Translations
Translations of Crime and Punishment
23 translations are recorded in our catalogue.
These are the translated editions we hold records for. A translation we have not catalogued is missing from this list, not from the world.
This book in English
What we found when we looked into it
Written by a person, from the sources listed at the end. Where critics disagree, this says so rather than picking a winner. It is not a catalogue record and does not claim the same authority as the table above.
Researched 2026-08-18. PD rule as above.
Translations
| Translator | Year | Publisher/Imprint | Copyright status | In print? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick Whishaw | 1885 | Vizetelly | PD (US) | No |
| Constance Garnett | 1914 | Multiple | PD (US) | Yes — continuously reprinted |
| David Magarshack | 1951 | Penguin | In copyright | Not independently verified |
| Jessie Coulson | 1953 | Oxford/Norton | In copyright | Yes — Norton Critical Edition |
| Sidney Monas | 1968 | Signet | In copyright | Not independently verified |
| David McDuff | 1991 | Penguin Classics | In copyright | Yes |
| Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky | 1992 | Vintage Classics | In copyright | Yes |
| Oliver Ready | 2014 | Penguin Classics | In copyright | Yes |
| Nicolas Pasternak Slater | 2017 | Oxford World's Classics | In copyright | Yes |
| Michael R. Katz | 2018 | Norton/Liveright | In copyright | Yes |
Reception
- Per welovetranslations.com, accessed 2026-08-18 (independent comparison blog): Garnett is "classic, widely praised; flows smoothly despite Victorian era"; McDuff is "literal, wordy... mixed critical reception"; Pevear & Volokhonsky is "the most popular... accused of excessive literalism"; Oliver Ready (2014) is singled out as "praised for capturing humor and rhythm" — the strongest positive claim in this comparison set; Katz (2018) is described as capturing "tonal variety" in a "contemporary American voice."
- The P&V fault line recurs here too, sourced separately from the site above: James Wood (The New Yorker) called their Dostoevsky work "justly celebrated," while Gary Saul Morson (Slavic scholar) advises readers to "never choose a translation by P&V if another exists," and John McWhorter (linguist) says they "miss basic nuances of how Russian even works" — Wikipedia, Pevear & Volokhonsky, accessed 2026-08-18. This is a genuinely split verdict among named critics, not a consensus — present it as such.
- Reception for this specific title is concentrated in one dedicated comparison site plus the cross-cutting P&V debate; no major-newspaper head-to-head review of Crime and Punishment translations specifically was located in this pass.
Parallel excerpt
Only the Garnett translation was independently verified against primary text — Whishaw's 1885 text was not located in a clean fetchable form in this session.
Constance Garnett (1914), public domain, US — source: Project Gutenberg #2554 (gutenberg.org/files/2554/2554-h/2554-h.htm), verified by direct fetch 2026-08-18. Part I, Chapter I, opening:
"On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge."
Licensing: Public domain in the US.
Decision guide
Sources converge more here than for the two Tolstoy novels: Garnett is the safe, free, "flows smoothly" default; Ready (2014) is the one translation this research surfaced with a genuinely distinctive positive claim (humor and rhythm specifically) rather than a generic "readable/accurate" description, which is worth weighting if the site wants one strong modern recommendation. P&V remains contested exactly as with the other Dostoevsky/Tolstoy titles — same three critics, same disagreement, no resolution offered by the sources. McDuff's extreme literalism is consistently flagged (here and in the Karamazov dossier below) as a taste-of-last-resort option for readers who want maximal fidelity over readability.