A few days ago, when I was still having a wonderful time with Edgar Lehrman’s new selection of Turgenev’s letters, I saw a review by David Magarshack which condemned the translation as outrageous and irresponsible. It seems that too often Mr. Lehrman’s knowledge of Russian was just inadequate to Turgenev’s occasion, and point after point was muddled. Mr. Magarshack gave several examples, and referred to others.
His dismay was sincere, and his authority as one of Turgenev’s English biographers is certainly sound. If I pass on his warning, however, it is chiefly because, with all due respect, I must confess that after a few moment’s of token anxiety, I went right back to reading the Lehrman text and in spite of everything, I enjoyed it, immensely and gratefully, to the very last page.
Comments