SOURCE: A review of “The Survivor” and Other Poems, in World Literature Today, Vol. 51, No. 3, Summer, 1977, p. 465.

In the following review, Czerwinski takes issue with some of the translations in Różewicz's “The Survivor” and Other Poems.

The best way to judge whether Tadeusz Różewicz is a fine poet is to learn Polish. There is no second way. A translator is worse than a jealous suitor: he despises his rivals. He tries to be objective, but he is constantly being infected with “translatoritis”—a sickness involving choice of words and, in some cases, choice of poems. Regarding the latter, for example, this anthology [“The Survivor” and Other Poems] includes one of Różewicz's best poems, “A Tree,” but Kryński and Maguire chose not to make a poem of it. They have translated it word for word, leaving out rhyme, subtlety and meaning. No attempt was made...