I'm planning on reading the Brothers Karamazov soon. Which translation or version would you recommend? I speak english, german and polish fluently. Which one is the closest to the original or simply superior to the others? Thanks in advance Veeky Forums.
>inb4 HURRRRR DURR LURN RUSSIAN
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OP here. Is there maybe a consensus on russian literature in general? e.g. always english over german? also bump i guess
...
Avsey for English
Polish.l
Some recommendations for English translations:
* If you are looking for a translation that reads like something from the time period (i.e., with something of a 'vintage' or 'Victorian' vibe), Ralph Matlaw's revision of Constance Garnett is a good choice;
* David Magarshack's, another older translation, is also good for similar reasons;
* Andrew MacAndrew's is faithful to the spirit of the work while being somewhat more loose;
* David McDuff's is a good choice among the more recent translations;
* and Ignat Avsey's (with the superior title The Karamazov Brothers) is the other. (One thing I like about Avsey is that he translated Dostoyevsky exclusively and so, I think, was tuned in more closely to Dostoyevsky's particular voice.)
How the fuck is this thread created every single day?
I've only been here for like a week and I swear it's the same 4-5 threads that get made over and over.
Polish since it's a slavish language.
I know. I am sick of these Russian translation threads.
PEVEAR & VOLOHONSKY ALL DAY SENPAI
OP here.
Forgive me I'm not from here so i wouldn't know. I lurked for a couple hours but couldn't find anything.
>inb4 gb2 As for everyone else i really appreciate the help.
Especially
>Pevear & Volokhonsky
Don't read their work, OP. They've been heavily marketed, but their methodology (and output) is seriously flawed, despite (really because of) the seeming advantage of having two people. First, Volokhonsky, not a native speaker of English, makes a crude and wooden gloss into English; then Pevear, who proudly has avoided fluency in Russian, makes it grammatical. Among other things, they often murder Russian idioms by doing this, and their wording is often really stiff and stilted.
Don't read it, senpai. It's one of the most overrated books ever - I cannot understand why it is loved so much here in Veeky Forums. Most of the characters are fucking annoying psychopathic puppets (yeah, puppets coz their only purpose is to represent a certain idea) whose characteristics and actions are simply unbelievable + no one in this goddamn book can say an average sentence: they burst in tears, scream in anguish, etc. in every second page. In addition to these, the book is terribly overwritten and the great parts cannot outweigh the dullness and banality of the rest.
OP reporting in
thank you. I'll probably opt out for Garnett since it's also one of the cheapest.
Although i respect your opinion, i feel like i just have to see for myself. I've heard dosto is a bit overly dramatic but i can see myself liking that actually. It's just about 800 pages so it won't take me that long to read it anyway. Have you read a Hero of our time by any chance?
What have you read of Russian lit in general and Dostoyevsky in particular, OP? There's a little bit of a learning curve with names in Russian lit, since a) they're not familiar for a non-Slavic speaking reader and b) characters have numerous ways of addressing each other based on nicknames, patronymics (like a middle name, based on the father's first name), formal/informal relationship, and so on. Maybe your Polish will be to your advantage with this though. Also, Karamazov is not an overly difficult read, just on the long side, and anything else by him, good as it is, can be an anticlimax in comparison. Whatever the case, hope you enjoy it.
I've read most of Dostoevsky's works with Garnett's translations and I've enjoyed all of them. I'd recommend her.
I haven't read that Lermontov book yet, but it's on my list. Why do you ask?
I would assume Polish is the closest followed by German.
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky without any doubt
>de.m.wikipedia.org
As recommended by the raucous russian slavic studies prof who once gave a course at my comfy eastern german uni. Made myself drop out before finishing his lectures, unfortunately
>Dont know russian in 2016
see