Hey fellow book lovers,
I’ve been wrestling with a dilemma that I’m sure many of you can relate to: the challenge of reading translated works. Take, for instance, Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, “The Brothers Karamazov.” It’s an iconic literary work, and I want to experience it in its purest form—the way Dostoevsky intended it to be.
Here’s my main problem: I’m eager to delve into Dostoevsky’s own words, not some interpretation filtered through the lens of a translator. It’s like if a beloved movie is remade in a different country, with dialogues tweaked to better suit the new audience. Sure, the story remains intact, but it’s not quite the same, is it?
In the case of books, the magic lies in the author’s unique style and narrative voice. Dostoevsky’s writing is a work of art in itself, and reading a translation feels like settling for a watered-down version of his genius. And the worst part? I can never truly know if the translation has done justice to the original because I can’t read the original language.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m immensely grateful to translators who enable us to access literature from around the world. They do an incredible job bridging language barriers, allowing us to explore diverse literary landscapes. However, the yearning to experience the unfiltered essence of an author’s words remains.
I’m curious—how do you handle this dilemma? Do you have any tips for appreciating translated works while still craving that unadulterated literary experience? Or perhaps you share my longing for the day we can all read the world’s classics in their native languages.
by Middle_Alarming
8 Comments
A good translator is able to translate the soul of the book as well. I have no issue with it.
i just try to make peace with the fact that some things are going to be lost inevitably, and enjoy the story regardless. if you’re interested in specific works, on the internet there’s plenty of investigation done on classic books like the one you mentioned, that may go deeper in the original vocabulary or expressions used. either way, good luck with it 🙂
Sign off Reddit and log on to Duolingo. 😀
Learn Russian, I guess?
The job of a translator is to give to the foreign reader a reading experience (in terms of emotional and intellectual impact, elicitation of sensations and thoughts, conveyance of meaning etc.) that’s as much as possible identical to the original one. Yes, it’s a filter – translating IS rewriting by any meaningful metric – but if it’s done well it’s nearly transparent. In an ideal world every translator should be chosen on the basis of their knowledge and understanding of the language, the culture associated with it, the author and the specific book they’re translating, but alas, that’s not so and bad, *really* bad translations occur. You should see what they’ve done to Terry Pratchett in my country, every single translated book reads like a personal, cruel insult to him.
That said I prefer to read originals, obviously, but it’s not so terrible a problem that I can’t enjoy good translations. And if a book is in a language I don’t know, like Russian, I welcome every translation available if it’s decent.
Sauce: am translator
You can either learn Russian or … the internet is full of evaluations of various translations.
Read up on the best translation of Brothers Karamazov by people who are actually bilingual and read one based on that information. That’s what I did with Don Quixote.
We’re lucky in that most books end up with an English translation — lots of languages do not have a large enough market to get most translations.
Here’s a reddit thread on translations: https://www.reddit.com/r/dostoevsky/comments/10tcesd/the_brothers_karamazov_translation/
One way to get at least some of the flavor of the original is to use parallel texts – so get the original on one side and a translation on the other. Then, even if your Russian is a bit iffy (and it’s a difficult language), you can still kinda sorta get the flavor of the original.
Then, as your Russian improves, you can move to just the Russian text with a good dictionary. Preferably an e-book with words you can click on to access the dictionary.
It seems like the only solution to your dilemma is to learn Russian. I was reading multiple translations of Brothers Karamazov at the time. That’s what makes Dostoevsky all the more exciting for me. It’s like rummaging through a pile of presents on Christmas morning, what with the different translations, interpretations, notes, and citations. My main material was McDuff’s, I was reading Garnett’s translation on kindle and audiobook and sometimes alternating it with MacAndrew’s.
I do not understand Russian at all, but a good translation should be able to convey whatever the original author intended to relay. For sure, there were some things that got lost in translation, but I think in my case, reading multiple translations should bridge the gap? For foreign readers like me, translations are the way to be able to understand and experience Dostoevsky’s genius.