Translation Guides

All Translation Guides

The best English translations of the classics, with first-reader recommendations

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Choosing the right translation is one of the most consequential decisions you can make as a reader. The same novel or poem can feel entirely different depending on who translated it — different rhythm, different tone, different moral weight. These guides cover each work in depth: what the main options are, what each translator prioritises, and which edition to start with if you're reading for the first time.

Which Odyssey translation should you read? Compare Emily Wilson, Fagles, Lattimore, and Green with sample passages and first-reader recommendations.

Crime and Punishment

Compare the best Crime and Punishment translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky, Oliver Ready, McDuff, and Garnett — with clear first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Anna Karenina translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky, Bartlett, the Maudes, and Schwartz — with first-reader recommendations.

Brothers Karamazov

Compare the best Brothers Karamazov translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky, McDuff, Avsey, and Garnett — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best War and Peace translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky, Briggs, the Maudes, and Garnett — with clear first-reader recommendations.

The Divine Comedy

Compare the best Divine Comedy translations across all three canticles: Kirkpatrick, Mandelbaum, Sayers, and Singleton — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Aeneid translations: Sarah Ruden, David Ferry, and Frederick Ahl — with first-reader recommendations. Ruden is the top choice.

Compare the best Iliad translations: Fagles, Emily Wilson, Lattimore, and Caroline Alexander — with clear first-reader recommendations.

The Count of Monte Cristo

The best Count of Monte Cristo translation is Robin Buss's unabridged Penguin Classics — the only complete English version. Here's why it matters.

Compare the best Meditations translations: Gregory Hays's acclaimed Modern Library version vs. Waterfield and Long — with first-reader recommendations.

Les Misérables

Compare the best Les Misérables translations: Fahnestock's unabridged Signet Classics vs. Denny and Rose — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Don Quixote translations: Grossman, Rutherford, and Raffel — with first-reader recommendations. Grossman is the top choice for most readers.

The Metamorphosis

Compare the best Kafka Metamorphosis translations: Bernofsky, Corngold, and Hofmann — with first-reader recommendations. Bernofsky is the top choice.

Compare the best Trial translations: Breon Mitchell, the Muirs, and Mike Mitchell — with first-reader recommendations. Breon Mitchell is the modern standard.

Compare the best Beowulf translations: Heaney, Tolkien, and Headley — with first-reader recommendations. Heaney is the essential starting point.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Compare the best Gilgamesh translations: Andrew George, Stephen Mitchell, and David Ferry — with first-reader recommendations. George is the scholarly standard.

Compare the best Oresteia translations: Fagles, Lattimore, and Anne Carson — with first-reader recommendations. Fagles is the top choice for new readers.

Compare the best Madame Bovary translations: Lydia Davis, Geoffrey Wall, and Steegmuller — with first-reader recommendations. Davis is the top choice.

Compare the best translations of Dostoevsky's The Idiot: McDuff, Myers, and Carlisle — with first-reader recommendations. McDuff is the standard choice.

In Search of Lost Time (Swann's Way)

Compare the best Swann's Way translations: Lydia Davis's Penguin vs. the Moncrieff/Kilmartin Vintage — with first-reader recommendations.

The Tale of Genji

Compare the best Tale of Genji translations: Royall Tyler, Seidensticker, and Waley — with first-reader recommendations. Tyler is the scholarly standard.

Compare the best Oedipus Rex translations: Fagles, the Chicago Complete Greek Tragedies, and Roche — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Faust translations: Greenberg (Yale), Luke (Oxford), and Arndt (Norton Critical) — with recommendations for every reader.

The Master and Margarita

Compare the best Master and Margarita translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky, Ginsburg, and Burgin — with first-reader recommendations. P&V is the standard.

Compare the best translations of Dostoevsky's Demons (The Possessed): Pevear & Volokhonsky, Maguire, and Garnett — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Dead Souls translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky, Christopher English, and Guerney — with first-reader recommendations. P&V is the standard.

The Metamorphoses

Compare the best Ovid Metamorphoses translations: Raeburn, Mandelbaum, and Humphries — with first-reader recommendations. Raeburn is the top modern choice.

One Thousand and One Nights

Compare the best Arabian Nights translations: Malcolm Lyons, Haddawy, and Burton — with first-reader recommendations. Lyons is the best complete modern version.

Compare the best Decameron translations: Rebhorn, McWilliam, and Waldman — with first-reader recommendations. Rebhorn is the current standard choice.

On the Nature of Things

Compare the best translations of Lucretius's On the Nature of Things: Stallings, Melville, and Latham — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Georgics translations: Ferry, Fallon, and Johnson — with first-reader recommendations. Ferry is the top choice for most readers.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Compare the best All Quiet on the Western Front translations: Wheen's classic 1929 version vs. Tatar's 2023 Penguin Classics — with clear first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best translations of Camus's The Stranger: Ward's Vintage classic vs. Smith's Penguin Outsider — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Pedro Páramo translations: Peden's Grove Press classic vs. Weatherford's 2023 version — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Pinocchio translations: Lucas's Oxford World's Classics vs. Hooper's Penguin Classics — with recommendations for every reader.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Compare the best Hunchback of Notre-Dame translations: Sturrock's Penguin vs. Krailsheimer's Oxford — with first-reader recommendations. Sturrock is the top choice.

