Dwight Penny answers “I haven't read the translation listed...”

Caitlin asked this question about Don Quixote:

I haven't read the translation listed above, but I'm currently reading a translation by Smollet (I believe is the name) and it's absolutely horrid. I've read enough of the book (in extremely easy) Spanish to know when the translator is taking artistic liberties, but even some of the footnotes in my book acknowledge that the translator has changed entire words! does anyone know a better version?

Dwight Penny I just read, or rather listened to the audiobook of Edith Grossman's 2003 translation. I liked it a lot. A huge amount of the book is dialogue among t…moreI just read, or rather listened to the audiobook of Edith Grossman's 2003 translation. I liked it a lot. A huge amount of the book is dialogue among the characters. She manages to capture the distinct speech of the erudite and upright Don Quixote, an the wise/fool peasant squire Sancho wonderfully and entertainingly. The language never felt bogged down or unnatural. Worth a try.

You apparently aren't alone in hating Tobias Smollett. Lawrence Sterne, who wrote Tristram Shandy, in which he constantly sung the praises of Cervantes, mocked Smollett by creating a character, an author, named "Smellfungus", in his honor.(less)

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