Translation comparisons
This page is only for the nineteenth century. Click here to go to the twentieth-century translation comparisons page.
Pushkin (1799-1837)
Евгений Онегин / Eugene Onegin (1823-1831)
Robert Chandler, “Some Recent Translations of Pushkin,” Slavic and East European Journal 53.4 (2009): 645-50, comparing translations by Nabokov, Johnston, Falen, Hofstadter, and Mitchell
Peter M. Lee, webpage [archived version] listing 43 translations and many versions of chapter 1, stanza 1
Stephen Saperstein Frug, blog with 10 English translations of chapter 1, stanza 1, and 8 translations of the last couplet of chapter 1, stanza 60
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the first 5-7 stanzas in translations by Spalding, Johnston, Falen, Clarke, and Mitchell
Маленькие трагедии / The Little Tragedies (1830)
Robert Chandler, “Some Recent Translations of Pushkin,” Slavic and East European Journal 53.4 (2009): 645-50, comparing translations by Falen, Mulrine, and Wood
Медный всадник / The Bronze Horseman (1833)
Peter M. Lee, webpage [archived version] listing 24 translations and many versions of lines 44-58
Gogol (1809-1852)
Вечера на хуторе близ Диканьки / Evenings at a Farmhouse near Dikanka (1831), also translated as Village Evenings near Dikanka and Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
Steve Dodson (Languagehat), post discussing the Garnett translation as revised by Kent
Мертвые души / Dead Souls (1842)
Robert A. Maguire, “Translating Dead Souls,” Ulbandus Review 6 (2002): 13-35 (see also this post about Maguire’s article)
Evan McMurry, post comparing translations by Hogarth, Pevear and Volokhonsky, and Rayfield
Goncharov (1812-1891)
Обломов / Oblomov (1859)
Barry P. Scherr, review in Slavic and East European Journal 55.3 (2011): 469-71, comparing translations by Hogarth, Duddington, Magarshack, Dunnigan, Pearl, and Schwartz
Lermontov (1814-1841)
Герой нашего времени / A Hero of Our Time (1840)
Boris Dralyuk, review in Slavic and East European Journal 54.3 (2010): 527-29, comparing translations by Parker, Nabokov, Longworth, Foote, Schwartz, Aplin, and Randall
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of translations of the beginning of the “Bela” section by Wisdom and Murray, Nabokov and Nabokov, Foote, Randall, and Slater
Сон / “The Dream” (1841)
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of translations by Nabokov and Bonver
Turgenev (1818-1883)
Отцы и дети / Fathers and Sons (1862), also translated as Fathers and Children
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Garnett, Pyman, Freeborn, Katz, and Hare
Dostoevskii (1821-1881)
Записки из мертвого дома / Notes from the House of the Dead (1861), also translated as The House of the Dead, Memoirs from the House of the Dead, and The House of the Dead, or Prison Life in Siberia
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning of chapter 1 in translations by Edwards, Garnett, Coulson, and Jakim
Записки из подполья / Notes from Underground (1864)
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Garnett, Matlaw, Coulson, Kentish, Pevear and Volokhonsky, Aplin, Jakim, and Wilks
Игрок / The Gambler (1866)
Boris Dralyuk, review in Slavic and East European Journal 56.1 (2012): 115-17, comparing translations by Garnett, Pevear and Volokhonsky, and Meyer
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Hogarth and Garnett
Преступление и наказание / Crime and Punishment (1866)
Richard Lourie, “Raskolnikov Says the Darndest Things,” The New York Times, April 26, 1992, comparing Garnett, McDuff, and Pevear and Volokhonsky
Boris Dralyuk, “All Is Permitted, All Over Again: Oliver Ready’s Translation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment,’” Los Angeles Review of Books, October 18, 2015, comparing Garnett, McDuff, Pevear and Volokhonsky, and Ready
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Garnett, Coulson, Monas, McDuff, and Pevear and Volokhonsky
Идиот / The Idiot (1868-69)
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Garnett, Martin, Carlisle and Carlisle, Myers, Pevear and Volokhonsky, Brailovsky, and McDuff
Бесы / The Devils (1871-72), also translated as Demons and The Possessed
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Garnett, Magarshack, Katz, Pevear and Volokhonsky, and Maguire
Братья Карамазовы / The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Garnett, MacAndrew, Pevear and Volokhonsky, McDuff, and Avsey
Nekrasov (1821-1877)
Кому на Руси жить хорошо / Who Can Be Happy in Russia? (about 1863-77), also translated as Who Can Live Happily in Russia? and Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia?
additional post comparing translations by Wiener/Coolidge and Soskice
Pisemskii (1821-1881)
list of translations, work by work
Chernyshevskii (1828-1889)
Что делать? / What Is to Be Done? (1863), also translated as A Vital Question; or, What Is to Be Done?
