I read the Garnett translation. I was happy with it, to the extent that “happy” is the right word to describe the experience of reading what I found to be a depressing novel.
What is the BEST translation of Crime and Punishment?
I did some research on the available translations, which I have presented in a long, illustrated post on my other website, We Love Translations, called “Which translation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment should I read?”
That post compares in-print translations. I count seven in-print translations of thirteen total, listed here:
| # | Translator | Year | Publisher |
| Frederick Whishaw | 1885 | ||
| 1. | Constance Garnett | 1914 | Heinemann |
| David Magarshack | 1951 | Penguin | |
| Princess Alexandra Kropotkin | 1953 | ||
| Jessie Coulson | 1953 | Norton | |
| Michael Scammell | 1963 | Washington Square | |
| 2. | Sidney Monas | 1968 | Signet |
| Julius Katzer | 1985 | Raduga | |
| 3. | David McDuff | 1991 | Viking |
| 4. | Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky | 1992 | Knopf |
| 5. | Oliver Ready | 2014 | Penguin |
| 6. | Nicolas Pasternak Slater | 2017 | Oxford |
| 7. | Michael R. Katz | 2018 | Liveright (Norton) |
I recommend the Garnett translation of Crime and Punishment.
Buy Garnett / Wordsworth paperback from Amazon
Buy Garnett / Wordsworth ebook from Amazon
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