Tag: Russian

There are five in-print translations of Demons, seven in total.

1. 1914 – Constance Garnett (various publishers)
2. 1953 – David Magarshack (Penguin)
3. 1962 – Andrew R. MacAndrew (Signet)
4. 1992 – Michael R. Katz (Oxford)
5. 1994 – Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Everyman’s Library, Vintage)
6. 2008 – Robert A. Maguire (Penguin)
7. 2017 – Roger Cockrell (Alma)

It took a while to figure out how many there were because they’re not all called Demons. Why not?

Continue reading What’s the best translation of Demons (aka Devils aka The Possessed)?

These are the English translations of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita:

1. 1967 – Mirra Ginsburg
2. 1967 – Michael Glenny
3. 1993 – Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O’Connor
4. 1997 – Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
5. 2006 – Michael Karpelson (out of print)
6. 2008 – Hugh Aplin

It’s a short list compared to, like Don Quixote, which has like 20. I thought, aha, there are only six this time, so the research on this one should go pretty fast.

Well, yes; but actually, no.

I got tangled up in two related questions about the origins of the book:

• Was Bulgakov’s draft of The Master and Margarita complete?
• Are all the English translations of The Master and Margarita complete?

I didn’t want to stuff what turned out to be ~1500 words into the beginning of my post at We Love Translations. That post is about choosing which English translation to read.

» What’s the best translation of The Master and Margarita?

THIS post is about the answers to those two preliminary questions.

Continue reading What’s the best translation of The Master and Margarita?

There are three public-domain translations, two out-of-print translations, and six modern translations available.

1. 1887 – Fredrick Whishaw
2. 1913 – Constance Garnett
3. 1915 – Eva Martin
4. 1955 – David Magarshack
5. 1965 – John W. Strahan
6. 1980 – Henry Carlisle and Olga Andreyeva Carlisle (Signet)
7. 1992 – Alan Myers (Oxford)
8. 2002 – Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Vintage/Everyman)
9. 2003 – Constance Garnett revised by Anna Brailovsky (Modern Library)
10. 2004 – David McDuff (Penguin)
11. 2010 – Ignat Avsey (Alma)

Since I’ve now investigated five different Russian Classics in total, the translators’ names are somewhat familiar…

• Garnett and Pevear and Volokhonsky translated all four of the others (War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov).
• Magarshack did Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, and Brothers Karamazov, but not War and Peace.
• McDuff did Crime and Punishment and Brothers Karamazov.
• Avsey did Brothers Karamazov.
• Whishaw did Crime and Punishment.

Garnett’s translations, in their time, were groundbreaking; though some say they’re out of date, updated versions exist alongside the originals. Meanwhile, Pevear and Volokhonsky have taken the world by storm, leaving other recent translations standing in their shadow. Which one is really “best” depends on what you’re looking for, though.

For cover images, sample extracts for comparison, ISBNs, pagecounts, and links to relevant articles, visit We Love Translations: World Literature in English.

What’s the best translation of The Idiot?

Is this just another chapter in the ongoing Garnett vs. Pevear & Volokhonsky debate? Well, there are three other in-print translations of The Brothers Karamazov.

The MacAndrew translation is thought to be too loose, and the McDuff translation is even more literal than the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation, which makes it even harder to read. The Avsey translation appeals to some, but he’s also on the loose end of the spectrum, having gone so far as to change the title to “The Karamazov Brothers” to make it sound more idiomatic in English.

To read about these translations, and the ones that are now out of print, visit We Love Translations: World Literature in English, where you will also find cover images, extracts for comparison, ISBNs, and pagecounts.

» What’s the best translation of The Brothers Karamazov?

🙂