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I started reading this book yesterday and am already well into it, but I am curious as to whether or not there's a "preferred" English translation of Dostoevsky's The Idiot?
All versions will eventually come to the same end, of course, I'm just curious about the differences that exist between Eva Martin's translation as opposed to Richard Pevear's, or David McDuff's, etc.
Thanks!
I'm not aware of any preferred translation. As badly as Constance Garnett flattened, smoothed, and Anglicized Dostoevsky, legions of fans still swear by her. Go figure. I doubt anyone could argue successfully against P/V's claim that they "come as close to Dostoevsky" as anyone ever has in English. And yet they don't get universal praise.
Check out David Remnick's article from The New Yorker on P/V and Russian translation. You can find it in his book, Reporting, under the title, "Translation Wars." You can also access it at prufrockspage.blogspot.com/2006/01/war-and-peace-and-translation.html/ You'll see why P/V are so good (or bad, depending on what you want from your reading experience. E.g., in The Idiot at 108:18, P/V use "oratorizing" instead of "orating" or "pontificating" or, as Alan Myers [Oxford World's Classics] puts it, "holding forth." I found P/V's word choice distracting; the word is obsolete, and "orating" is in common usage. And yet "oratorizing" is probably more Dostoevskian than the other choices.)
Thanks for the reply!
I've already finished the book, but will be sure to check the link you gave as I have more Russian literature on my reading list, and I'm sure the same translators will pop up again. ;)
Wow -- you guys are cool, it's smart too! I figured I'd probably be the only person in the world reading this great book. I, too, am reading the Random House publication, translated by Constance Garnett.
I am humbled now reading the original starter of this thread -- I take the meaning to be that Ms. Garnett took copious liberties in the translation. You might view my post:http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=52336
I wonder if I might do better to read The Idiot, right here on the literature network. This opens up a whole host of sad little thoughts: I wonder how much my pleasure in understanding of translated works has been in the hands of a darned old human being, with all the faults they can have.
Anyone here a fan of the Anna Brailowsky revision of Garnett's translation?