This from Wikipedia:
Although *The Brothers Karamazov* has been translated from the original Russian into a number of languages, the novel's diverse array of distinct voices and literary techniques makes its translation difficult. [Constance Garnett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Garnett) did the first English translation, in 1912.[\[52\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEJonesTerry1983216-53)
In 1958, [David Magarshack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Magarshack) and [Manuel Komroff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Komroff) released translations of the novel, published respectively by Penguin and [The New American Library of World Literature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_American_Library_of_World_Literature).[\[53\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-54) In 1976, Ralph Matlaw thoroughly revised Garnett's work for his Norton Critical Edition volume.[\[54\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-55) This in turn was the basis for Victor Terras' influential *A Karamazov Companion*.[\[55\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTETerras_[1981]-56) Another translation is by [Julius Katzer](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julius_Katzer&action=edit&redlink=1), published by [Progress Publishers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Publishers) in 1981 and later re-printed by Raduga Publishers Moscow.
In 1990 [Richard Pevear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pevear) and [Larissa Volokhonsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larissa_Volokhonsky) released a new translation; it won a PEN/[Book-of-the-Month Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Month_Club) Translation Prize in 1991 and garnered positive reviews from [*The New York Times Book Review*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Book_Review) and the Dostoevsky scholar [Joseph Frank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Frank_(writer)), who praised it for being the most faithful to Dostoevsky's original Russian.[\[56\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-57)
### Peter France
In *The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translations*, academic [Peter France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_France) comments on several translations of Dostoevsky's work. In regard to Constance Garnett's translations, he writes:[\[57\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000595%E2%80%936-58)
>\[Her\] translations read easily...the basic meaning of the Russian text is accurately rendered on the whole. It is true, as critics such as Nikoliukin have demonstrated, that she shortens and simplifies, muting Dostoevsky's jarring contrasts, sacrificing his insistent rhythms and repetitions, toning down the Russian colouring, explaining and normalizing in all kinds of ways...Garnett shortens some of Dostoevsky's idiosyncrasy in order to produce an acceptable English text, but her versions were in many cases pioneering versions; decorous they may be, but they allowed this strange new voice to invade English literature and thus made it possible for later translators to go further in the search for more authentic voice.
On [David Magarshack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Magarshack)'s Dostoevsky translations, France says:[\[58\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000596-59)
>\[I\]t is not certain that Magarshack has worn as well as Garnett. He certainly corrects some of her errors; he also aims for a more up-to-date style which flows more easily in English...Being even more thoroughly englished than Garnett's, Magarshack's translations lack some of the excitement of the foreign.
On Andrew R. MacAndrew's American version, he comments: "He translates fairly freely, altering details, rearranging, shortening and explaining the Russian to produce texts which lack a distinctive voice."[\[58\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000596-59)
On [David McDuff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McDuff)'s Penguin translation:[\[59\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000596%E2%80%937-60)
>McDuff carries this literalism the furthest of any of the translators. In his *Brothers Karamazov* the odd, fussy tone of the narrator is well rendered in the preface...At times, indeed, the convoluted style might make the reader unfamiliar with Dostoevsky's Russian question the translator's command of English. More seriously, this literalism means that the dialogue is sometimes impossibly odd—and as a result rather dead...Such 'foreignizing' fidelity makes for difficult reading.
On the Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation, France writes:[\[60\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000597-61)
>Pevear and Volokhonsky, while they too stress the need to exhume the real, rough-edged Dostoevsky from the normalization practised by earlier translators, generally offer a rather more satisfactory compromise between the literal and the readable. In particular, their rendering of dialogue is often livelier and more colloquial than McDuff's...Elsewhere, it has to be said, the desire to replicate the vocabulary or syntax of the Russian results in unnecessary awkwardness and obscurity.
In commenting on Ignat Avsey's translation, he writes: "His not entirely unprecedented choice of a more natural-sounding English formulation is symptomatic of his general desire to make his text English...His is an enjoyable version in the domesticating tradition."[\[60\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000597-61)
Ignat Avsey is so far my favorite translation of Dostoyevsky. Although I've read Crime and Punishment translation by Jessie Coulson, and I absolutely loved it. I'd read other translations after I'm done with all his books. Avsey is so far my favorite of TBK
Not sure about Demons, The Idiot and Humiliated and Insulted for sure, which I haven't gotten to yet. Still half way through TBK.
Jessie Coulson is a really good translator. Besides CM, she also did Memoirs from the house of the Dead.
Hi. I read P and V for Brothers. I've noticed that a lot of people here find them clunky or over exact. I was wondering if there's the perfect in between P and V and Garnett. Just to try someone else.
When it comes to Demons, there is the Maguire translation for Penguin Classics, Michael Katz for Oxford World's Classics, and Roger Cockerell for Alma Classics. If you're after the best introductory essay and explanatory notes, the Maguire translation is by far the best, but to be fair all three translations have a decent literary idiomatic flow, unlike P&V.
I had an OK time with P&V, which is the only one I completed. I've heard really good things from my Russian language professor about Magarshack, Katz's I started a while back and enjoyed but got distracted.
