Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov

[Stewart]

I've serendipitously come across this article on the Guardian site on the subject of the title of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Or should that be The Karamazov Brothers?

Dostoevsky's last, longest and possibly greatest novel has been known for nearly 130 years in English as The Brothers Karamazov. Sadly, this is wrong. It should be called The Karamazov Brothers. At least, so argues Ignat Avsey in his translator's note for the Oxford University Press edition of the book. "Had past translators been expressing themselves freely in natural English, without being hamstrung by the original Russian word order," he writes, "they would no more have dreamt of saying The Brothers Karamazov than they would The Brothers Warner or The Brothers Marx."

The question of the accuracy of the title in turn leads to a questioning of the efficacy of the translation as a whole. It's a bit much, I think, to consider over 1,000 pages as 'wrong' because of the placement of three words on the cover.

[Eric]

True bullshit; I told you that Britain was growing decadent. But this is the silly season, a notorious time of year when bored journos, not yet on holiday, write garbage for money. I like money too.

Even an Oobermensh like me (educated at Tudor Grange /state, sorry/ Grammar School, Nouveau Richeville [aka Solihull] from 1964 to 1971) has heard of The Brothers Grimm, not the Scowling Brethren, as they should be known.

Stuart Jeffries nicely cobbles together a few genuine issues regarding translating. If the Guardian were going to pay me a couple of hundred quid, I'd do the same.

Welbeck joins Dosserteffsky on the Guardianistas' intellectual equivalent of the Graham Norton Show (or should that be:The Show Graham Norton?).

[ions]

Devils they are these translators! They must be Possessed by Demons of some sort.