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Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead
I've heard there are people that don't like the Garnett translations, such as Nabokov, but then again Nabokov didn't really like Dostoevsky.
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yeah, Nabakov wrote this in his autobiography
Speak, Memory:
"Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: That not all Russians love Dostoevsky as much as Americans do, and that most of these Russians who do, venerate him as a mystic and not as an artist. He was a prophet, a clap-trap journalist and a slapdash comedian. I admit that some of his scenes, some of his tremendous farcical rows are extraordinarily amusing. But his sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes are not to be endured for one moment - by this reader anyway."
I was a little too rough before on the David Madgarshack translation; it's actually pretty good. You may be able to find that one (The Devils) in a regular bookstore, although it does seem I see Demons a lot in bookstores too. Also, by the way all three translations make note that they feature the "lost" chapter "At Tihon's. Stavrogin's Confession" or as "Stavrogin's Confession." This chapter has been included for quite some time in all the editions.
Damn, I just read the wiki entry for Constance Garnett & she gets lauded, then slammed for being "too British" & not accurate enough (for Tolstoy's Anna Karenina especially is the specific charge.) The entry for the book also starts this way with a rather dumb criticism.
The Devils, also translated as Demons or The Possessed, is a 1872novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The Possessed is an earlier translation, made famous by Constance Garnett's version, but is somewhat inaccurate; the original Russian title refers to the demoniac possessors rather than the possessed.