Legal US source for Robin Buss translation of The Count of Monte Cristo?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Funny thing is, I actually find the older version easier to read in this particular example.

The older version uses words that have gone out of daily use. And those words I had to figure out by context... While I like to think my vocabulary is decent, it's still mostly filled with "modern" words...

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

The older version uses words that have gone out of daily use. And those words I had to figure out by context...

I've found that the B&N Classics annotated edition of TCOMC is pretty good for the context stuff, as they have footnotes which not only gloss some of the obscure terms, but they also explain things like relevant RL history that was happening at the time which Dumas was referring/alluding to in his story and point out in-story callbacks to earlier developments you might have forgotten or not grasped*.

If you'd like to try the B&N Classics editions out, you get access to a bunch of them free when you download the free NookStudy app, and there's a list of the "for-educational-purposes" freebie ones over at the Free NookBooks Summary blog. TCOMC is not one of them, but they offer The Three Musketeers.

If you're not in the US/Canada and don't want to go messing around with B&N's geo-restrictions and/or don't like supplying a credit card for the DRM on their free books just to try one, then a simple account signup will give you, un-geo-restricted and DRM-free and no CC info needed, copies of their B&N Classics versions of Pride & Prejudice, Dracula, and Little Women so you can have a look at what the series is like before you decide whether or not it's worth it to hoop-jump for the others.

Personally, I've always thought their annotations on P&P were especially well done and really helped with understanding the underlying stuff under the immediate obvious story.

* Disclaimer: I've only read about a few chapters in so I couldn't tell you if does that good a job for the entire book, or if some of the footnotes inadvertently spoiler you for other portions of the story.

[Sweetpea]

Well, the reason I'm not as fluent in English is because it's not my native language

But my copy has plenty of footnotes. And I've had it for a few years already...

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

But my copy has plenty of footnotes.

I'm starting to think that explanatory footnotes are key when it comes to reading the much older classics or the ones done in translation.

But then, I like annotated editions in general.

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I bought the Buss translation. I thought it was good, but I still missed something (I generally read the Count's story once a year). And that is in the use of language

OK I give up. Which one is which?

[HarryT]

Which what is what?

Penguin Classics use the 1996 translation by Robin Buss.

Every other English-language version that I'm aware of uses the anonymous 1846 translation that was commissioned by the original British publisher, Chapman and Hall.

[pholy]

The two quotes are from post #9. I'm pretty sure the first paragraph is from the new translation; it seems to have simplified the language considerably. I rather enjoyed the second, presumably older, paragraph, as the language was much more vivid.

[Sweetpea]

Yes, the first came from the Penguin version, the second from my PG version. I rather thought the Penguin version was "dumbed down", less a challenge to read... The story is still the same (and I think still brilliant), but still...