海角大神

It鈥檚 understandable if you hesitate in front of a shelf of Russian fiction translated into English. Which 鈥淐rime and Punishment鈥�? Which 鈥淎nna Karenina鈥�? Which volume of Anton Chekhov鈥檚 stories? Are the newest ones best, or should you go with the ones published during the author鈥檚 lifetime?

A hundred years ago, Constance Garnett made it easy for the English-reading public to choose her translations of Chekhov, because before hers, there had been only a handful of his tales available in English. In about six years, she translated 201 of his stories, including almost all those he wrote between 1886, when he was in his 20s, and 1904, when he died.聽

Garnett passed over almost all of his wholly comic tales and skits but otherwise did not bother sticking to chronology. She arranged the 13 volumes the way a florist might, to delight and surprise the reader. While Garnett is not everyone鈥檚 favorite translator, she is mine.

Students of Russian usually meet Chekhov before they meet the other literary giants, partly because Chekhov鈥檚 language seems friendlier and less labored, and partly because the rewards of comprehension are almost immediate: 鈥淎bogin鈥檚 voice trembled with agitation; in that tremor and in that tone there was far more persuasiveness than in his words.鈥� In Russian we can hear Chekhov鈥檚 lively, good-natured voice and detect his amusement and sympathy for characters who don鈥檛 understand yet what鈥檚 hit them. Bless the translators who can carry over to us the spirit and sense of foreign literature!

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are the most famous Russian-to-English translators. Millions have read their versions of Russian classics, from Pushkin to Pasternak. Years ago, they translated Chekhov鈥檚 novellas and a collection of his best (or best-known) short stories. 鈥淔ifty-Two Stories鈥� is more like an outtakes folder, with 11 of the stories from Chekhov鈥檚 comic-skits period (1883-85) and at least half the others from his B or B-plus list. (All but two of the stories, both slight and unimportant, have appeared in English before.)聽

While Garnett has a voice that rises and dances with Chekhov鈥檚, Pevear and Volokhonsky, who have long lived in Paris, seem to have gone tone-deaf to a natural English; at times the language seems unpolished, with evidence of Russian phrasing seeming to override normal English syntax. (The worst example might be this: 鈥淥n your many thousands of acres, all that there is of healthy, strong, and handsome, all of it has been taken by you and your hangers-on as servants, lackeys, coachmen.鈥� Come again?)聽

Chekhov is so great, however, that even uninspired translations can鈥檛 ruin him. Everyone who thinks they want to write short stories should read his: first of all, because they鈥檙e a pleasure; second, because they will guide your moral bearings; and finally, because he has influenced the literary short story more than any other writer.聽

But if you have never read Chekhov and you start from the beginning of this volume, I wouldn鈥檛 blame you for wondering what all the fuss is about. Either read any other translator鈥檚 collection first (Nicolas Pasternak Slater鈥檚 鈥淭he Beauties: Essential Stories鈥� is excellent; all of Garnett鈥檚 are free online), or skip to about the middle of this book, to 鈥淭he Kiss,鈥� and read on from there.

In a matter of four or five exhilarating hours, you will have encountered at least a dozen great stories. You鈥檒l then have some perspective as you set out on the uneven first half, where a few startling gems, among them 鈥淭he Witch,鈥� 鈥淎gafya,鈥� 鈥淒ifficult People,鈥� and 鈥淓nemies,鈥� shine among some of the slighter tales that Chekhov himself excluded from his 鈥淐omplete Works.鈥�

Bob Blaisdell鈥檚 鈥淐reating Anna Karenina: Tolstoy and the Birth of Literature鈥檚 Most Enigmatic Heroine鈥� is due out in August from Pegasus Books. He teaches English language and literature at the City University of New York鈥檚 Kingsborough Community College.聽