Compared two translations of Crime and Punishment side by side last night

I grabbed the Pevear and Volokhonsky version off my shelf and the old Constance Garnett from the library. Garnett had Raskolnikov sounding like a stiff Victorian gentleman and the modern one actually made him sound like a desperate guy losing his mind. How many books have I been reading with the wrong vibe this whole time?

3 comments

3 Comments

hunt.nora1mo ago

Thirty years of reading Garnett and I finally swapped to Pevear/Volokhonsky for The Brothers Karamazov last year. Whole book felt different, like meeting old characters for the first time. I just started re-reading everything I can in newer translations.

sageadams1mo ago

That Pevear/Volokhonsky Brothers K really does hit different, @hunt.nora, but I actually find myself going back to Garnett for Tolstoy because her flow feels more natural to me, you know? I'd say try a few pages of each translation side by side before you commit to rebuying everything.

victor_jones9920d ago

Take a breath man. You're acting like Garnett personally ruined your childhood. I read the Garnett translation of Crime and Punishment in college and it was fine. Raskolnikov still sounded like a crazy guy to me. The whole Victorian gentleman thing is overblown. People just like to complain about old translations because it makes them feel smart. If you enjoyed the book before, you still had the same story.