Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
I think for books like Don Quixote, i.e., honking huge pre-20th century works not written in English, the quality of the translation is critical. The public domain translations can be impossible, translating archaic language and form into archaic language and form. If you're going to do it, it's worth spending the money on a current translation.
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You are so right. The quality of the translation makes all the difference. For some reason, more recent translations of many of the books that have been mentioned here have made all the difference for me. For War and Peace and, for that manner, any of the Russians the recent translations by Pevear and Volkhonsky can't be beat. After slogging through the Constance Garnett translation of W and P several years ago, I picked up Pevear and Volkhonsky's translation and felt that I finally discovered why the book is considered a classic. After several abortive tries at older translations, I found Edith Grossman's 2003 translation of Don Quixote to be very readable and finally made my way through that book. Last, any discussion of translated classics shouldn't leave out the wonderful recent translations of The Iliad and the Odyssey by Robert Fagles.