Your translation is disgusting and not professionally.

[Tatiana]

I'm Russian and I know this book. A huge number of errors... "Of his head—was wearing a cowboy shirt, crumpled white trousers, and BLACK SNEAKERS". ...and BLACK SNEAKERS. Where have you seen it? So on each page.You should be ashamed.

[Katalin]

God, you are one feisty Russian! I am not quite sure if I should be ashamed or the translator or who? I have read this book in Hungarian in high school and I absolutely loved it. I have no idea about this translation, if your post was meant for me, all I can say, I just wanted to list this book among my favorite ones regardless of the fact I did not read this particular translation, so honestly, I do not feel ashamed, I feel happy that I have read it... I still totally don't get who should be ashamed:)

[Old-Barbarossa]

Which trans is being discussed please?
I'd like to avoid it...

[Tatiana]

Hi friend. I'm so sorry. I like this book too, but I don't like, how it was Is translated. It was terrible. I was talking about " sneakers". It's not correct, because this book was written more then 100 years ago. The translator should be ashamed. You have good tastes in book.

[Sarah]

I take your point - I didn't like this translation either. But it wasn't actually published until 1966 - Bulgakov finished writing it in 1937... (I believe it's the Burgin/Tiernan O'Connor translation we're talking about?)

[Broch]

Tatiana wrote: "Hi friend. I'm so sorry. I like this book too, but I don't like, how it was Is translated. It was terrible. I was talking about " sneakers". It's not correct, because this book was written more the..."

A bit of history:
sneakers are known since XIX century, mass production began in early XX.
Unfortunately being native speaker does not make you a good translator/interpreter and translation requires more than historical accuracy.

[Casey (Myshkin)]

Tatiana wrote: "Hi friend. I'm so sorry. I like this book too, but I don't like, how it was Is translated. It was terrible. I was talking about " sneakers". It's not correct, because this book was written more the..."

You apparently don't know this book if you think it was written more than 100 years ago. You apparently don't know your own country's history if you think this book could have been set more than 100 years ago.

The translation is fine, the expectations of this reader are askew.

[dely]

I was too curious and so I took my edition to read the translation:
"mine" wears black loafers (or moccasins).

Instead of telling us that the translations is wrong why don't you tell us the right Russian word?

PS: I read it in Italian, translation by Vera Dridso.

[Anna]

In case anyone is interested, this is the best translation I found: http://www.amazon.com/The-Master-Marg...

[Katalin]

Apparently there have been several versions of this book, I read it about 25 years ago, probably a censored version. I think there were like 4 version the last one from 1940, but it didn't get published till the 70's when some parts of it of course got removed and other parts changed. Then in the 80's it got re-edited on the basis of the last version from 1940 and some manuscripts. It would probably be a good idea to read it again!

[M]

This is a similar problem to Kafka and his works

[D.A.]

I picked up this book last week due to recommendations I'd seen here and had no desire to finish it. I moved on after 50 pages. The writing itself was so choppy: short declarative sentences one after the other, with little or no imagery or depth of language, it left me cold. Is this a stylistic decision, a particular school of writing, or just a horrible translation? I had the Burgin - O'Connor translation.

[dely]

Michael wrote: "This is a similar problem to Kafka and his works"

Do you mean that Kafka looses a lot with the translations?
It was my same thought and so I bought a collection of short stories by Kafka in German but I must still read the book.
Do you have read both, original and translation?

[M]

When Kafka died he told his friend to destroy all his works. This friend never did, and it is possible Kafka secretly never wanted him to. Anyways this friend edited his works giving it a more Victorian style - if I recall correctly.

Versions now are being published which are true to the original manuscripts.

[dely]

Michael wrote: "When Kafka died he told his friend to destroy all his works. This friend never did, and it is possible Kafka secretly never wanted him to. Anyways this friend edited his works giving it a more Vi..."

Thanks ;)

[Blumenfeld]

I read this book in Russian and absolutely loved it. However, I've read some English translation too. Unfortunately, I can't recall whose work it was but it was rather... shall we say, obnoxious? If I were an English speaker, I'd never pick it up, I'd forget it altogether! And it's a shame!

