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Anonymous
| I want to reread Anna Karenina for the first time since college. A friend and I are going to get the same edition so we can read it together. Is Constance Garnett still the best translation? Any recommendations for a better translation? Thanks. |
Anonymous
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I really enjoyed the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation. I think they won an award for it, but what mattered to me is that is was very readable while feeling true to Tolstoy's language and intent. It flows very nicely without seeming like it changed the text to do so. From what I read about the translation, it's about as close as you can get to a literal translation while still being readable.
Enjoy! Anna Karenina is my favorite book! |
Anonymous
| It's my favorite book, too. Come back and let us know! I read the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation when I re-read it a decade ago. Sigh. I might have to re-read it again. All happy families ... |
Anonymous
| Thanks, PPs. I'd read that the P&V translation is excellent, so I may switch to that from my original plan to reread the Garnett translation. I'm excited to be reading this book again! |
Anonymous
| There was a great article in the New Yorker about how flawed the Garnett translation is. |
Anonymous
| Thanks - you've all inspired me to read this book! |
Anonymous
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Love Anna Karenina and sure you'll enjoy it too!
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Anonymous
I first read it in college , in Russian (I'm a native Russian speaker), quite a few years ago, and re-read it fairly recently. And the story took on a totally different angle for me!! Even the perception of characters changed the second time around (I started feeling sort of bad for Karenina's husband, something I couldn't even fathom in my early twenties). So, if you have time, go for it, re-read the book, you'll love it.. again! |
Anonymous
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Anna Karenina is my least favorite heroine in books and Madame Buttrfly in Opera because they both kill themselves over a man.
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Anonymous
Thanks for the spoiler. |
Anonymous
I'm not the previous poster, but c'mon -- that's sort of like saying someone spoiled Moby Dick for you by saying it's about a whale hunt. |
Anonymous
SPOILER ALERT -- DO NOT READ ANALYSIS BELOW! Interestingly, my feeling is that she does not kill herself for a man, although a literal reading might give that impression. I think Tolstoy is making a statement about the impossibility of a woman, even a beautiful, high-ranking, wealthy, intelligent woman of feeling, countering the social forces that shape her world. If you think about it, returning to her husband was a viable option for her or even simply continuing to maintain a separate residence. She had more leeway than the vast majority of her coevals. But she chose not to continue in that life and I believe that decision had to do with things other than Vronsky, who clearly, even from the very beginning, was not worth her love. |
Anonymous
| Don't just read the book. Study the history when the book came out. Was that not the time when one of the Grand dukes really did have a baby with someones wife? |
Anonymous
Madame Bovary. But I love the book. |
Anonymous
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To the native Russian speaker: lucky you! I read it in German (native German speaker here) first time, as that's closer to Russian than English. Loved it. Read it again in English, still liked it. BUt it has been years, maybe now I will read it again in the new translation mentioned. I bet some of the PPs are right, I'll have a different perspective.
Anyone here like Dostoevsky and Pushkin? I should have majored in Lit. Sigh. But I guess I'd be poorer. 
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