BookTalk.org

The diverse array of literary techniques and distinct voices in the novel makes its translation difficult, although The Brothers Karamazov has been translated from the original Russian into a number of languages. In English, the translation by Constance Garnett probably continues to be the most widely read. However, some have criticized Garnett for taking too much liberty with Dostoyevsky's text while translating the novel in a Victorian manner. To try to distinguish people, she had the lower-class characters speak in Cockney English. Another popular translation is by Julius Katzer, published by Progress Publishers in 1981 and later re-printed by Raduga Publishers Moscow. In 1958, Manuel Komroff released a translation of the novel, published by The New American Library of World Literature, Inc.[11] In 1976, Ralph Matlaw thoroughly revised Garnett's work for his Norton Critical Edition volume.[12] This in turn was the basis for Victor Terras' influential A Karamazov Companion.[13] In 1990 Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky released a new translation; it won a PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize in 1991 and garnered positive reviews from The New York Times Book Review and the Dostoyevsky scholar Joseph Frank, who praised it for being the most faithful to Dostoyevsky's original Russian.[14] The translation by Andrew R. MacAndrew is also highly regarded.