Anna Karenin(a) Translations

/r/thehemingwaylist is reading Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, which Translation do you prefer?

Written by: u/kefi247 | Published: Sat, July 20th 2019

Rightly so, some folks who want to join in on reading Leo Tolstoy's classic novel Anna Karenina don't know which translation to choose. Wikipedia lists eleven different translations and also provides a part where some translations are compared. Which is of course helpful but I prefered to compare myself.

I have a rather large collection of ebooks and noticed that I already own five different translations so I thought I'd provide the first chapter of each version for interested readers to compare for themself. This is intended to help you choose which translation to buy, please respect the copyright of the respective author and translator.

Translation by: Constance Garnett

This seems to be the oldest and first translation into English.

Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003 (1901)
EISBN: 97-8-141-14317-7

Here's a .txt file
Or read it in your browser

Translation by: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Penguin Books, 2000
EISBN: 978–0–141–90283–8

Here's a .txt file
Or read it in your browser

Translation by: Louise and Aylmer Maude

Vintage Books London, 2010 (1918)
EISBN: 978-1-409-05946-2

Here's a .txt file
Or read it in your browser

Translation by: Constance Garnett, revised by Leonard J. Kent and Nina Berberova

Modern Library Paperback Edition, 2000
EISBN: 978-0-553-90229-7

Here's a .txt file
Or read it in your browser

Translation by: Rosamund Bartlett

Oxford University Press, 2014
EISBN: 978–0–19–923208–6

Here's a .txt file
Or read it in your browser

  1. Wikipedia: Anna Karenina - Translations into English ↩