A very English-biased translation of an Incredible work

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	• The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002 - 824 pages average customer review:based on 109 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A very English-biased translation of an Incredible work

The Brothers Karamazov is, without a doubt, one of my favorite books, and this review isn't at all a commentary on Dostoevsky's original and his novel. Dostoevsky's work stands above criticism from people like me, and I highly recommend reading A copy of Brothers Karamazov.

However, I don't always recommend reading THIS copy. Pevear and Volokhonsky are very good translators, and do an admirable job here. However, Pevear and Volokhonsky have made an obvious choice to favor readability and smoothness in English over fidelity to the original Russian. This is a double-edged sword. If you're not a literary type, and are just looking to read the Brothers Karamazov and to see what all the hype is about, then this version will be great for you. However, if you're more interested in studying, analyzing, and examining this text, I'd highly recommend going with one of the translations by Constance Garnett instead. Similarly, if you're looking for a nice, smooth translation, check here, but if the appearance of English idiom, rhyme and usage patterns in a translation makes you twitch, then head over to Garnett's version.

So, long story short, casual readers will probably love this version, and academic readers will likely prefer the Garnett version. Neither is better or worse than the other, they're just different translators with different priorities. Just take a second to decide what you'd prefer, and then enjoy this incredible novel.

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Should be seven stars...

If you haven't read The Brothers Karamazov yet, I envy you, because you have the experience of reading of what's possibly the greatest novel ever written still ahead of you. This is a true masterpiece that somehow conveys through five or six main characters a flash of everything that his hard and unfair in life, while still leaving you with the feeling that it's worth living with all your might; that, like Prince Myshkin says in another Dostoevsky novel, maybe beauty really will save the world. And if you haven't read ANY Dostoevsky yet, please consider starting with another novel, like, say, Crime and Punishment (where most people start and a very good beginning), or The Idiot (in some ways as beautiful as BK, but more manageable in scale). You'll be glad you got your sea legs in Dostoevsky's dense, sad, zany and chaotic world beforehand, so you could have total enjoyment of this book, the very finest work of a true genius.

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Dostoevsky's Wit and Miracles

Most critics of this supreme novel, a work which contains the greatest defense of atheism followed by the greatest defense of theism in world literature, have neglected to comment on the divine jokes Doestoevsky plays on those arrogantly pious, though far from virtuous believers, during the course of his narrative. Such persons decide, first of all, that the supremely holy Father Zosima, if indeed a saint, will not rot after his death. In the room where he's laid out, he begins to stink early, perhaps a reverse miracle showing Dostoevsky's wit in the presence of such presumption. What cinches this possibility for me is an event late in the novel. One of Alyosha's converts, a small child, is laid out in the same room which earlier housed Zosima. The conventionally pious demand no miracle, and all Dostoevsky says is that the room smelled sweet. Once again, the arrogant pious miss a miracle before their noses.

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Five for the book, three for translation

First off, I love this book - it's one of the best books ever, hands down. I just take issue with everyone neglecting David Magarshack's masterful, colorful, nuanced translations. Why does everyone look upon the Pevear/Volokhonsky translations as the second coming? Possibly because Constance Garnett had, apparently, a monopoly on Dostoevsky translations heretofore. But, although Garnett may have done it first, Magarshack did it better.

One other reviewer cited P/V's translation of the first paragraph, citing the word "muddleheaded" as a glorious coup & shining example of all that we can glean from the P/V. However, Magarshack did this in the 1950's and captured all of the humor, pathos & philosophy - and did it far better. I've read their translation of The Idiot & I found it pretentious. The only difference I see betweent P/V & Magarshack is that P/V use bigger words, to less effect. The whole tone of the novel is different from Magarshack's far more accessible work.

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As Good As It Gets

I adored this book. It was the most inspiring thing I have read in ten years. You do have to be persistent to get throught the first few hundred pages but it starts building momentum like an avalanche. Incredibly affecting. You will not regret the hours you devote to it

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

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