Best Dostoevsky Translations into English

[mn dave]

Lay 'em on me. 

[mn dave]

Really?

[Brian]

Lots and lots of folks love Pevear & Volokhonsky. I recently read their Crime & Punishment and it was terrific. I am currently midway through their Karamazov. Now, when I read Karamazov 5 years ago, the translator was Andrew MacAndrew (amazing name). I loved it that time, am barely slogging through this time. The question is, should we blame the translators, or should we blame me? I'm inclined to blame my own tastes changing, because now the endless digressions about schoolboys and monks irritate me. So, maybe, give P&V a pass. But see if MacAndrew is cheap.

[mn dave]

Thanks for the one and only reply, Brian.

I'll probably just take the cheapskates route and buy most of his stuff for iPad for a whopping $5.99.

[Brian]

Thanks for the one and only reply, Brian.

I'll probably just take the cheapskates route and buy most of his stuff for iPad for a whopping $5.99.

DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER

Most of the cheap stuff is translated by Constance Garnett. It really IS worth it to avoid her. She was an elegant Victorian lady, and she was very nice and well-meaning, but she was also scandalized by lots of things and scrubbed out vulgarities and sexytime shenanigans that offended her. She had further issue with Dostoevsky's bizarre verse, and freely rewrote sentences to make them sound like an elegant Victorian author's.

EDIT: Found this on Wikipedia: "In instances where she did not understand a word or phrase, she omitted that portion."

[Florestan]

DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER

Most of the cheap stuff is translated by Constance Garnett. It really IS worth it to avoid her. She was an elegant Victorian lady, and she was very nice and well-meaning, but she was also scandalized by lots of things and scrubbed out vulgarities and sexytime shenanigans that offended her. She had further issue with Dostoevsky's bizarre verse, and freely rewrote sentences to make them sound like an elegant Victorian author's.

EDIT: Found this on Wikipedia: "In instances where she did not understand a word or phrase, she omitted that portion."

A most blatant case of Traduttore, tradittore? 

[mn dave]

DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER

Most of the cheap stuff is translated by Constance Garnett. It really IS worth it to avoid her. She was an elegant Victorian lady, and she was very nice and well-meaning, but she was also scandalized by lots of things and scrubbed out vulgarities and sexytime shenanigans that offended her. She had further issue with Dostoevsky's bizarre verse, and freely rewrote sentences to make them sound like an elegant Victorian author's.

EDIT: Found this on Wikipedia: "In instances where she did not understand a word or phrase, she omitted that portion."

Oh yes, I've heard this. But people argue back and forth about this topic: who is best, and it really goes nowhere so it seems one is as good as another overall.

[Florestan]

Oh yes, I've heard this. But people argue back and forth about this topic: who is best, and it really goes nowhere so it seems one is as good as another overall.

I don't think so.

If this is true

EDIT: Found this on Wikipedia: "In instances where she did not understand a word or phrase, she omitted that portion."

then I would avoid it all costs.

[mn dave]

I don't think so.

If this is true

then I would avoid it all costs.

Yes, well, the others do things like try to modernize the language and thereby change the whole meaning of what is being said (so I've heard) so what's the difference? I'll never get the real story either way unless I learn Russian and at this point it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. If you can recommened English translations, that are not Crime and Punishment or Brothers Karamozov, please let me know.

[Florestan]

Yes, well, the others do things like try to modernize the language and thereby change the whole meaning of what is being said (so I've heard) so what's the difference?

Bottom line it's a trade off, I agree.

If you can recommened English translations, that are not Crime and Punishment or Brothers Karamozov, please let me know.

Unfortunately, I can. Have read them in Romanian only.

[mn dave]

Bottom line it's a trade off, I agree.

Unfortunately, I can. Have read them in Romanian only.

Knowing nothing...about the English translations, do you think the Romanian translations are better than the English?

[Florestan]

Knowing nothing, do you think the Romanian translations are better than the English?

I can only make an educated guess.

Given that (1) Romanians have had extensive, first-hand historical experience with Russians and their way of thinking and behaving and (2) Romanian language, albeit Latin through and through in the grammar and most of its vocabulary, has a fair share of Slavic loanwords, I'd say perhaps. Certainty, though, I have not. 

[Brian]

Yes, well, the others do things like try to modernize the language and thereby change the whole meaning of what is being said (so I've heard) so what's the difference? I'll never get the real story either way unless I learn Russian and at this point it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. If you can recommened English translations, that are not Crime and Punishment or Brothers Karamozov, please let me know.

FYI, Pevear & Volokhonsky (and MacAndrew) certainly do not sound "modernized" in the sense that, say, new evangelical Protestant Bibles sound modernized. I have had to run to the dictionary a few times.

By the way, this isn't Dostoevsky, but for a real feat of translating genius (I think...not knowing Russian but having read the translations and explanatory essays), try the New York Review of Books publishing house's three volumes of Andrey Platonov. Platonov was an anti-Stalinist dissident in the 30s who met an unhappy end (picked up tuberculosis when his son got back from a hard labor camp). Soul is full of powerful short stories but The Foundation Pit is a terrifying feverish nightmare, like 1984 but written by somebody who actually knew what it was like to be trapped inside.

[mn dave]

FYI, Pevear & Volokhonsky (and MacAndrew) certainly do not sound "modernized" in the sense that, say, new evangelical Protestant Bibles sound modernized. I have had to run to the dictionary a few times.

By the way, this isn't Dostoevsky, but for a real feat of translating genius (I think...not knowing Russian but having read the translations and explanatory essays), try the New York Review of Books publishing house's three volumes of Andrey Platonov. Platonov was an anti-Stalinist dissident in the 30s who met an unhappy end (picked up tuberculosis when his son got back from a hard labor camp). Soul is full of powerful short stories but The Foundation Pit is a terrifying feverish nightmare, like 1984 but written by somebody who actually knew what it was like to be trapped inside.

Sounds great. Thanks for the tip.

[Karl Henning]

Sorry not to have replied, laddie.  First week of choir, and all

[mn dave]

Sorry not to have replied, laddie.  First week of choir, and all

This thread will be here when you're ready.

[Karl Henning]

I like the easy nature of our friendship. It's a beautiful thing . . . .

[mn dave]

I like the easy nature of our friendship. It's a beautiful thing . . . .

Thank you. I'm all about easy, not edgy. 

[milk]

Lots and lots of folks love Pevear & Volokhonsky. I recently read their Crime & Punishment and it was terrific. I am currently midway through their Karamazov. Now, when I read Karamazov 5 years ago, the translator was Andrew MacAndrew (amazing name). I loved it that time, am barely slogging through this time. The question is, should we blame the translators, or should we blame me? I'm inclined to blame my own tastes changing, because now the endless digressions about schoolboys and monks irritate me. So, maybe, give P&V a pass. But see if MacAndrew is cheap.

I have a bunch of their stuff but I haven't built up the motivation to reread the Russians. I think I have their War and Peace as well as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers. Gosh...Maybe I should go with a reread of Crime.

[DavidW]

Sounds great. Thanks for the tip.

Glad you came round.  Brian speaks the truth.  P&V in Tolstoy is closest to authentic.  Early 20th century translators: Maude, Garnett etc deliberately go for elegance.  Those earlier translations sound more modern than P&V.  The newer translations are more rough-hewn and closer to how it should sound.  The strange, awkward way that Tolstoy assembles sentences makes it more difficult to appreciate P&V, but with Dostoevsky it is a no brainer.  The words just leap off of the page in their translations.  I recently picked up their translation of the Brothers Karamazov and look forward to rereading.  I liked their translation of Devils (but I don't personally like that novel).