The Best WAR & PEACE English Translation of All Time?

[Russell Valentino]

Quoting Sarah Hurst <sarahhurst at ALASKA.NET>:
 
> There's a big difference between an academic journal that has generally
> recognized criteria and a popular magazine like The Atlantic Monthly, which
> can take whatever angle it likes. I have no idea if Mona Simpson knows
> Russian, but obviously she has a long-time interest in Russian literature,
> and her approach was to read the translation from the point of view of an
> English-speaking reader. Since translations are aimed specifically at
> English-speaking readers who generally do not know Russian, it's perfectly
> valid for them to give their opinions on how readable the text is. 
> 
> Sarah Hurst

This is an essential consideration for reviewers of translations. It's also 
rhetoric 101: know your audience. A review for the Des Moines Register is not 
the same as one for the Translation Review, let alone Context, or SEEJ. The 
Atlantic Monthly's review policies became somewhat notorious with Benjamin 
Schwarz's Jan/Feb 2004 article "Why We Review the Books We Do," where he made 
it clear that AM tends not to review translations because of the difficulty 
they pose for focusing on the author's prose style. Attack the policy all you 
like (plenty have), but it clearly indicates that the publication is not 
interested in questions of translation per se, and a reviewer who focused on 
such questions would be unlikely to find a home for her/his work there. They 
are by far not alone.

In an ATA essay from July 2005, Anne Milano Appel noted that there seem to be 
three basic review rubrics for translated literature (translation-blind, 
translation-aware, and translation-sensitive). The essay's here: 
http://www.biblit.it/Pages%20from%20August%20Chronicle.pdf. It's a helpful 
essay, but in the end, she seems to throw up her hands, leaving unarticulated 
what is a relatively simple rhetorical solution: there are different review 
strategies for different venues.

Russell Valentino

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------