[Mike]

Fascinating! Now that I come to think of it, I've never seen an English translation of a Soviet author that was not appalling (other than Solzhenitsyn & Co. ).

The Communists' translation policy was simple: any author who showed even a shadow of hostility toward their ideology didn't get translated, or even mentioned (I'll never forgive them for depriving me of Heinlein during my childhood).

Could it be that the... opposing force had a more subtle approach: sponsor purposefully incompetent translations, so pre-subversives may see just how disgusting the Red "art" is for themselves? We certainly see this in news media today, when apparently fluent speeches made by foreign... unfriendlies in their native languages are "translated" as heavily accented, broken English, instantly removing what little credibility there was to begin with.

Perhaps this is a good thing: if someone were to translate Strugatsky Brothers' "The Inhabited Island" into an actual, readable English, too many people may notice that the main difference between us and the "Island Empire" is the paint job on our submarine fleet.

[Dodo]

D.A. wrote: "I picked up this book last week due to recommendations I'd seen here and had no desire to finish it. I moved on after 50 pages. The writing itself was so choppy..."
Might well be it`s the translation. For instance, what I`ve rated here is the source text, not the translation(s) into English...

Veliander wrote: " ... Now that I come to think of it, I've never seen an English translation of a Soviet author that was not appalling ..."
Soviet has little to do with translation quality. Matter is, you seldom (perhaps never) get a good translation into English from languages other than the rest of the Big 5. Well, sometimes from Russian, too, but that`s rather an exception than the rule.

[Richard]

I'm grateful for the discussion of translations of "The Master and Margarita". I've been thinking of reading it a second time, but it turns out the translation I have is the one writers have severely criticized here. I'll look for another one. Thanks.

[Randal]

So Tatiana, even though your English is not perfect "translation is ... not professionally," and you have the date the book was written wrong by half a century or so, you're criticizing the work of the translator.

[Craig]

I don't read Russian, but I found the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation to be as good as everyone says TMaM is supposed to be. I'm reading their "The Idiot" now, and it's great.

[Richard]

Craig wrote: "I don't read Russian, but I found the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation to be as good as everyone says TMaM is supposed to be. I'm reading their "The Idiot" now, and it's great."

Thanks for your recommendation. I've just ordered this translation from Amazon.

[Jacob]

Translations, in my experience, always tend to fall-short.

[Peters100]

I am not an expert in translation but I also found the Pevear & Volokhonsky version good, there being only a few minor issues.

If anybody is thinking of buying a tranlation of Anna Karenina, then having read all of the highly acclaimed versions I feel qualified to recommend the Pevear & Volokhonsky version, which is very good and probably the best.

[Danne]

Peters100 wrote: "I am not an expert in translation but I also found the Pevear & Volokhonsky version good, there being only a few minor issues.

If anybody is thinking of buying a tranlation of Anna Karenina, then ..."
I agree ...
Richard Pevear is an american who teaches russian literature and translation..

[Peters100]

Thanks for the feedback Danne.

I have added a fresh impression of the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky version of M&M, which is summed up in the following extract from my review:
'I first read this book in the summer of 2011, and thoroughly enjoyed it when read fast and not bothering to understand all the names, characters, and themes. However, having recently reread the book and researched all the twists and turns, and I am now of the opinion that the crazy sections featuring Woland & retinue are somewhat overdone and rather tedious. Also, the prose in these sections is a tad awkward. I discussed this with a friend, who is an expert on Russian to English translation, and we formed the view that whilst the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation (Russian to North American ‘English’) is very accurate, it doesn’t always manage to convey Bulgakov’s subtle and rather quirky wit in a easily readable style. Possibly the translation needs developing into a special adaptation, that is both a pleasure to read and yet fully conveys the author’s unusual wit?
The more ‘normal’ sections concerning Pontius Pilate or The Master & Margarita constitute over half of the book and are a pleasure to read.'

In the case of Anna Karenina there is no problem as Tolstoy used a more 'normal' prose, which Richard & Larissa translate very well and produce a marvellous book.

[Sirvard]

Read in original and you will enjoy to the fullest!:)

[Dodo]

Sirvard wrote: "Read in original and you will enjoy to the fullest!:)"


But Yes!!!