Michael R. Katz, “English Translations of What Is to Be Done?,” Slavic Review 46.1 (1987): 125-31, comparing translations by Tucker, Dole and Skidelsky, and Beraha
Tolstoi (1828-1910)
Детство / Childhood (1852)
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Hogarth, Edmonds, Dora O, and Rosengrant
Война и мир / War and Peace (1865-69)
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Garnett, Maude and Maude, Kropotkin, Komroff, Edmonds, Briggs, Bromfield, and Pevear and Volokhonsky
Анна Каренина / Anna Karenina (1875-77)
Richard Sheldon, “Problems in the English Translations of Anna Karenina,” in Essays in the Art and Theory of Translation, ed. Lenore A. Grenoble and John M. Kopper (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellon Press, 1997), pp. 231-64
C. J. G. Turner, “The Maude Translation of Anna Karenina: Some Observations,” Russian Language Journal 51: 168-70 (1997), pp. 233-52
Hugh McLean, “Which English Anna?,” Tolstoy Studies Journal 13 (2001), comparing translations by Pevear and Volokhonsky, Louise and Aylmer Maude rev. Gibian, Garnett rev. Kent/Berberova, Edmonds, Magarshack, and Carmichael
Liza Knapp, “Russian Editions and English Translations,” in Approaches to Teaching Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, ed. Knapp and Amy Mandelker (New York: MLA, 2003)
Masha Gessen, “New Translations of Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina,’” The New York Times, December 24, 2014, comparing translations by Garnett, Pevear and Volokhonsky, Bartlett, and Schwartz
Carol Apollonio, “Shapify,” The Times Literary Supplement, March 20, 2015, comparing translations by Bartlett and Schwartz, and to a lesser extent Pevear and Volokhonsky, Garnett, and Edmonds
Muireann Maguire, review in East-West Review, journal of the Great Britain–Russia Society, Fall 2015, comparing translations by Bartlett and Schwartz
Janet Malcolm, “Socks,” The New York Review of Books, June 23, 2016 issue (but online by June 3), comparing translations by Garnett, Pevear and Volokhonsky, Schwartz, and to a lesser extent Bartlett and Louise and Aylmer Maude
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Garnett, Maude and Maude, Edmonds, Gibian (revising the Maudes’ translation), Pevear and Volokhonsky, and Zinovieff and Hughes
Смерть Ивана Ильича / The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), also translated as The Death of Ivan Ilych
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Edmonds, Solotaroff, Briggs, and Dreiblatt
Воскресение / Resurrection (1899), also translated as The Awakening
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Smith, Maude, Edmonds, and Briggs
Хаджи-Мурат / Hadji Murat (1912), also translated as Hadji Murád and Hadji Murat: A Tale of the Caucasus
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning in translations by Maude, Carey, Aplin, Pevear and Volokhonsky, and Zinovieff and Hughes
Leskov (1831-1895)
list of translations, work by work
various short works (links to reviews by Chandler, Rayfield, and others comparing Pevear and Volokhonsky’s translations to others’)
Richard Pevear, response to Donald Rayfield, Literary Review (October 2013): 48 (no link, but see this post)
Соборяне / The Cathedral Clergy (1867-72), also translated as Cathedral Folk, Minster Folk, and Church Folks
Barry P. Scherr, review in Slavic and East European Journal 55.4 (2011): 642-44, comparing translations by Winchell and Hapgood
Jack Matlock, “Leskov into English: On Translating Soboryane (Church Folks),” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 2013
Chekhov (1860-1904)
Вишневый сад / The Cherry Orchard (1904)
Compare Translations, side-by-side comparison of the beginning of Act 1 in translations by Magarshack, Gill, Frayn, van Itallie, Senelick, Stoppard, and Upton
