an English-language conference Translating Blake: my presentation of the idea and range of this conference (co-organized by Sibylle Erle) will be simultaneously an invitation to this event, which may perhaps be of interest to a number of participants of Global Blake: Afterlives in Art, Literature and Music.
Eliza Borkowska (https://www.elizaborkowska.com/), Associate Professor of Literature at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw; the author of But He Talked of the Temple of Man’s Body: Blake’s Revelation Un-Locked (CSP 2009) and two monographs on Wordsworth published simultaneously in 2020 by Routledge; contributor to Bloomsbury’s The Reception of William Blake in Europe (2019); co-translator of Blake’s Jerusalem into Polish.