Which Translation of Anna Karenina is the Best? Pevear & Volokhonsky vs Constance Garnett vs Aylmer and Louise Maude

Which translation of Anna Karenina is the best?

Let’s have a “Tolstoy Taste Test” and find out.

We’re pitting three of the finest, most respected and well established translators of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina head-to-head to find out which one is the best:

• Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
• Aylmer and Louise Maude
• Constance Garnett 

Fun Facts:

Constance Garnett got the go-ahead from Tolstoy himself to translate his works, but her authorial voice remained the same for all the Russians. 

So, for a long time, reading the Russians in English was really reading Constance Garnett.

Chekhov sounded like Dostoyevsky who sounded like Tolstoy.

Then a cute old Russian couple came along and translated Tolstoy, along with Chekhov and Dostoyevsky and over thirty other Russian works, and tried to render the experience reading them in Russian into English.

• Anna Karenina Book Club

So Tolstoy finally sounded like Tolstoy! 

And Opera made them internationally famous by featuring their translation of Anna Karenina in her book club.

Aylmer and Maude were another husband-and-wife translator duo, and were personal friends of Tolstoy (even writing his biography) but their translations may just be the most uniquely their own out of the three.

Which Translation of Anna Karenina is the Best?

Here’s how the taste test is going to work.

We’re going to look at the same passage from Anna Karenina, the final paragraph, one of the most beautiful endings in all of literature in any language, and we’re going to see how each translator handled it.

I will present each passage without saying who translated it.

Judge which one suits your artistic sensibilities the best.

Ask yourself:

• Which one feels best to you?
• Why?

There is no right or wrong answer.

Then I will reveal which passage belonged to which translator.

Then vote anonymously for your favourite.

This will be really interesting information to have because we have an upcoming Hardcore Literature Podcast episode of Anna Karenina and it will be fascinating to see which is the most popular translation.

Anna Karenina Translation #1

I’ll get angry in the same way with the coachman Ivan, argue in the same way, speak my mind inappropriately, there will be the same wall between my soul’s holy of holies and other people, even my wife, I’ll accuse her in the same way of my own fear and then regret it, I’ll fail in the same way to understand with my reason why I pray, and yet I will pray – but my life now, my whole life, regardless of all that may happen to me, every minute of it, is not only meaningless, as it was before, but has the unquestionable meaning of the good which it is in my power to put into it.

Anna Karenina Translation #2

I shall still get angry with Ivan the coachman in the same way, shall dispute in the same way, shall inopportunely express my thoughts; there will still be a wall between my soul’s holy of holies and other people; even my wife I shall still blame for my own fears and shall repent of it. My reason will still not understand why I pray, but I shall still pray, and my life, my whole life, independently of anything that may happen to me, is every moment of it no longer meaningless as it was before, but has an unquestionable meaning of goodness with which I have the power to invest it.

Anna Karenina Translation #3

I shall go on in the same way, losing my temper with Ivan the coachman, falling into angry discussions, expressing my opinions tactlessly; there will be still the same wall between the holy of holies of my soul and other people, even my wife; I shall still go on scolding her for my own terror, and being remorseful for it; I shall still be unable to understand with my reason why I pray, and I shall still go on praying; but my life now, my whole life apart from anything that can happen to me, every minute of it is no more meaningless, as it was before, but it has the positive meaning of goodness, which I have the power to put into it.

What did you think of those translations?

Did you have a favourite?

Which way was your gut, your soul, your heart pulling you?

I shall now reveal who translated each:

• First translation = Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
• Second translation = Aylmer and Louise Maude
• Third translation = Constance Garnett

Which translation of Anna Karenina did you prefer?

Results of the poll to date…

I do hope this doesn’t sway your vote, but the current votes reflect that….

• ~70% prefer Pevear and Volokhonsky 
• ~30% prefer Constance Garnett 
• A tiny percentage prefer the Maude translation