Is this the best translation of Demons available? Looking to

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Dostoevsky's novels are preferred to be translated by Constance Garnett, despite her bad reputation. The Pos'd was translated in her later period and was critically well received. I am not familiar with that particular translation, but here there is at least one known correct choice.

>>9686299
>by book named demons with triangles all over by guy with spooky name
>not a single summoning instruction in 600 pages
Man, these grimoires are getting too cryptic for my taste

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>>9686299
It nearly drove me fucking crazy. I felt raped after giving up half way through.

I don't know if its because its a shit book (Nabaknov had an autistic conniption over it) or if its because the translation was shit but considering P&V's reputation I am tempted it was due to the former.

>>9686959
The translation seemed fine and the notes helped pick out things to people who aren't extremely familiar with 1860's Russia

>>9686299
Don't listen to this guy:
>>9686430
The Pevear-Volokhonsky translations of the Russians are much better than any previous efforts.

>>9687532

I've read that P&V isn't as good for Dostoevsky as is for Tolstoy. Is that true, or no?

I bet 90%+ of people on this board asking this question would not even be able to tell one translation from another. Any continually published translation is going to be good. These include p&v, Garnett, mcduff, megashark, avsey, ready, Maguire, MacAndrew

a46g5bhsre6wegvrytuzr6wevyru6ywyyyyyyyyyy

>>9686299
lol he couldn't even triforce

>>9688595
They really are different, I tried p&v version of crime and punishment and the way it was written seemed wrong to me as if it was written by an amateur so I switched to mcduff

>>9686299
This was the translation I read, and I found it excellent. There are a lot of people who oppose P&V here, though. I think it's mostly pseuds posturing.

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Demons is interesting.
It's Dostoevsky's very worst novel for most of the first half, and then becomes absorbing and shocking in the second half.

>>9686959
How much contemporaneous Russian literature have you read? Demons makes a shit ton of reference to events occurring at the time the novel is set and other Russian intellectuals and writers. You need to have a bit of knowledge about late 19th century Europe and Russia and a decent knowledge about Russian literature.

life is long jimbo, you've got time to read every translation you want. if p&v is the easier to get your hands on, and chances are it is, go for it.

When Shatov gets killed and Marie and the baby die

I cried.

>>9689122

>There are a lot of people who oppose P&V here though. I think it's mostly pseuds posturing.

It's a natural pushback against the enormous marketing campaign behind them.

>>9686638
Its actual title is 'the possessed' so don't blame Dosty

>>9689061
what did he mean by this?

>>9689126
The first half is fine, the conversations with Kirillov and any scene with stavrogin in it are fascinating

>>9686299
Just bought a copy of this translation last week. Besides P&V being a little bit sterile at times in other works they've done, it's the best version I could find of Demons that is readily available. I wish there was a Ginsburg translation of Demons though. I really like her Notes from Underground translation.

P&V are solid but I still think there are other translations that aren't as flat as theirs can be. For example I prefer the Oliver Ready version of C&P but that may just be me. There is nothing wrong with P&V, if that's what you can get it's still a solid translation!

Related question that doesn't deserve it's own thread: what's different between the original Garnett translation of the Brothers Karamazov and the revised one by McReynolds?

>>9690089
How are they "sterile" exactly?

>>9690548
Something about the flow just seems a bit monotonous or spartan in a way. Of course I do not speak nor read Russian so I am not sure if this was Dostoevsky's own writing style (and P&V were more accurate) or not. It's a minor gripe but noticeable when comparing translations side by side.

I found it noticeable in P&V's Master and Margarita translation too so that what makes me tend to think it's more of their style.

There is a blog post that discusses the two translations side by side, and quotes some of the passages, an example given of P&V vs. Burgin and O'Connor's translation (which I preferred) below.

"At the hour of the hot spring sunset two citizens appeared at the Patriarch’s Ponds. One of them, approximately forty years old, dressed in a grey summer suit, was short, dark-haired, plump, bald, and carried his respectable fedora hat in his hand. His neatly shaven face was adorned with black horn-rimmed glasses of a supernatural size. The other, a broad-shouldered young man with tousled reddish hair, his checkered cap cocked back on his head, was wearing a cowboy shirt, wrinkled white trousers and black sneakers." (Pevear, Volokhonsky)

"One hot spring evening, just as the sun was going down, two men appeared at Patriarch’s Ponds. One of them – fortyish, wearing a gray summer suit – was short, dark-haired, bald on top, paunchy, and held his proper fedora in his hand; black horn-rimmed glasses of supernatural proportions adorned his well-shaven face. The other one – a broad-shouldered, reddish-haired, shaggy young man with a checked cap cocked on the back of his head – was wearing a cowboy shirt, crumpled white trousers, and black sneakers." (Burgin, O’Connor)

The difference is subtle but I find the flow a bit more interesting in the second example. That being said the first is still perfectly interesting, readable, and in no way a bad translation.

I'm hoping reading P&V's translation of Demons will change my opinion.

>>9690045
No disagreement, but they're oases in a sea of uninteresting town intrigue, most of which does not pay off in any meaningful way.

Obviously, Stavrogin is the greatest, but the novel takes the long way of introducing him and the other more interesting characters. Labored and stretched out even for serialized Russian literature.