Penguin Classics

[Anonymous No.23291842]

Does /lit/ trust Penguin Classics translations of world literature? It's how I consume all of my classics and sometimes I get nervous about the quality of the work I'm reading.

[Anonymous No.23291844]

>>23291842
Yea they’re good

[Anonymous No.23291855]

>>23291842
Nah they’re shit

[Anonymous No.23291858]

Depends. Always check who's translating it and if it's a direct translation.

[Anonymous No.23291860]

>>23291842
There aren't that many other publishers beside Oxford classics, maybe Hackett with newer translations of classics.

[Anonymous No.23291874]

>>23291842
Depends, like >>23291858 said
I liked their Maguire translation of demons by dostoyevsky
So always check out who the translator is

[Anonymous No.23291941]

>>23291842
>nervous about the quality
Unless, Max Lawton did the translating the reader runs the risk of not reading a quality translation?

[Anonymous No.23291956]

>>23291844
>>23291855
lol

[Anonymous No.23292017]

>>23291842
There’s no publisher that magically picks the “best” translation. Sometimes they commission new ones and that’s hit and miss. The cheapskates use old translations because they’re copyright free. That’s not necessarily bad, but often has archaic language because it’s 100 years old.

All the big books have some debates about what the best translation is, and people fall into camps over their favs. Note that few with an opinion about translations have actually bothered to read the same book in different translations. They just peeked into an alternative version and didn’t like it.

The next level discussion is what makes a good translation, which varies with the book. Is it a heroic poem? Do you need to preserve the meter? (Illiad/Odyssey) Is it better to modernize the language or does it sound better in archaic translation (Shakespeare/KJV). How closely do translators follow foreign customs vs translate it to be comprehensible (Russian lit/Japanese lit).

[Anonymous No.23292455]

I'm afraid there's no one publisher, you'll have to do your own research.

In terms of material however the penguin books are real mess. They crease easily (which you might not care about) and the black coating/ black film that they use has a bad habit of peeling off. I took a translation of Leopardy with me to Sicily and it looks like I dipped the thing in acid.

Otherwise they don't generally overdo it with the notes which is a good practice, compared to Oxford. And do a reasonable job of editing down scholarship.

[Anonymous No.23292469]

>>23292455
>Otherwise they don't generally overdo it with the notes which is a good practice, compared to Oxford
Vathek and the teenage writings of Jane Austen have more pages dedicated to notes than to the actual work.

[Anonymous No.23292482]

>>23292469
that's bad but Oxford overdoes it with the footnotes so that sometimes you get literally two lines of text per multiple pages of footnotes.
For whatever reason poetry editions suffer from it badly.

Imo the Norton critical editions are a good example of how to do student texts.

[Anonymous No.23292487]

>>23291842
I feel like they're quite adequate, mostly have a good reputation, though I've heard that Oxford has better. Generally I found that between a good and a "really good" translation doesn't really matter that much to reading experience.

[Anonymous No.23292494]

>>23292455
>it looks like I dipped the thing in acid
can you post a picture? i'd like to see that

[Anonymous No.23293586]

>>23292455
Yeah as you can see from my spines they are easy for wear. I really treat them like a library though and I will typically purchase a really cool old issue of a book for the shelf if I really liked the book.

[Anonymous No.23293690]

Penguin doesn’t translate book. Penguin is the name of a publisher. The books are translated by individuals. I encourage you to read the translations yourself to compare and decide which one is for you, remembering that the publisher is completely irrelevant. I hope this was helpful, have a good day

[Anonymous No.23294677]

>>23291842
Usually they are pretty good, some of their Russian translations are meh.

[Anonymous No.23294683]

>>23291874
It is comfy tbqhwy

[Anonymous No.23295261]

>>23291842
They atleast have the best translation of notes from the underground. Kill yourself if you are a retarded P&V fag.

[Anonymous No.23295295]

>>23293586
Woah, what does your whole collection look like anon?

[Anonymous No.23295366]

>>23291842
Why did they start selectively changing the cover design for Penguins? The new one looks so sterile and soulless.

[Anonymous No.23295423]

>>23291842
Depends on the translator.

[Anonymous No.23295427]

>>23293586
I think this can be delayed or prevented by wrapping it in plastic wrapper to minimize physical damage to the sides

[Anonymous No.23295585]

>>23295295
These are all of my Penguin Classics with the exception of like 4-5 that I haven't read yet. I read mostly 19th century fiction and when its avail in PC that's what I buy. I just really like the look of them.

[Anonymous No.23295591]

>>23295366
A few years ago they began reissuing them in this updated design and its really really disgusting. Now they look as bad as everything else on the shelves now. Shame really

[Anonymous No.23295618]

>>23291842
Suspicious that they sneak "woke" stuff into the classics.

[Anonymous No.23295646]

>"The reason English-speaking readers can barely tell the difference between Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is that they aren’t reading the prose of either one. They’re reading Constance Garnett."

[Anonymous No.23295702]

>>23295591
White for both names and titles are disgusting fr

[Anonymous No.23295742]

>>23295702
Not only do they look worse but they’re worse physically

[Anonymous No.23295788]

>>23292455
True, they look cool af tho

[Anonymous No.23295798]

>>23295742
Really? In what sense? I've noticed the paper is slightly different but I can't say if it's better or worse quality desu

[Anonynous No.23295815]

>>23291842
I had to read Doll's House for a college English class (stem major).

Its a story of a dumb entitled whore who's given everything by her husband and she just up and leaves her family.

I was motivated to find out if Henrik Ibsen is jewish, but it seems he's just a traveling merchant.

Maybe the story was self serving as a rootless traveller to get some homewrecking pussy.

[Anonymous No.23296495]

>>23295646
Maude bros stay winning

[Anonymous No.23296502]

>>23295742
I only noticed that it was less floppy (which is a shame) but idk about the paper quality. Seems that they use different paper for different titles or maybe different runs. My Zarathustra and C&P have different types of paper despite both being the new design.

[Anonymous No.23296602]

>>23291844
>>23291855
The duality dubs of lit.

[Anonymous No.23296642]

Ibsen is kinda cuckpilled