Dostoyevsky Translations Chart

well here it is.
I'm gonna make a separate post for each book to hopefully keep discussion more organized.

here's the PV explanation:
>Why not P&V?
The P&V methodology:
Larissa Volokhonsky, a Russian with weak English, transliterates the text into English word-for-word.
Richard Pevear, who does not speak Russian on a conversational level, polishes her English into something more readable, maintaining the "accuracy" of the transliteration.
The final product is an accurate transliteration of Dostoyevsky's words into English and is hailed by Russian linguists for its accuracy to the Russian language.
Unless you are a Russian academic you wil find that this methodology is stilted, awkward, and leaves much of Dostoyevsky's message lost between culture barriers.
Translators like Garnett, McDuff, and especially Ignat Avsey, make the effort to capture Dostoyevsky's message in a context that English speakers can easily understand, rebuilding his works from the ground up
in an effort to clarify and not simply regurgitate. Unfortunately there is no consistent edition that collects all four of Dostoyevsky's main novels with the ideal translators, unlike P&V's substantial marketing efforts.

Here's a chart of Veeky Forums approved editions to help guide your search.

(obviously this is all rough-draft and subject to change)

Brothers Karamazov

Norton Critical Editions 2nd Edition
Translated by Constance Garnett, edited and revised by Oddo
Garnett's renowned translation, edited and revised by Susan McReynolds Oddo
Most "literary" translation; the standard by which other translations are measured.
Annotated.

Oxford World's Classics
Translated by Ignat Avsey
Moving away from the "transliteration" school of thought, Avsey rewords Dostoyevsky's works into an English-speaking context
re-titled THe Karamazov Brothers, demonstrating Avsey's commitment to expressing the "spirit" of Dostoyevsky without compromising linguistic familiarity.

im gonna stop posting images for both because of post wait times

Crime and Punishment

Signet Classics
translated by Sidney Monas

Viking Adult
translated by David McDuff

(signet version is that red and black one)

The Idiot

Oneworld Classics
Translated by Ignat Avsey

Penguin Classics
Translated by David McDuff

Demons

Penguin Classics
translated by Robert Maguire

now i haven't read Demons, but i read a lot on translations of it and went with this one but i dont remember why, that was a long time ago. If anyone has a better version or a second to add to it, that would be great.

Notes from Underground

Penguin Classics
translated by Jesse Coulson


I read the PV translation of Notes and thought it was alright until someone here posted passages from their version(if i remember correctly it was Coulson's) and it just blew PV out of the water. But again, if anyone has a second alternative that would be great

here's that edition of C&P that i read and loved. I remember comparing it to Garnett's(and PV) and although her's flowed a bit better prosaically, it was pretty archaic in its diction. Monas also took a bit of an Avsey approach in his methods, the selling point for me was a line i compared in i think Part 2 Chapter 7? the part where Rodia leaves Sonia's home after her father dies and her little sister runs after him to thank him. Rodia asks her to pray for him tonight and it went something like

(Garnett)
>"I will pray for you all the rest of my life" she declared hotly
PV was something equally stilted in its use of adjectives, and Monas:
>"I will pray for you the rest of my life" she promised.

Monas ditched the whole adjective-affair in favor of a verb that, i think, is an indicator of his willingness to breach Dostoyevsky's words in favor of Dostoyevsky's message.

in case anyone was wondering what a mass-market paperback was doing in the group

so yeah. that's that.
subject's open for discussion.

good time for you Magarshack fans to convince us that you aren't contrarian asshats

lil bumperino for the chart-making homeboy

Quality post, thank you man.

I'm not sure what is contrarian about liking Magarshack. Do you mean liking him and disliking McDuff, Avsey, and so on? That would be contrarian I suppose. What I like about Magarshack is that he's something of an 'older' style like Garnett but he did a much better and more careful job. I would probably pick revised Garnett over him, but definitely him over her unrevised work.

avsey is GOAT

Literally nothing wrong with P&V. Try actually reading one of their translations before hating on them.

