Which Translation?

[ndavis]

Hello, I have had Anna Karenina on my list for some time now, and decided finally to get to reading it. But which English translation should I choose? There are quite a few available. Generally, I prefer translators that allow for some artistic license, but of course I don't want to get too far from the original text. I am leaning toward the Pevear and Volokhonsky version, but I'm just not sure. Any opinions? Also, if anybody has some information as to the relative differences between translations, please shed some light. Thanks!

[sjb77d]

I realize its now Dec and you posted in Jan, but if you haven't read it yet, the Pevear and Volohkonsky version is great. They provide a lot of footnotes to clarify obscure references and leave the french phrases as written, then translate in footnotes at the bottom of the page. Hope yo enjoy it. I loved it, and just started on their translation of War and Peace.

[Rosie Cotton]

I read the Pevear and Volohkonsky version and it was very accessible, and my sister-in-law who's Russian says it's the most faithful to the original Russian.

[johnw1]

I read the Rosemary Edmonds translation (she uses anglicised versions of the names so actually called Anna Karenin) and found no issues with it at all (I also read her translation of War and Peace). I can't comment on it's fidelity to the Russian version but it was fine for me and seems to have a good reputation from what I can see.

[D.S. Poorman]

Like johnw, I also read the Rosemary Edmonds translation and I found it to be a beautiful, fascinating and profound epic which is sort of what I expected. So I would guess that makes it a worthy effort by Edmonds'.

[hampusforev]

I'm reading the Pevear and Volohkonsky, and I'm loving it, Tolstoy is my new favorite. But just as something perhaps not entirely on topic, I heard someone reading from a different translation and it startled me a bit, because it was very different. The epigraph was completely different and gave the novel a completely different slant. And even though I of course know of the problems in all translation, it sort of crystalized for me that I'll never know the REAL Tolstoy without learning russian... And it made me a little sad. But Rosie Cotton, you say it's the most faithful one to the original russian? Could someone back this up? I mean if you heard it from someone who speaks russian I guess that sounds plausible.