James Lawrence 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?

James Lawrence This is the best translation I've seen (Pevear and Volokhonsky).

By now I suspect you've already read whatever translation you had. But for others new…moreThis is the best translation I've seen (Pevear and Volokhonsky).

By now I suspect you've already read whatever translation you had. But for others new to the task, the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation is alive, faithful to the original (faith to the original versions is something other translators have transgressed against, often with unhappy results) and fascinating.

The Kindle Edition of Dec. 2008 is in particular a joy as it removes all the page flipping back and forth to footnote pages: just tap the note at the end, say, of a passage in French (2% of the manuscript, mostly in the beginning stages of the story, is in French) and you're rewarded with a popup translation or a page with the translation, from which another quick tap takes you right back to where you left off.

Amazing.

Ditto with historical footnotes which are usually brief and helpful for context. And with unknown words, which Kindle serves up a translation for quick as a flash.

This is Kindle, and translating, done right.

The previous version I started with, and abandoned, was the Maude. It's accomplished for its time (1920s I believe) but Tolstoy's voice, the deliberate use of repetitive words in passages, the French most of all, are adulterated, modified or even cut. How is this defensible translation if it changes the voice of an author merely to make modern readers more comfortable?

And I thought the Maude version was relatively boring and lacking in color. I read three chapters and sought out another, and happy to have found Pevear and V.

Also, an excellent introduction by Pevear gives you deep insight into the commitment the translators made to preserving in every instance the nuance, power and sheer life force of Tolstoy's literary voice.

I'm still reading it...and loving it.(less)

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