Maria Feldman pseudonym "Maria Kreczowska"- (06.01.1874, Brzostek - 18.12.1953, Kraków) - a translator of literature from English, German, and French, editor, publicist, wife of Wilhelm Feldman.
Maria Feldman was born on 06.01.1874 in Brzostek, as Maria Kleinman in the family of Salomea (née Spett) and Maurycy Kleinman, described in records as the owner of land in Zwierzyniec. She had a sister, Helena (born ca. 1880)[1.1], who became a doctor (specialising in paediatrics), and married Marian Sokołowski, a military doctor. They had a son named Stefan Adam Sokołowski (1913-1984), a renowned laryngologist[1.2].
During her youth, Maria lived in Przemyśl and rubbed shoulders with Polish-Jewish intelligentsia. In the 1890s she began her cooperation with "Izraelita", a Polish-Jewish periodical published in Warsaw, which lasted several years. During this decade, she also began her first translation work. Her debut was a Polish translation of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, published in Vienna around 1890[1.3].
She met her future husband, Wilhelm Feldman, in 1897 precisely at the reading room, as he came to the institution several times with readings. They married in Przemyśl on 31 July 1898[1.4]. I
n this town, on 1 July 1899, their son Józef was born, later a respected historian related to the Jagiellonian University (d. 1946). They had no more children[1.5]. Around 1901, the Feldmans moved to Kraków. Maria’s friend from her youth, the lawyer Herman Liberman, confessed that her expected departure from Przemyśl "will leave a gap which no one will fill", and in the same letter he characterised the addressee as follows:
"You, with your sincerity, with your seriousness, and with all that strangely endearing nature that breathed idealism, a subtle sort of platonism in understanding the world with contempt for what is shallow"[1.6].
Translation work constituted Maria Feldman's main occupation. As Ewa Rajewska noted, she is one of the few women who can be called professional translators in the first half of the 20th century[1.7]. Maria Feldman translated from English, German, and French, as well as Danish and Norwegian, the latter two the least frequently and probably through German[1.8].
She has translated into Polish the works of the following authors (in alphabetical order), A. Adler, J. Andrews, M. Arlen, J. Bojer, W. Bonsels, J. Burckardt, T. H. Caine, A. J. Cronin, Ch. Dickens, D. Defoe, E. D. Dekker, R. W. Emerson, P. H. Gibbs, J. and W. Grimm, A. Guenther, F. Hackett, T. Hardy, W. Hauff, H. Ibsen, M. Jacobs, J. V. Jensen, M. Jelusich, A. Kielland, R. Kipling, W. E. H. Lecky, O. S. Marden, G. de Maupassant, K. Michaëlis, E. Meder, J. Monty, W. Morris, E. Nestonoff, M. Ostenso, F. Roosevelt, J. Ruskin, R. Saitschick, de Ségur, E. Smith, M. Twain, E. Wallace, J. Wassermann, C. E. Weigall, O. Wilde, E. L. Voynich, and I. Zangwill[1.9]
Maria Feldman was a highly respected and well-known translator. Some of her translations have been reprinted several times and even function on the publishing market today, like for example, the translations of texts by Oscar Wilde. However, it has been pointed out that her translations do not always correspond to contemporary standards, where more attention is paid to the style of the original (Jakub Głuszak discussing one of her translations described it as "aged")[1.10].
Her translating talent was recognised by Ethel Lilian Voynich, a British writer and Slavist, whose works were translated by Feldman. Voynich, who knows Polish, wrote to her:
"For the first time, reading a translation of one of my books, I feel that I have a translator who is not only serious about her work (...) but, apart from that, understands what I wanted to say"[1.11].
At the same time, she sometimes encountered criticism, so for example, in the periodical "Myśl Narodowa", associated with the National Democrats, she was accused of making mistakes, omitting passages, and her translation being "irritating with clumsy Polish"[1.12].
Maria Feldman's second area of professional activity consisted in editorial work. She was involved with the monthly magazine "Krytyka", the leading socio-cultural periodical of the time, of which her husband was editor-in-chief. Maria did not hold an official position in the editorial office (unofficially she ran the secretariat), but it is assumed that the periodical's success was their joint work[1.13]. She was the editor and publisher of the Kraków-based journal "Idea. Miesięcznik niezależny poświęcony życiu społecznemu" (in 1909 the subtitle changed to "Mięsięcznik artystyczno-literacki") which was published from January 1908 to March 1909. From January 1909, her husband Wilhelm Feldman was designated as editor. It can be assumed that the periodical constituted their joint venture[1.14].
