> And that is why one should never read any translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. They translate literary masterpieces word by word, with no appreciation of what the author is trying to accomplish or what makes a great work extraordinary.
P&V end up with a very readable and accessible translation for English speakers. For someone like myself who can read Russian newspapers, but struggles to finish older literature, it's not ideal, because I can look at the original text and see the lost poetry.
> Pevear explained that they first began translating when they happened to both be reading Crime and Punishment at the same time – Pevear in English, Volokhonsky in Russian – and they compared sentences and saw how radically different they were. Since then, they have developed a system: Volokhonsky makes the first draft, trying to translate as literally as possible [...], explaining any clichés or colloquialisms. Then Pevear looks at the “scribble” (as Volokhonsky calls it), and he “puts it into English” (Pevear said, sighing). Pevear asks Volokhonsky questions, and, in the creating of the third draft, she answers them. Finally, before sending anything off to their editor, Pevear reads the English version out loud while Volokhonsky follows along in the original Russian text.
On the contrary – I have read Crime and Punishment in both Russian and English. Where other translators eschew nuances for readability and "story," Pevear and Volokhonsky really try to somehow carry that nuance over across the cultural divide and preserve as much hidden meaning from the original as they can. Other English translations felt like books converted to be child's literature.
Perhaps your problem is less these translators, and more sufficiently complicated literature that needs some time to digest...
I contains a couple of passages comparing P&V to the more 'readable' translation by Anthony Briggs. If nothing else it will give you a good example of their style and let you decide for yourself if they're something for you.