Compare the best translations of Camus's The Plague: Gilbert's classic Vintage vs. Marris's 2022 Knopf — with first-reader recommendations.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Compare the best Twenty Thousand Leagues translations: Butcher's Oxford edition vs. Walter's complete version — with first-reader recommendations.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gregory Rabassa's translation is the only English edition of One Hundred Years of Solitude — García Márquez called it better than his original.

Compare the best Germinal translations: Collier's Oxford vs. Pearson's Penguin — with first-reader recommendations. Collier is the top choice.

Compare the best Buddenbrooks translations: Mitchell's 2024 Oxford edition vs. the classic Lowe-Porter — with first-reader recommendations.

The Three-Body Problem

Ken Liu's translation of The Three-Body Problem is the only English edition — a Hugo Award winner that introduced Cixin Liu's trilogy to the world.

My Brilliant Friend

Ann Goldstein's translation of My Brilliant Friend is the only English edition of Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels — here's why her work is extraordinary.

The Name of the Rose

William Weaver's translation of The Name of the Rose is the only English edition — a monument of literary translation. Here's why it matters.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Reg Keeland's translation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the only English edition — here's what makes it work and which edition to buy.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Michael Henry Heim's translation of The Unbearable Lightness of Being is the only English edition — revised with Kundera himself. Here's why it matters.

The Little Prince

Compare the best Little Prince translations: Howard's 2000 Harcourt vs. Woods's 1943 classic — with recommendations for which one to read.

Norwegian Wood has one English translation — by Jay Rubin, Murakami's principal English translator. Here's what to read and why it matters.

Compare the best Doctor Zhivago translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky's 2010 modern standard vs. the classic Hayward/Harari — with first-reader recommendations.

The Magic Mountain

Compare the best Magic Mountain translations: Bernofsky's acclaimed 2024 Norton vs. Woods's 1995 edition — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Siddhartha translations: Bernofsky's 2006 Modern Library vs. Rosner's classic 1951 version — with first-reader recommendations.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Jay Rubin's translation of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is the only English edition — here's what he changed from the Japanese and why it remains definitive.

The best translation of Endō's Silence is Johnston's Picador Modern Classics — with Scorsese's foreword. Here's how it compares to Washburn's 2016 version.

The best translation of The Tin Drum is Breon Mitchell's 2009 Mariner Books — more faithful than the 1962 Manheim. Here's what changed and why it matters.

Compare the best Leopard translations: Colquhoun's 1960 classic vs. Nisbet's 2022 Pushkin Press version — with first-reader recommendations.

The best English translation of Sartre's Nausea is Lloyd Alexander's New Directions edition — with James Wood's intro. Here's how it compares to Baldick.

Alan R. Clarke's translation of The Alchemist is the only English edition — here's how it came to be and which edition to read.

Love in the Time of Cholera

Edith Grossman's translation of Love in the Time of Cholera is the only English edition — here's why García Márquez approved it and why it remains essential.

Carol Brown Janeway's translation of The Reader is the only English edition — here's what makes it work and why Schlink's novel is essential reading.

Compare the best Steppenwolf translations: Horrocks's 2012 Penguin Classics vs. Creighton's classic 1929 version — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Kokoro translations: McKinney's 2010 Penguin Classics vs. McClellan's foundational 1957 version — with first-reader recommendations.

Notes from Underground

Compare the best Notes from Underground translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky, Katz, and Wilks — with first-reader recommendations.

The best translation of Kafka's The Castle is Mark Harman's Schocken edition — more faithful to the manuscripts than the older Muir. Here's why it matters.

The best translation of Hesse's Demian is Damion Searls's 2022 Penguin Classics — the modern standard. Here's why it replaces the older Roloff version.

Compare the best Eugene Onegin translations: Falen's Oxford verse, Mitchell's Penguin, and Nabokov's famous literal Princeton — with reader recommendations.

The Red and the Black

Compare the best Red and the Black translations: Slater's Oxford World's Classics vs. Adams's Norton Critical — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Histories translations: de Sélincourt's Penguin, Waterfield's Oxford, and the Landmark Herodotus — with first-reader recommendations.

Collected Fictions / Labyrinths

Compare the two best Borges collections in English: Hurley's complete Collected Fictions (Penguin) vs. the classic Labyrinths (New Directions).

The Theban Plays

Compare the best Theban Plays translations: Fagles's Penguin Classics vs. the Chicago Complete Greek Tragedies — with first-reader recommendations.

Journey to the West

Compare the best Journey to the West translations: Yu's complete Chicago edition vs. Waley's classic abridged Monkey — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Bhagavad Gita translations: Easwaran's Nilgiri Press, Miller's Bantam Classics, and Mitchell's verse rendering — with reader recommendations.

Compare the best Candide translations: Pearson's Oxford World's Classics vs. Wootton's Hackett — with first-reader recommendations. Pearson is the top choice.