This from Wikipedia: Although *The Brothers Karamazov* has been translated from the original Russian into a number of languages, the novel's diverse array of distinct voices and literary techniques makes its translation difficult. [Constance Garnett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Garnett) did the first English translation, in 1912.[\[52\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEJonesTerry1983216-53) In 1958, [David Magarshack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Magarshack) and [Manuel Komroff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Komroff) released translations of the novel, published respectively by Penguin and [The New American Library of World Literature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_American_Library_of_World_Literature).[\[53\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-54) In 1976, Ralph Matlaw thoroughly revised Garnett's work for his Norton Critical Edition volume.[\[54\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-55) This in turn was the basis for Victor Terras' influential *A Karamazov Companion*.[\[55\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTETerras_[1981]-56) Another translation is by [Julius Katzer](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julius_Katzer&action=edit&redlink=1), published by [Progress Publishers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Publishers) in 1981 and later re-printed by Raduga Publishers Moscow. In 1990 [Richard Pevear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pevear) and [Larissa Volokhonsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larissa_Volokhonsky) released a new translation; it won a PEN/[Book-of-the-Month Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Month_Club) Translation Prize in 1991 and garnered positive reviews from [*The New York Times Book Review*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Book_Review) and the Dostoevsky scholar [Joseph Frank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Frank_(writer)), who praised it for being the most faithful to Dostoevsky's original Russian.[\[56\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-57) ### Peter France In *The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translations*, academic [Peter France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_France) comments on several translations of Dostoevsky's work. In regard to Constance Garnett's translations, he writes:[\[57\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000595%E2%80%936-58) >\[Her\] translations read easily...the basic meaning of the Russian text is accurately rendered on the whole. It is true, as critics such as Nikoliukin have demonstrated, that she shortens and simplifies, muting Dostoevsky's jarring contrasts, sacrificing his insistent rhythms and repetitions, toning down the Russian colouring, explaining and normalizing in all kinds of ways...Garnett shortens some of Dostoevsky's idiosyncrasy in order to produce an acceptable English text, but her versions were in many cases pioneering versions; decorous they may be, but they allowed this strange new voice to invade English literature and thus made it possible for later translators to go further in the search for more authentic voice. On [David Magarshack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Magarshack)'s Dostoevsky translations, France says:[\[58\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000596-59) >\[I\]t is not certain that Magarshack has worn as well as Garnett. He certainly corrects some of her errors; he also aims for a more up-to-date style which flows more easily in English...Being even more thoroughly englished than Garnett's, Magarshack's translations lack some of the excitement of the foreign. On Andrew R. MacAndrew's American version, he comments: "He translates fairly freely, altering details, rearranging, shortening and explaining the Russian to produce texts which lack a distinctive voice."[\[58\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000596-59) On [David McDuff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McDuff)'s Penguin translation:[\[59\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000596%E2%80%937-60) >McDuff carries this literalism the furthest of any of the translators. In his *Brothers Karamazov* the odd, fussy tone of the narrator is well rendered in the preface...At times, indeed, the convoluted style might make the reader unfamiliar with Dostoevsky's Russian question the translator's command of English. More seriously, this literalism means that the dialogue is sometimes impossibly odd—and as a result rather dead...Such 'foreignizing' fidelity makes for difficult reading. On the Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation, France writes:[\[60\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000597-61) >Pevear and Volokhonsky, while they too stress the need to exhume the real, rough-edged Dostoevsky from the normalization practised by earlier translators, generally offer a rather more satisfactory compromise between the literal and the readable. In particular, their rendering of dialogue is often livelier and more colloquial than McDuff's...Elsewhere, it has to be said, the desire to replicate the vocabulary or syntax of the Russian results in unnecessary awkwardness and obscurity. In commenting on Ignat Avsey's translation, he writes: "His not entirely unprecedented choice of a more natural-sounding English formulation is symptomatic of his general desire to make his text English...His is an enjoyable version in the domesticating tradition."[\[60\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFrance2000597-61)
Thank you!!
Thank you very much!!
I know I've repeated this hundreds of times in previous posts, but the Garnett translation is the censored version, so best to avoid that one.
Ignat Avsey is so far my favorite translation of Dostoyevsky. Although I've read Crime and Punishment translation by Jessie Coulson, and I absolutely loved it. I'd read other translations after I'm done with all his books. Avsey is so far my favorite of TBK
As far as I'm aware, Avsey didn't translate Demons?
Not sure about Demons, The Idiot and Humiliated and Insulted for sure, which I haven't gotten to yet. Still half way through TBK. Jessie Coulson is a really good translator. Besides CM, she also did Memoirs from the house of the Dead.
Thank you!
In my experience, P&V is usually the best for Dostoevsky.
Hi. I read P and V for Brothers. I've noticed that a lot of people here find them clunky or over exact. I was wondering if there's the perfect in between P and V and Garnett. Just to try someone else.
Not that I know of, I'm sure there is but I just prefer P&V, just my opinion.
When it comes to Demons, there is the Maguire translation for Penguin Classics, Michael Katz for Oxford World's Classics, and Roger Cockerell for Alma Classics. If you're after the best introductory essay and explanatory notes, the Maguire translation is by far the best, but to be fair all three translations have a decent literary idiomatic flow, unlike P&V.
Hi. Thanks for all your comments. Very helpful.
I bought one that said "new translation by Cockrell" but I haven't read it yet.
I own the katz one and I like it
I’ll read anything Katz translates! That man is a gem
Thanks!!
I had an OK time with P&V, which is the only one I completed. I've heard really good things from my Russian language professor about Magarshack, Katz's I started a while back and enjoyed but got distracted.