Which translation should you choose?

In which Amanda talks about translation!

[jeffreykaufmann]

The translation with the largest font size is the best.

[escrivaninhadepapelao]

I would 100% listen to an audiobook narrated by you.

[kristinakelm]

Being Russian by origin I feel very fortunate to be able to read War and Peace in its original language.

[meto]

I preferred Garnett by a faaaar stretch.
I read W&P in the Maudes translation though, and it flowed marvelously.

[wildcatste]

I'm set on reading war and peace (after falling in love with the musical Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet) and found this really helpful in getting started on this. I actually liked the first translation you read better.

[prufrockj.a]

I'm currently reading the Anthony Briggs translation and it is very entertaining. The french passages are all translated and the language he uses feels modern but not too modern. There aren't any archaic passages and overall, I'm really enjoying it.

[MikeWiest]

I’m halfway through the Briggs version and enjoying it a lot! That is a fascinating point about the repetition though! The repetition of phrases is part of what creates the epic feeling in Homer, and I wondered going in if it would be used by Tolstoy… I see it in a more subtle form of repetition in the Briggs…so if I read it again I’ll probably try the P&V. Thanks!

[salcorbit]

I read the Garnet translation and contrary to the experiences of many other readers I never got hung up on the language being antiquated or too wordy. I read her version of Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and Notes when I was in high school, so when I returned to another one of her translations many years later, that of War and Peace, it was like returning to an old friend. My issue with P&V is that to my eye it feels like their text is derived from a conglomeration of other translations (which by Itself seems like it should be an asset) whereby their technique is not to to take the best from all but on the contrary to differentiate their own enough to make it it’s own unique yet modern thing. The problem in many cases though when you reword something that doesn’t need rewording is that the new text appears awkward because why change something that didn’t have a problem before? In the best cases P&V smooths out some awkward passages themselves, and I appreciate them for making those more accessible to certain readers, but the lack of feeling in their translation compounded by that other problem I mentioned really makes them inaccessible to me. When it comes down to it they don’t have a sense of the music in the language and my suspicion is that there’s some ghost translating going on and P&V have just found a effective process for marketing what at the end of the day is just another literary puppy mill operation.

[thebookishbryants]

Huh...I think I preferred the Garnett translation of that. I liked the flow of it a bit more. I actually think it is because the Victorians are my favorite authors, and she seems to translate in a bit of that style.

Great video! Thank you so much!
Scott.

[Khvost_]

Although I understand that the second translation is the one that sounds more pleasant, but being Russian myself, I want to say that the first book has that structure of sentences that is closer to russian structure. Plus, Tolstoy is famous for his long paragraphs that are just one or two sentences.
Second one is too English to me.

[thuaners]

this is so true. i was reading war and peace and i found it quite hard going. then i tried the translation by anthony briggs and immediately fell in love! i like the fairly simple and fluid way it is written and it gets the story and characters across (to me at least), and its made me fall in love with this amazing story by Tolstoy!

[granjuanchito]

I started reading the PV translation but half way through I changed to the Anthony Briggs' one and it was far more enjoyable.

[Scottlp]

As I understand it, the Maude's knew and worked on the translation with Tolstoy himself.

[mushroomcre]

I really liked the Garnett you read so looks like I'm buying another translation (I have P&V and Briggs already)

[tessah]

Thank you for this video! When I was younger I would just read whatever translation I happened upon first but I've become a bit more intentional since then and now I'm really interested in the process of translation itself. I read War and Peace a few years ago and I read the Garnett translation--funnily enough, I didn't like the first translation I read at all so I tried Garnett next and really liked it!

[BetwixttheBooks]

Hey Amanda, Love the discussion around translation. I would note as well that the original translation you picked up is over 100 years old, and that might contribute to the "archaic" nature of the language. The way she chose to speak is reflective of her audience, which was English speakers in the early 1900s not English speakers in the 2000s... we speak differently now, both in word choice as well as sentence structure. I could immediately hear how the modern translation chose words that we use. This is one of the reasons people say that we need to keep re-translating things. This is of course ignoring the fact that none of us know how archaic the original Russian text is to modern Russian. Think of all of the "no fear Shakespeare's" where we literally translate something in English to a more modern form to allow for better comprehension. There are pros and cons to both. When choosing a translation, picking something that aids your comprehension is great, but picking something that sounds archaic for a text that is as old as this might let some people fall into the "classic" mindset of needing to deconstruct the language and pick apart the nuances, they are less likely to do when reading a modern text, i stress less here because some of us dissect everything regardless. In any case, great video. Translation is hard man. I agree with you, if there are multiple translations available to you, try them out, see what jives with you best and give it a shot.

[jamesmitchell]

Great job, enjoyed your critique of the various translations. I too completely agree with your understanding and thoughts on the Garnett translation. Thank you.

[BenSellars]

Being a bit backwards I ordered the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation and then found your thoughts on the translations. Given your readings from the two versions and thoughts on some others I believe I made a good choice. Thank you.

[MrDeathyness]

I was looking for Dostoevsky, but there appear to be translations by the same people you talk about here

[pokerchannel]

i know this passage. I have read it many times. In the Maude and Briggs (but more the maude). It was good to hear the constance version (for comparison), and the PV version.