The Possessed/Demons/Devils

Constance Garnett makes a variety of good Russian writers sound like exactly the same slightly autistic, no-sense-of-the-beauty-of-words, spluttery academic. Because that's what she is.

Yeah they had to revise her bc she was so shit

I disagree

Pevear and Volokhonsky

She wasn't even an academic.

And she was a great English stylist.

If you want to criticize her, you could say she made the Russians too English. But saying Garnett was a dry academic whose translations are dry is plain wrong.

No, scholars revise her because she made mistakes. One of the hazards of being a pioneer translator. When Ralph Matlaw revised Garnett's Karamazov for Norton, he did it because he had started his own version but then decided he couldn't do any better than Garnett.

stilted literalist garbage.

Revised Garnett, Avsey, and McDuff

This.
What the fuck are you talking about? The PV editions flow well. Translators like Garnett and Maude are garbage. I've read all of my Dostoevsky in PV editions, and the Russian professor (native Russian) who recommended them finds them to be the best. Reading alongside in the original Russian, I've saw myself that PV do the most faithful job.

OP this is causing too many arguments. Just learn Russian, for all our sakes

"literalist garbage"

Ooh faithful translations suck. If that's how you feel just go read some Dostoyevsky fanfic, don't claim to be reading the novel

Strongly agree. Cannot believe anyone is calling Garnett a "stylist" much less a good one. Garnett is the reason that Anglophones think Russian greats are stodgy

Of course your Russian professor recommend P&V, they're literalists, academics are the only supporters of PV translations, aside from those who have only read a PV translation.

I don't care what about a transliteration of Russian text, that's the best way to get the worst message, the spirit of Dostoyevsky's writing is lost. Translators who take the time to study Dosto's work and translate it into an English speaker's context rather than flipping words with a Russian-English dictionary make for a far superior translation.

Compare passages between P&V and Avsey

Look. Garnett is an awkward, painfully Victorian, clunky translator who couldn't even get her fucking work done right to make up for her awful style. Pevear and Volokhonsky are lyrical and stunning/ And they don't make every author they translate sound exactly the same.

Why are you acting like they're such literalists? Volokhonsky might be a bit of a human Russian-to-English dictionary (especially in the first round of drafts) but Pevear is all about spirit and style.

Do you know anything about their translation process?

Could you provide a specific passage? I have my PV copy right here. Copy an easily findable passage and I will copy the same text from PV. Prove me wrong-I really am curious.

Both McDuff and Avsey are better than P&V. In fact there are mass market editions I've preferred over P&V, notably C&P translated by Monas.

They are literalists. Thats not my opinion. That's a school of technique in translation.
And yes I know their methodology, Volokhonsky, who barely speaks English, transliterates from Russian to English. Then Pervear, who barely speaks Russian, polishes it and makes it more readable. It doesn't get more literalist than that. There's no translation of context, there's no study of the author's intention, he literally just smooths out the Russian.

This isn't a fucking Veeky Forums meme, look it up. And i don't mean chatting with your reddit pals, I mean read articles on it, it's a common sentiment for anyone who has compared passages

>Crime and Punishment Sec.2 Chpt.7(towards the end)
>"My name is Rodion, Polechka. Pray for me sometimes, too- 'and thy servant Rodion.' That's all."
>"I'll pray for you the whole rest of my life," the girl promised, and suddenly she smiled again, threw her arms around him, and again hugged him close
That's Monas

>And yes I know their methodology, Volokhonsky, who barely speaks English, transliterates from Russian to English. Then Pervear, who barely speaks Russian, polishes it and makes it more readable. It doesn't get more literalist than that. There's no translation of context, there's no study of the author's intention, he literally just smooths out the Russian.

Am I supposed to find something wrong with this?

Let's solve this by simply comparing translations.

Here's Anna Karenina.

>Constance Garnett
1. Darya Aleksandrovna had done her hair, and dressed with care and excitement. In the old days she had dressed for her own sake to look pretty and be admired. Later on, as she got older, dressing up became more and more distasteful to her. She saw that she was losing her good looks. But now she began to feel pleasure and interest in dressing up again. Now she did not dress for her own sake, not for the sake of her own beauty, but simply so that as the mother of those exquisite creatures she might not spoil the general effect. And looking at herself for the last time in the mirror, she was satisfied with herself. She looked nice. Not nice as she would have wished to look nice in old days at a ball, but nice for the object she now had in view.

>The lyrical and stunning Pevear & Volokhonsky
2. Darya Alexandrovna had done her hair and dressed with care and excitement. Once she used to dress for herself, to be beautiful and admired; then, the older she became, the more unpleasant it was for her to dress; she saw that she had lost her good looks. But now she again dressed with pleasure and excitement. Now she dressed not for herself, not for her own beauty, but so that, being the mother of these lovely things, she would not spoil the general impression. And taking a last look in the mirror, she remained satisfied with herself. She was pretty. Not as pretty as she had once wanted to be at a ball, but pretty enough for the purpose she now had in mind.

god i love russian lit translation threads. always a good rehash of the same ol things.

Constance Garnett fan here, P&V themselves said they respected Garnett and her translations are generally the best and most precise.
Proof:
youtu.be/H2ykytca6Y8?t=3832

So basically the answer is all of them are shit? Thanks Veeky Forums

WRONG!

If these threads don't convince you to read them in their native language I don't know what will