Quality post mate

>Karamazov
I would add Magarshack, MacAndrew, and McDuff among translations to be well regarded, the first for reasons I mention here , the second for what I say here , and the third as a good recent translation (alongside Avsey, who probably has the edge as exclusive translator of Dostoyevsky).
Also I'm curious about the Oddo revision that has (apprently) replaced the Ralph Matlaw revision of Garnett that Oxford World Classics has also published. Is Oddo demonstrably better than Matlaw? I really liked what he did, and I wonder about the reasoning behind the change.

>Notes from Underground
I will mention my litmus test for this one, which I often bring up for this title. The translator has to immediately make a very significant decision in translating the word злoй in the first sentence 'I am a _____ man'; the choice sets the tone for how the Underground Man is understood through the rest of the book. Dostoyevsky is dealing with him in psychological/societal terms, so something like 'spiteful' is far better than 'evil', which suggests a moral or religious tone. Most everyone besides P&V go in the direction of the former.

Quality post there, buddy.

the tl;dr is just learn russian?

pseud af

why are you making charts when

1. you obviously don't actually speak russian
2. you haven't even read all of these works, let alone all the translations
3. you just follow Veeky Forums memes

kill yourself my pseud friend.

Quality post here guys, I r8 8/8.

>its a P&V are shit let me shill crappy Penguin editions instead thread

they are fucking trash.

oliver ready for c&p
currently reading kyril zinovieff and jenny hughes for notes from underground

keep in mind, i have both P&V for both these: i abandoned P&V 300 pages in for ready and
finished notes from underground, but i'm re-reading it under alma classics

bumping this thread

i wont let this thread die, OP

This is really low effort, and it tries too hard to shill for shitty quality editions.

P&V are good. For TBK, McDuff is also a great translation.

I am not OP, but I don't know why I bother trying to help with things like this when there are always contrarians around here who criticize everything just for the sake of dragging everything down to their level.
Thank you OP for working on this and thanks to those providing a positive contribution

> ITT: A bunch of fat degenerates who have never read Dostoevsky attempt to ruin the only good thread on lit by regurgitating memes like the stupid pseuds they are.

Please go back to your meme threads.

i'm back. I'm surprised the chart guy hasn't dropped in yet. Anyways thanks for the bumps, friends. I can only do this at school because I don't have the internet at home

There's a couple guys that claim Magarshack as the best translator sometimes. Which would have been a solid claim decades ago, but newer translations and revisions have improved since then.

Contribute or shut up. I never said P&V were bad translations, I said they were awkward and stilted in comparison, which they are, and that they are literalists, which they are.

If you want to make an argument for P&V then post passages to make your case.

Thanks, I only chose two(or one) translations per book to keep the focus narrow. Obviously that will alienate other translations that are well regarded, but that isn't to downplay their merit. Maybe we can add their names in a list so people don't think they need to replace an edition they already own.

I wouldn't say he's the overall best translator either. But specifically in terms of translations that feel more like the writing contemporaneous with the original works (as opposed to having a fresher and more modern feel) Magarshack is well worth attention

I don't disagree, but the purpose of the chart is to provide a couple editions of each of Dosto's novels for people who want to read his work without having to start new threads asking what everyone thinks of every translation.

SOMEONE JUST TELL ME WHICH TRANSLATOR IS THE BEST REEEEE

Is Demons worth it? I've read notes, C&P, the idiot, the brothers Karamazov and house of the dead but I've heard Demons is considered the worst of his major works.

I personally think it's worth it. I don't think it's his worst either. It gets a bit boring in the middle section but pays off in the end.

Or ... you know, just read the P&V versions.

English isnt even my native language should i still read books by dostoyevsky in english or stick to german?

Have you read multiple translations? The Dante guy at least provided a reference passage.