/lit/ - Literature

the idiot is kino

Dosto is valid

>>19099400
and heckin' cute
>>19099389
just finished it. Very nice novel, edifying like no other I've read (except TBK) but I wish he chose Aglaya in the end

>>19099386
>Is Dostoevsky worth the hype
No
>where do i start
The Portrait of a Lady

Dostoevsky is the Michael Jordan of novelists.
He is overhyped, but he is also the greatest novelist ever.
Read Crime and Punishment

>>19099386
you know dosto is a good writer because it sometimes takes years for the book to really to sink in

t. read C&P and BK and some minor stories

>>19099386
Crime and Punishment. Literally my favorite book

>>19099478
unironically want to learn russian to read the classics in the original

>>19099478
which translation

>>19099468
brainlet

>>19099386
I'm starting with The Brothers Karamazov and it's great so far. I half-read Notes from Underground a good while back and I thought it was good, but life and a rather bad translation made me stop

>>19099558
didnt read in english, cant help you there

the worst experience with dosto are bad translations. i did the stupid mistake of actually ordering a straight from russian one of C&P, but buying The Idiot from what they had. It was translated to French first and is utter garbage.

can anyone recommend the best translations?

>>19099693
Just avoid Garnett, rest are usually fine

>>19099693
Read Garnett, avoid the rest.

>>19099693
this >>19099715 fag is just baiting, listen to >>19099708
Garnett's command of english is horrible, her translations inaccurate. Clunky, inelegant, all around poor.

>>19099632
That's too bad anon, hope you didn't lose much money.

Tangential, but there's this argentine writer from Borges's time who had a very particular style. A lot of people really disliked it. It's generally agreed that he learned it from bad spanish translations of russian writers, lol

>>19099708
>>19099749
can you guys just fucking say which translation to read holy shit

>>19099708
>>19099749
Try again.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-pevearsion-of-russian-literature/
http://www.thinkaloud.ru/feature/berdy-lan-PandV-e.html
https://www.librarything.com/topic/260074
https://readingroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/the-art-of-translation/#comment-206
http://languagehat.com/the-translation-wars/
http://languagehat.com/more-translation-wars/
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/06/23/socks-translating-anna-karenina/
http://languagehat.com/janet-malcolm-vs-pv/
https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/why-i-dont-read-pevear-and-volokhonsky-vtranslations/
https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/01/the-pevearvolokhonsky-hype-machine-and-how-it-could-have-been-stopped-or-at-least-slowed-down/
https://johnmcwhorter.substack.com/p/pevear-and-volokhonsky-are-indeed
>>19099693
>>19099809
Read Constance Garnett.

>>19099809
Literally anything except Garnett is fine, I personally like Avsey a lot. McDuff is also alright.

>>19099829
Commit suicide. Spamming tangentially-related links, some of which even speak negatively about Garnett just to win an argument? Pretty fucking pathetic.

>>19099867
Thank you

>>19099809
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

>>19099829
>click on a random link
>Ctrl+F Garnett
>"She was a pioneer of translating, that’s for sure, but I think there are problems because she just left bits out if she couldn’t translate them…."
I guess I am avoiding Garnett, thanks.

P&V being the best is all publisher hype bullshit. Do not believe their lies. Do the Oxford World Classics editions and you generally can't go wrong. I did Avsey for BK and McDuff for C&P. Trying to knock out The Idiot and Demons before the end of the year.

>>19099386
You have to read Dosty at the right place and the right time. He's perfect for an intelligent, angsty young man who doubts everything but is searching for something greater. However he requires a tremendous investment of patience to properly appreciate and is inconsistent. He's a maximalist, who some writers would consider sloppy. The patterns of value in Dostoevsky's work take time to make themselves apparent; they do not evince themselves in every sentence but emerge chapter by chapter. He is no great stylist, but brings to bear a profound humanity, the wisdom of those who have suffered, and extraordinary intellect and soul. And he really gets what makes people tick, especially angsty self-aware lost young men. As Nietzche said, "Dostoevsky is the only psychologist from whom I have anything to learn."

>>19101194
>intelligent, angsty young man
Well, two out of four isn't so bad
You sold me

>>19099879
this. one of the few times you can trust the general opinion and be fine. don't overthink it and just stick with this. other translations are a bit dry and lack in their delivery (although do certain specific things very well)

>>19101365
So what is it? A stupid, angsty old man? An intelligent, calm young woman?

>>19101455
It's not fun to just tell
But yeah, first guess. A not quite young, rather dumb man

>>19099809
Read a small passage from each translation and come to your own conclusion, faggot