Death in Venice

Compare the best Death in Venice translations: Robertson's Oxford, Heim's Harper Perennial, and Lowe-Porter's Vintage — with first-reader recommendations.

The Sorrows of Young Werther

Compare the best Sorrows of Young Werther translations: Hulse's Penguin Classics vs. Hutter's Signet — with first-reader recommendations.

Fathers and Sons

Compare the best Fathers and Sons translations: Freeborn's Oxford World's Classics vs. Katz's Norton Critical — with first-reader recommendations.

Dream of the Red Chamber

Compare the best Dream of the Red Chamber translations: Hawkes's Penguin Story of the Stone vs. Yang Xianyi's complete edition — with reader recommendations.

Compare the best Akutagawa translations: Rubin's Penguin Classics Deluxe vs. the classic Kojima Tuttle edition — with first-reader recommendations.

Edward Seidensticker's translation of Snow Country is the only English edition — here's why this Nobel laureate's prose makes it the definitive version.

Compare the best translations of Augustine's Confessions: Pine-Coffin's Penguin, Chadwick's Oxford, and Boulding's New City Press — with reader recommendations.

The Peloponnesian War

Compare the best Peloponnesian War translations: Warner's Penguin, Hammond's Oxford, and the Landmark Thucydides — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Tao Te Ching translations: Lau's Penguin Classics, Le Guin's Shambhala, and Mitchell's Harper Perennial — with reader recommendations.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Compare the best Thus Spoke Zarathustra translations: Kaufmann, Hollingdale, and del Caro — with first-reader recommendations.

Journey to the End of the Night

Ralph Manheim's translation of Céline's Journey to the End of the Night is the definitive English edition — here's what makes it essential reading.

Robert Chandler's translation of Life and Fate is the only complete English edition — the suppressed Soviet masterpiece compared to War and Peace.

Compare the best translations of Plato's Republic: Grube/Reeve's Hackett, Bloom's Basic Books, and Griffith's Cambridge — with reader recommendations.

Compare the best translations of Zamyatin's We: Shayevich's 2021 HarperCollins vs. Brown's Penguin Classics — with first-reader recommendations.

Invisible Cities

William Weaver's translation of Invisible Cities is the only English edition — here's why Calvino's meditation on memory and cities remains essential.

The Kilmartin/Cox translation of Lem's Solaris is the standard English edition — here's the remarkable story of why it was translated from French, not Polish.

The Radetzky March

Michael Hofmann's translation of The Radetzky March is the definitive English edition — the only version worth reading. Here's why it captures Roth's elegy.

Kristin Lavransdatter

Compare the best Kristin Lavransdatter translations: Nunnally's acclaimed Penguin Classics vs. the classic Archer/Scott — with first-reader recommendations.

The Three Musketeers

Compare the best Three Musketeers translations: the Penguin Classics Sudley vs. the acclaimed Ellsworth retranslation — with first-reader recommendations.

Darkness at Noon

Compare the best Darkness at Noon translations: Boehm's 2019 Scribner from the recovered German manuscript vs. Hardy's classic — with first-reader recommendations.

Compare the best Plato's Symposium translations: Waterfield's Oxford vs. Nehamas and Woodruff's Hackett — with first-reader recommendations.

If This Is a Man

Stuart Woolf's translation of If This Is a Man is the only English edition — made in close collaboration with Primo Levi and still the essential version.

The Book of Disquiet

Compare the best Book of Disquiet translations: Zenith's Penguin selection vs. Jull Costa's New Directions complete edition — with first-reader recommendations.

Natasha Wimmer's translation of Bolaño's 2666 is the only English edition — here's why it's one of the great twenty-first century translation achievements.

The best Lost Illusions translation is Raymond MacKenzie's 2012 Minnesota Press edition — clear and modern. Here's why it surpasses the older Hunt Penguin.

Dick Davis's translation of the Shahnameh is the standard English edition — here's why this Persian epic is foundational and why Davis's version matters.

George Szirtes's translation of Satantango is the only English edition — winner of the Best Translated Book Award. Here's why it matters.

The only authorised English translation of Kundera's The Joke is the 1993 Definitive Version with Michael Henry Heim — here's why it matters.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Compare the best Death of Ivan Ilyich translations: Pevear & Volokhonsky vs. Aylmer Maude — with first-reader recommendations.

The best translation of Dostoevsky's The Adolescent is Pevear & Volokhonsky's 2003 Vintage Classics — the only modern edition that captures the novel's energy.

The Double and The Gambler

Compare the best translations of Dostoevsky's The Double and The Gambler: Pevear & Volokhonsky vs. Coulson — with first-reader recommendations.

The Collected Tales (Gogol)

The best Gogol stories translation is Pevear & Volokhonsky's Collected Tales — the most comprehensive and faithful edition in English. Here's why.

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Compare the best English translations of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras: Satchidananda, Edwin Bryant, B.K.S. Iyengar, Chip Hartranft, and Georg Feuerstein — with clear recommendations for practitioners and scholars.

Compare the best English translations of Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra: Wendy Doniger, Richard Burton, A.N.D. Haksar, and Alain Daniélou — with clear recommendations for first-time readers and scholars.

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