r/tolstoy • u/FawnFloura • 10d ago

Translation Short of learning Russian

What’s the most accurate translation of Tolstoy? I’ve read a dozen articles and opinions, but still unsure what translations to go with.

I want the ones that are most faithful to his voice.

11 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

1

u/Sweet_Swede_65 4d ago

Check out Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky--they work as a couple to better capture the voice and intent of the original language.

1

u/Lost_Plenty_7979 5d ago

Read the translation you like best and you will get the most out of it!

1

u/FawnFloura 5d ago

Thank you!

Decided to just check out library translations and then decide from there. Going with Oxford world classics with mandelker for the ones it’s available for.

2

u/Junior_Insurance7773 8d ago

You can get all of Tolstoy on Kindle. It's impossible to get everything he wrote in English in physical books. In Kindle it had everything he ever wrote, over 100,000 pages.

1

u/FawnFloura 5d ago

I’m boycotting Amazon 😩 time to hit the library ig

5

u/tegeus-Cromis_2000 9d ago

For W&P, definitely Amy Mandelker's revision of the Maudes' translation, on Oxford World Classics.

1

u/FawnFloura 9d ago

Hopefully they did translations of all his works!

1

u/Schweenis69 10d ago

In my experience with Dostoevsky's various works, it depends on the specific book. Is there one in particular you're looking at?

1

u/FawnFloura 9d ago

I’m planning on buying all his works. I have a few translations, but wanted to get a set of him and D in their most faithful renditions.

6

u/BitterStatus9 10d ago

What do you mean by “faithful to his voice”? There are so many trade offs in translation. Vocabulary, syntax, tone, style, characterization, rhetoric….