Crime and Punishment in Read a book from each country

Jan 13, 2014 Simon Hollway rated it really liked it

Shelves: russia, 2015

The new Oliver Ready translation is a right old page-turner – not something I expected to say about a 19th century Russian novel. Ready's ready turn of phrase creates a hothouse atmosphere; the text skips and trots along – not one stumble. I didn't stub my toe on a single anachronistic word or phrase. He literally breathes new life into Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, liberating it from its decrepitude.

A decade or two down the road and Crime and Punishment became a different and far more compelling r The new Oliver Ready translation is a right old page-turner – not something I expected to say about a 19th century Russian novel. Ready's ready turn of phrase creates a hothouse atmosphere; the text skips and trots along – not one stumble. I didn't stub my toe on a single anachronistic word or phrase. He literally breathes new life into Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, liberating it from its decrepitude.

A decade or two down the road and Crime and Punishment became a different and far more compelling read for me. I noticed for the first time, the theatrical nature of the extended chapters in Raskalnikov’s garret, while he is first confined. One character after another enters and exeunts, naturally delivering exposition and driving the plot, that continues beyond the garret doors, onwards - one of the neat tricks and pre-requisites of a sit-com writer. It just felt right and deliciously Ibseny and au courant, not stilted and stuffy as in other translations.

Oliver Ready has restored my faith (a wonderful Daily Mail phrase!) in Russian literature after it had been catastrophically crippled by Pevear and Volokhonsky, whose anachronisms and bizarre grammar remind me of an end-of-the-pier comedian struggling with a Nazi accent for a B-grade war movie.

All the fustiness and creaking structure of previous translations was kaput. And what a restoration job this is - nitro-morsing caked on layers of grime and artifice. I finally felt justified in my reactions to this holy of holies. I now feel proud and confident enough to state that, if I were seated opposite Razumikhin at a dinner party, I would launch across the table and strangle him before he’d had time to finish one of his bulgy-eyed, lacrimose laments. I would then diligently watch for the slightest sign of an air bubble in the minestrone soup into which his happy-clappy head had just slumped. Any indication of life still unextinguished, I would plunge my dessert spoon into his back to make sure. Such would be the superhuman force of my anger and disgust at his utterly unjustified enthusiasm, the dull edged spoon would slice through his vertebrae like a steaming cat through butter. I would then smoke a cigar and leave, satisfied.

And as for Sonya? How irritating can one person be? She trembles and shakes so constantly and so violently, at the merest whiff of incident, it’s no wonder all her teeth aren’t chipped. Life for her must resemble an endless four wheel drive across treacherous, bumpy terrain. She's like a washing machine perpetually stuck on the final, shuddering spin cycle. Naive little Sonya is so weepy and shaky and trembly and hand-wringy one wonders how she goes about her (un)chosen profession without a paramedic permanently on standby.

It is a pity that Raskalnikov’s compelling psycho-drama has focus pulled away by a weak supporting cast, hamming and mugging for all they are worth. However, it's not a major defect as the miasmic force of Raskalnikov's state of mind is hypnotising. Ironically, I was thrilled and delighted that for the first time I could lucidly remark upon the novel's good and not so good points - thank you Oliver Ready's translation! This new translation has downgraded Crime and Punishment to four and half stars from the former five stars that my schooldays emblazoned it with. However, I enjoyed it far, far more as a four star novel than as a five star set text. Ta-dah!
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