Which Translation to Read?

[David]

So there's a decision to be made right up front by everyone: which translation are you going to read? (We're not going to try to read the same one - this is an individual decision.). The choices are roughly three: The original C.K. Scott Moncrieff translation, the Revised and Enlarged Terence Kilmarting/D.J. Enright version of the Scott Moncrieff translation, and the recent series of translations by various authors, starting with Lydia Davis' Swann's Way. These last are not all available domestically (yet), but you can get them from the UK and Canada.

Here's an article from the Paris Review on choosing a translation, as well as recent pieces from The New Yorker as well as The Guardian and a piece from Slate that explains why you still can't get the last three volumes of the newest translation domestically.

What translation are you thinking of reading? If you've already read more than one translation, do you have any observations to share?

[David]

Personally, I figure I will probably read Proust more than once before I die, so I'm going with the Moncrieff/Enright version for my first time through. In addition to an old crusty-dusty 2 volume hardcover that I've had for ages - unread - I recently acquired an affordable second-hand copy of the latest Folio hardcover edition of these, in six volumes, on the principal that Proust probably would've wanted me to have a nice indulgent creamy paper kind of reading experience. I've ordered from Canada affordable paperback editions of the newer translations, which I'll save for my second time through.

[Dorothy]

I have the revised Moncrieff/Kilmartin/Mayor/Enright version from modern library for iBooks, which I bought about 2 yr ago, that I will finally be reading in January.

[Dianne]

I have the most recent versions starting with Lydia Davis and actually did order the last two volumes from the U.K. already! I also bought Patrick Alexander's reader's guide.

[Mickey]

I've read somewhere that the new Yale University Press edited version of Moncrieff (by William C. Carter) is also quite good—not sure how much I would trust that one.

[Elizabeth]

David wrote: "Personally, I figure I will probably read Proust more than once before I die, so I'm going with the Moncrieff/Enright version for my first time through. In addition to an old crusty-dusty 2 volume ..."
I've got those! Plus the more modern paperbacks.

[Marcelita]

Mickey wrote: "I've read somewhere that the new Yale University Press edited version of Moncrieff (by William C. Carter) is also quite good—not sure how much I would trust that one."

We are currently reading Carter's edition in the Boston Athenaeum's Proust Reading Group. It's the only annotationed version and is a joy to read.
(The last cycle, we read the Modern Library-Enright.)

The Los Angeles Proust group also reads Carter's "Swann's Way."

So yes, you can trust (Proust's American biographer) William C. Carter's version....and Yale University Press' judgement. ;)
William C. Carter's "Swann's Way" (Yale University Press)
William C. Carter's "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower" (Yale University Press)

Professor Carter's Online Course:
Proust Online — A Self-Paced Course

[Elizabeth]

I grew up (literally--I was ten when I started) reading the Moncrieff, and I love his translation, but I must say (having read newer ones) that he...well...censors Proust a little bit, here and there.

[Lxp]

I quite like the Penguin translations and have also read the Moncrieff. The important thing is to dive in and start reading - the edition is not all that important. It is interesting to read as many versions as possible, including the original, to appreciate the delicate nature of translation.

[Natalie]

I have Lydia Davis for Volume 1, and then will read the Moncrieff/Kilmartin. I am not certain how the Penguin Proust project will play out.