Polish Translation of „Tragedy on Mass” (1560) by Bernardino Ochino: Literary and Theological Contexts for the Critical Edition of the Text

Bernardino Ochino’s Tragedy on Mass translated into Polish and printed in 1560 is a starting point for my research on the vernacular communication in the religious controversies driven by the Reformation in the sixteenth-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The critical edition of the text, accompanied by a detailed commentary, is a core part of my doctoral dissertation.

Ochino’s piece was originally a part of the sermon collection yet in the Polish edition it appeared as an allegorical dialogue. It was achieved both by the elaboration of the literary piece itself as well as highlighted by the typographical organisation of the printed text. My goal is to recognize what tradition might have been the background of such a transformation. Thus, I am exploring the early modern dialogues as a literary genre particularly fitted to convey controversial contents, the nature of theological reflection mostly expressed with that genre, and layout of the printed dialogues in terms of their materiality shaping the reading experience and programming the reception of ideas.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4291-886X

Academia.edu: https://uw.academia.edu/wkordyzon