Alright /lit/ I fell for the Russian meme. What translation

Constance Garnett

I read the Maude translation of Anna Karenina and loved the prose. I would recommend that, and it comes Tolstoy approved.

fell for the meme too and now im minoring in russian. gonna start the language classes in a little over a month.

i think the fascination started when i was 16 and played stalker then read roadside picnic

stay strong comrade

Constance Garnett

>>8309128
Do not get the Garnett translations. Anyone who suggests them is lying to you.

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>>8309133
>>8309162
>>8309168

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the Anthony Briggs translation of War and Peace is really good, pic related especially. The Maudes are also supposed to be pretty good (+ officially approved by Tolstoy himself).

>>8309140
>Tolstoy approved

This is a bad meme. The art and science of translation has improved so much since the days of Maude and Garnett. Not saying they're bad, but there are better available.

Anthony Briggs has a great translation, though he translates the French into English as well. This is a very practical choice, or at least it is for those of us who don't speak French. Just be aware of why Tolstoy uses French and what it communicates to the reader usually just upperclass pretension in want of authenticity

>>8309336
Briggs translates the meaning to the reader via endnotes though.

So Garnett is down, Briggs is on the table. Though no one has made a case for or against P+V politely yet (not bait I swear I was just wondering if they are remotely reedermable).

Maude or P+V. Either fall hard for the "Tolstoy approved" or fall hard for the "Translation has advanced" meme

I'm reading the P&V Anna Karenina and it's excellent. No complaints.

I also loved their translation of Tolstoy's shorter stories.

If you want the version that all great English writers from the 20th century read, then you want Constance Garnett.

>>8309606
Vehemently disagree. Maude is also a possibility as they were approved of by Tolstoy himself. Garnett might have been in wider circulation, but I imagine these so called great writers would have been just as punctilious in their translation selections as we are being.

+1 for Maude. They're Oxford World Classics approved. How could you go wrong?

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>>8309647
It looks like only Communist sympathizers made Constance Garnett's versions popular.