The Best WAR & PEACE English Translation of All Time?

[Donna Orwin]

Dear Colleagues,

I agree with Rob Chandler that the David Remnick article was unfair to
Constance Garnett. The Remnick article also represents the very good
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of Anna Karnenina as the only worthwhile
one available.  It's not.  I refer you to Hugh McLean's outstanding
article on the subject ("Which English Anna?") in the 2001 issue Tolstoy
Studies Journal and a follow-up discussion in the 2002 issue by Carol
Flath and Richard Sheldon, with a response by McLean.  McLean compares 7
translations, all still in print. Neither he nor the other two critics
find the new Pevear/Volokhonsky translation to be unequivocally better
than certain other ones, and both McLean and Flath have high praise for
the Garnett translation revised by Kent and Berberova (Modern Library). 

For those interested, the 2002 TSJ also contains an article by A.D.P.
Briggs about his translation of War and Peace.

All the best,

Donna Orwin 

----------------------------
Prof. Donna Tussing Orwin
President, Tolstoy Society
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Toronto
Alumni Hall 415
121 St. Joseph St. 
Toronto. ON M5S 1J4
Tel. 416-926-1300. ext. 3316


-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 1:52 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] The Best WAR & PEACE English Translation of All
Time?

Dear all,

Russell Valentino writes:
> The David Remnick NY-er piece was in the November 7 number for 2005.
It
> doesn't say a lot about War and Peace specifically, though it does
note that
> it's the next big project of Pevear and Volokhonskaya. It mentions the
new
> Briggs  translation (which is not among those I've used in class).
Briggs's is a good translation.

>It also doesn't make Constance Garnett look so good. And it's
entertaining,
I was struck more by the cheapness of the numerous jeers at Constance
Garnett.  She was a highly intelligent lady, with both courage and
judgment.
While retranslating various C19 stories for my Penguin Classics
anthology, I
usually had four or five previous translations open on my desk.  Hers
was
almost always the best, both in terms of accuracy and in terms of
preserving
the 'foreignness' of the original.  Yes, her dialogue is often stiff,
but
that criticism can be made of many other translators, including recent
ones.

Best wishes,

Robert

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