The third area consisted of journalistic activity - Maria Feldman published, among other things, reviews and discussions concerning literary texts, short articles, e.g. in "Krytyka", "Izraelita", "Dziennik Polski" (published in Michigan)[1.15]. When signing her texts and translations she used the following pseudonyms and code names: Maria Kreczowska, Eliza Warzycka, F., m.f., Maria F.; in her maiden days she also signed herself as Mar. Kl. or using her full name[1.16]. Her legacy of approximately 400 letters shows her extensive professional and social contacts. She corresponded, for example, with A. Bruckner, S. Lam, S. Przybyszewski, L. Staff, S. Żeromski. The latter, wanting to deepen his knowledge of English, sought, among other things, her advice on which socio-literary magazine was worth subscribing to[1.17].
After Wilhelm Feldman's death (1919), his legacy came under her care and she was essentially involved in its preservation until the end of her life. For example, having learned about the plans to publish Stanisław Przybyszewski's letters, she wrote to the volume's editor offering to provide her husband's correspondence[1.18]. She made efforts to reissue her husband's works[1.19], and above all immediately after his death to publish a volume dedicated to his memory.
This book, entitled The Memory of Wilhelm Feldman, was published in Kraków in 1922 and still constitutes one of the primary sources used in research into his work. She fought for his good name, through open letters[1.20]. Thanks to her, William's documents were included in the Ossolineum, where they were given (sold and donated) shortly before her death. In a book dedicated to Feldman's memory, she was characterised as "a woman endowed with extraordinary qualities of mind, with both a righteous and brave character, with a manly fortitude capable of facing adversity (....) her great intelligence and insight enabled her to feel, understand, and support all his [Feldman's] literary and journalistic works, her astute and profound judgment of people and relations was often helpful to him, and above all her self-sacrificing devotion to the affairs of his life, sharing his plight without a murmur[1.21].
She lived at 5 Staszica Street in Kraków. During the Second World War, she stayed in this flat with her son's mother-in-law, Skowrońska. The historian KrystynaŚreniowska, who used to visit her, recalled that Maria Feldman
"was an extraordinary woman. The moments of meeting this person (...) in her flat, full of memorabilia of Wyspiański and others, are unforgettable"[1.22].
After Józef's death (1946), she founded a scholarship in his name for outstandingly talented students of the Warsaw and Jagiellonian Universities[1.23]. She was a member of the Kraków branch of the Polish Writers' Union[1.24].
Maria Feldman died in Kraków on 18.12.1953 after a long illness. She was buried as a Catholic (however, we do not know when she converted) at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków in a family tomb where her husband and son also lie (the tombstone, located in section 33 II, has survived). Her legacy is kept mainly at the Ossolineum in Wrocław (especially a large collection of correspondence addressed to her; towards the end of her life she ordered it herself and annotated some of her letters), as well as in the form of individual documents at the National Library, the Jagiellonian Library, and the Library of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Lviv (here her letters to Ostap Ortwin)[1.25].
Obituary of Maria Feldman from the collections of the Jagiellonian Library
in Kraków (ref. no. BJ DŻS XXI Fa-Fił 83).
dr Alicja Maślak-Maciejewska
References:
- Bibliografia Polska 1901-1939, vol. VII, eds. G. Fedorowicz, I. Maziarz, E. Sterzycka, Warsaw 2006.
- Feldmanowa Maria, in: "Bibliografia literatury polskiej >Nowy Korbut<. Literatura pozytywizmu i Młodej Polski", developed by a team managed by Z.Szweykowski, J. Maciejewski, Warsaw 1982, vol. 16, pp. 398-400.
- Kitlasz A., Feldmanowa Maria, [in:] "Tłumacze arcydzieł literatury odrodzonej Rzeczpospolitej. Cyfrowy słownik biobliograficzny" [online] https://slownik.nplp.pl/people/393 [accessed on: 22.07.2024].
- Pamięci Wilhelma Feldmana, Kraków 1922.
