Which translations of Don Quixote and Crime & Punishment are good/best?

[exp]

I need to pick up some copies of the following two classics...

Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

...but unfortunately I have had some bad experiences with poor translations in the past (especially with Kafka's The Trial) so this time I am eager find the "best" translation of each work. Are there any literature buffs out there who can recommend a particular translation for either novel? Is any one translation widely considered to be the definitive version? Are there any that should be avoided like the plague? Any guidance you guys can provide will be much appreciated...because I personally have no idea and google has been less than helpful so far.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Sorry, I can't help ya there -

I'd basically say that there's probably 'university-edition translations' out there and those would be best. When I say university-edition, I mean stuff that the universities publish themselves, or if you're near a campus, go to their bookstore and check out what translations the classes require.

I hope this helps.

 

[TheWart]

an excellent translation of Don Quijote on which i just finished a paper is Burton Raffel's. It is a Norton Critical Edition published in 1999, orange jacket.

as far as Crime and Punishment goes i read it also as a Norton Critical Edition a while ago.

I don't know either Spanish or Russian but my research on the critical reception of these editions yielded quite positive results.

 

[exp]

Thanks, guys. That advice should go a long way towards making my search as quick and painless as possible.

Anyone else?

 

[MainFramed]

Originally posted by: exp
Thanks, guys. That advice should go a long way towards making my search as quick and painless as possible.

Anyone else?

i hate your avatar

 

[exp]

i hate your avatar

LOL...why?

 

[fornax]

OMG, two of the hardest books to read I never enjoyed reading either of those. Now, War and Peace is both a masterpiece and a pleasure to read (especially if you can read Russian).

 

[JeffSpicoli]

I never read those books, but I can highly recommend the Cliffs Notes translation of both!

 

[Spoooon]

An interesting factoid: Sigmund Freud taught himself spanish in order to read Don Quixote because he feared that much would be lost in the translation.

So, learn to read spanish. Then teach yourself to read cyrillic.

 

[exp]

Now, War and Peace is both a masterpiece and a pleasure to read (especially if you can read Russian).

Incredible book, one of the very few that manage to be both entertaining and profoundly insightful, and yet remains firmly grounded in realism. One of my all-time favorites in any language.

I can highly recommend the Cliffs Notes translation of both!

So, learn to read spanish.

Actually I was thinking about picking up a spanish copy of Don Quixote, but with only two years of college spanish under my belt (plus 3 years of high school spanish, though I never payed attention back then anyway) I doubt I'll be able to grasp the necessary subtleties. I'd probably end up doing more harm than good.

Then teach yourself to read cyrillic.

Haha, yeah right. Considering how difficult Russian supposedly is to learn I think my time would be better spent inventing a resurrection device, raising Dostoevsky from the grave and teaching him English.