Translating the Impossible: Ursula Phillips on Ice by Jacek Dukaj
A podcast with translator Ursula Phillips
In this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori Feathers is joined by translator Ursula Phillips to discuss her extraordinary translation of Ice, the monumental, genre-defying novel by Polish author Jacek Dukaj.
Clocking in at nearly 1,200 pages, Ice is both an alternate-history epic and a philosophical meditation on truth, language, power, and perception. Phillips guides us through the novel’s vast imaginative scope—from its reimagining of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century, and its complex political, religious, and commercial entanglements in a world frozen by ice, to the deeply personal story of its hero, the Polish mathematician Benedykt Gierosławski, who travels to Siberia in search of his exiled father. Along the way, Phillips offers insight into the intellectual and technical challenges of translating such a singular work.
This conversation moves fluidly between plot, prose, and process, exploring how Ice engages with 19th-century novelistic traditions while pushing the boundaries of science fiction, historical fiction, and metaphysical inquiry. Phillips also reflects on narrative voice, linguistic instability, and the role of the translator as both craftsman and interpreter.
What We Discuss in This Episode
An overview of Ice’s alternate-history premise and frozen world after the Impact
The novel’s protagonist, Benedykt Gierosławski, and his search for his exiled father, who has become a cult figure in the Land of Winter
Political theories, religious movements, and commercial interests shaped by the Ice
The historical and speculative roles that the Russian Empire and the Trans-Siberian Railway serve in the novel’s plot.
The unusual shifts in narrative voice and perspective and how this is executed. The translator’s postscript and the philosophical problems of language and meaning
The technical and conceptual challenges of translating a 1,200-page novel
Dukaj’s lush, sensory language
Connections to Kafka, Dostoevsky, and the 19th-century “big novel” tradition
Recommendations on other Polish literature for readers to explore
Notable Moment
Lori reads a striking passage describing Benedykt’s first experience wearing frosto-glaze glasses—a scene that transforms the world into a riot of color and movement, highlighting the novel’s extraordinary visual imagination and the precision of Phillips’s translation.
About the Guest
Ursula Phillips is an acclaimed literary translator specializing in Polish literature. Her translation of Ice has been widely praised for preserving the novel’s philosophical depth, linguistic complexity, and stylistic ambition.
About the Book
Ice by Jacek Dukaj is an alternate-history novel set in a world reshaped by a mysterious climate-altering event. Blending science fiction, political theory, metaphysics, and historical fiction, the novel interrogates how truth, logic, and power shift under radically altered conditions.
Listener Tip
Ice includes a Glossary and Dramatis Personae to help readers navigate its neologisms and cast of characters.
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Lori, this is a fascinating interview with the translator of Ice that opens up the strangeness of the book in an enticing way. Ursula Phillips is clearly so intelligent and sophisticated, as is her interviewer, and it’s a simple pleasure to hear such a conversation about a literary work. Though I am truly daunted by the length, I may have to try this novel.