Problems with the editions of Aria z kurantem

Abstract

The article Problems with the editions of “Aria z kurantem” presents a description of three editions of emigratory volume by Jan Lechoń. The author versologically analyses the first edition of Aria z kurantem, published in 1945 in New York, considering also the Warsaw edition from 1987 and the Toruń edition from 1995. The first, which was the only foreign edition, appeared to be imperfect, full of mistakes and editorial lapses. Prepared with less perceptiveness and accuracy, it laid the foundation for Lechoń’s work to be re-release and corrected both abroad and in the country. Emendations introduced by other publishers contributed to the form of the work that reflected Stefanowicz’s intention as faithfully as possible. The author notices that inflection and orthography were modernized, unnecessary light between words was eliminated, graphic signs of the apostrophe were normalized from straight to typographic, with the exception of removing the shortcomings, and other lapses were introduced. Changes included (and added in the appendix to the article) in the discussed editions present remarkable vigilance of Warsaw and Toruń editors who strove for preserving the “music of sound combination” in Aria z kurantem by keeping syllabic and rhythmic order of the works. It does not deny the fact that some words in lyric poetry were changed without indicating the motivation of such an action, which is described by the author as acting according to the publishers’ sense of language. Furthermore, the appendix enabled the preparation of detailed percentage statistics thanks to which the reader finds out that modifications in the three discussed editions embraced 43% of all lines and knows the accurate number of changes. The average frequency reveals the scale of the problem and proves that contemporary interest in Lechoń’s poetry is not fading.