Utsab Nath answers “I'm trying to find the best translation...”

Amy asked this question about War and Peace:

I'm trying to find the best translation available on kindle as I live on an island with no bookshops or viable postal service. Any advice?

Utsab Nath A few years ago, I read a piece in The New Yorker by David Remnick (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...) in which he asserted that the couple, Ri…moreA few years ago, I read a piece in The New Yorker by David Remnick (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...) in which he asserted that the couple, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, had emerged as the definitive translators of Russian classics from Gogol to Tolstoy because of their precise interpretation of original syntax.

Although, just awhile ago, I read a piece in Commentary by Gary Morsen (https://www.commentarymagazine.com/ar...) which totally rubbished the couple's translation work as inert and entirely lacking in critical and literary sensitivity and attributed much of their acclaim to an organised marketing campaign in the publishing world.

I am currently on Constance Garnett's translation of War and Peace, and will probably head to the Pevear-Volokhonsky translation of Demons after this.

Since I am a little confused about the merits of either translator, anyone cares to weigh in?(less)

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