Are there abridged versions?

[Grant]

After reading an abridged version of Count of Monte Cristo, I'm paranoid I'm gonna do the same with other books. The Crime & Punishment version I have is the "Bantam Classic" version translated by Constance Garnett. Loved her translation of War & Peace by the way. But I can't find any info on it anywhere. It doesn't say abridged or unabridged anywhere in the book. How can I check?

There are 472 pages, 6 parts with part 6 having 8 chapters and an epilogue. Sound right?

[Bryn]

God I hope not.
No, no, I'm fairly certain there cannot and shall not ever be. No-one on the planet has the ill-judgement or the temerity.

Monte Cristo is a different kettle of fish.

Constance Garnett translation not abridged. Don't sweat.

[Casey (Myshkin)]

Your copy is unabridged, however (and I feel bad saying this since you liked her translation of W&P) I would caution you to stay away from any Constance Garnett translations. She is known to have taken major liberties with the tone, style, and texts of the works she translated. Nobel Prize winning Russian poet Joseph Brodsky once said, "The reason English-speaking readers can barely tell the difference between Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is that they aren't reading the prose of either one. They're reading Constance Garnett." I would recommend the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation instead.

[Bryn]

I told the difference. As a young creature I hated War & Peace (sorry) and worshipped Dostoyevsky, both in Constance Garnett.

Translations are arguable. She's not as bad as she's bagged out to be. I've heard from readers who still prefer her and make a case. I don't think we need put people off, when a lot of folk new to D. have her ebooks or cheap paperbacks.

[Casey (Myshkin)]

Only my opinion, but I do think it's kinda a big thing. Translation is an art unto itself, and when you have multiple translations to choose from I think it's a good thing to know what you're getting into with each. The fact of the matter is that Garnett took major liberties with the texts she translated. Whether or not you think that is a bad thing is up to you. Whether or not you think that is a big deal is up to you. All I'm saying is that you should know that this is the case, and that it's my personal opinion that you should be wary of her translations.

[Bryn]

I know, mate. I love D. and I collect translations. Translation is enormous. I read them side by side and spot the differences.

I've seen other things said. Joseph Frank, who did the biography, wrote in 1976 (before P&V) "I have used the translations of Constance Garnett because she takes fewer liberties with the literal meaning than more recent translators."

[Pirate]

Sorry, but I can't imagine wanting to read an abridged version of anything. Nothing could be more insulting to an author than an abridged version of his work.

Here's an abridged version of the post just above.

I mate. love and collect. Translation enormous. read side side spot differences. I've other said. Frank, did biography, in (before) "have the of Garnett she fewer with literal than recent."

Understood?

[Pirate]

By the way, Crime and Punishment was one of those books in the trunk that kept me sane in the jungle.

[Gary]

Casey (Myshkin) wrote: "Your copy is unabridged, however (and I feel bad saying this since you liked her translation of W&P) I would caution you to stay away from any Constance Garnett translations. She is known to have ..."

Agreed

[Grant]

Thanks for the help people. I'm still gonna stick with Garnett's translation because I enjoy her style. The comments are noted though. Maybe for my next Dostoevsky book I'll make sure to try a different translation.

And yeah, I don't know why they offer unabridged anything. I was pretty upset after I read a 600 page version of Monte Cristo and then found out the unabridged is like 1200-1400 pages. What bothers me is that they kinda include "unabridged" in the footnotes or in small text at the bottom. It should be clearly advertised as such. I wasted my time reading half of Monte Cristo.

[Grant]

Also....loving the book so far. I'm just getting into Russian literature after War And Peace and I'm really enjoying it. I wasn't expecting it to be so different from W&P. I'm about 100 pages in and hope to finish it this week.

[Paula]

I have had and loved, for decades, Constance Garnett's translation of Crime and Punishment. I've glanced over one or two other translations; they didn't seem that different, though I may now (thanks, Casey) the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation too. Any excuse to read the world's great novel again.

[Mind]

I've read the Garnett translation twice and loved it.

I think more people would read Russian literature(WARNING: heresy!) if they changed all the 12-syllable names to "George" and "Sam" and "Mary," etc.---and I've studied Russian. The patronymics are bad enough, and the nicknames make it worse.

But abridgement is to be avoided at all cost.

[Rebecca]

All of Garnet's translations are abridged in some way, she left out anything she didn't understand. words.. sentences... paragraphs...

I think the nicknames get easier once you get used to the Russian system, but it's true I usually recognize characters by the first 3 letters of each of their names and if it comes to talking about a book out loud I embarrass myself saying things like "Razmoonkin"

[Lucy Day]

Every translation makes debatable choices about exactly how to convey the source text, but according to my research, the major translations of Crime and Punishment are all unabridged in the sense that they don't leave out whole chapters. There are a couple of short adaptations (ESL, children's, graphic novel, and manga versions). Check out my detailed illustrated list of translations and adaptations here: https://welovetranslations.com/2020/0...