- Pudłocki T., W rywalizacji z Atenami galicyjskimi – Czytelnia Naukowa w Przemyślu, "Studia Historyczne" annual 54: 2011, issues 3-4,
- Rajewska E., Polish Women Translators in the Twentieth Century, in: New Perspectives on Gender and Translation: New Voices for Transnational Dialogues, Eleonora Federici, New York 2022, p. 82.
The biography was created as part of the project "Polskie Żydówki dla Niepodległej" (Polish Jewish Women for the Independent), implemented with a grant from the Totalizator Sportowy Foundation.
- [1.1] Wielka Genealogia Minakowskiego.
- [1.2] Zabłocki S., Tworzyli polską laryngologię. Stefan Adam Sokołowski (1913-1984), "Magazyn Otorynolaryngologiczny", 2014, issue 2, pp. 53-54.
- [1.3] Kitlasz A., Feldmanowa Maria [online] [[refr:|Pudłocki T., W rywalizacji z Atenami galicyjskimi – Czytelnia Naukowa w Przemyślu, "Studia Historyczne" annual 54: 2011, issues. 3-4, pp. 294, 300.
- [1.4] State Archives in Przemyśl, Book of Marriages of the Jewish Community in Przemyśl, vol. XXI, p. 113, item 60: ANK, Civil status records of the Israelite Metrical District in Kraków, Birth register of 1903, item 427, 428.
- [1.5] 3 VI 1903, they had stillborn twins, ANK, Civil Status Records of the Israelite Metrical District in Kraków, Birth Register 1903, item 427, 428.
- [1.6] Oss. 12419/III, k. 305.
- [1.7] Rajewska E., Polish Women Translators in the Twentieth Century, in: New Perspectives on Gender and Translation: New Voices for Transnational Dialogues, ed. Eleonora Federici, New York 2022, p. 82.
- [1.8] Kitlasz A., Feldmanowa Maria [online] [[refr:|Głuszak J., Postarzałe przekłady – o niedostatkach istniejących tłumaczeń historii The cat that walked by himself Rudyarda Kiplinga, "Przekładaniec. Półrocznik Katedry Unesco do Badań nad Przekładem i komunikacją międzykulturową UJ", 2/2009-1/2010, No. 22-23, p. 192.
- [1.9] A bibliography of her translations has appeared in the Bibliography of Polish Literature "Nowy Korbut" as well as, a broader and covering translations up to modern times, in "Słownik Tłumaczy" [online] https://slownik.nplp.pl/people/393,[accessed on: 22.07.2024].
- [1.10] Głuszak J., Postarzałe przekłady – o niedostatkach istniejących tłumaczeń historii The cat that walked by himself Rudyarda Kiplinga, "Przekładaniec. Półrocznik Katedry Unesco do Badań nad Przekładem i komunikacją międzykulturową UJ", 2/2009-1/2010, No. 22-23, p. 192.
- [1.11] Oss. 12419/III, k. 395.
- [1.12] "Myśl Narodowa", 1935, No. 20, p. 317.
- [1.13] Pamięci Wilhelma Feldmana, Kraków 1922, p. 21.
- [1.14] Jakubek M., Prasa krakowska 1795-1918. Bibliografia, Kraków 2004, p. 105.
- [1.15] Oss. 12419/III, k. 203.
- [1.16] Słownik pseudonimów pisarzy polskich, Ossolineum 1995, vol. IV p. 159.
- [1.17] Oss. 12287/III, k. 258.
- [1.18] Correspondence of Stanisław Helsztyński from 1917-1939, Oss. 13055/II.
- [1.19] Feldman M., List otwarty do p. dra Ozjasza Thona, [in:] "Nowa Reforma" 1928, No. 58, p. 2. The letter was signed "Wilhelmowa Feldmanowa".
- [1.20] Oss. 12419/III, k. 261.
- [1.21] Pamięci Wilhelma Feldmana, Kraków 1922, p. 20.
- [1.22] Śreniowska K., Moje życie, eds. Jolanta Kolbuszewska, Rafał Stobiecki, Łódź 2018, pp. 82, 116.
- [1.23] The information comes from a forthcoming work by P. Biliński on Józef Feldman.
- [1.24] Pisarze ziemi krakowskiej. Informator, Kraków 1976, p. 239.
- [1.25] Czachowska J., Ostap Ortwin's Archive in Lviv, "Pamiętnik Literacki" vol. 98, 2007, issue 3. pp. 186-187.