Richard Pevear

Richard Pevear (born Waltham, Massachusetts, 21 April 1943) is an American-born poet and translator. He is best known for his translations in collaboration with his Russian-born wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, on literature principally in Russian. He has also translated works from the French, Italian and Greek.

Pevear earned a B.A. degree from Allegheny College in 1964, and a M.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1965. He has taught at the University of New Hampshire, The Cooper Union, Mount Holyoke College, Columbia University, and the University of Iowa. In 1998, he joined the faculty of the American University of Paris (AUP), where he teaches courses in Russian literature and translation. In 2007, he was named Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at AUP.

Pevear and Volokhonsky's first literary translation was of "The Brothers Karamazov", from 1990 [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE4DB163AF932A25752C1A966958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | title=Dostoyevsky, With All the Music | work=New York Times | author=Andrei Navrozov | date=11 November 1990 | accessdate=2008-05-06] , published by North Point Press after being rejected by other publishers such as Random House and Oxford University Press. It went on to win a PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club (BOMC) Translation Prize. [cite news | url=http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/285371 | title=A mention on Oprah translates into success | work=The Star | author=Vit Wagner | date=15 December 2007 | accessdate=2008-04-23] Their translation of "Anna Karenina" won another PEN/BOMC Translation Prize. Oprah Winfrey chose this translation of "Anna Karenina" as a selection for her "Oprah's Book Club" on her television program, which led to a major increase in sales of this translation and greatly increased recognition for Pevear and Volokhonsky. [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E6D81131F934A35755C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | title=Tolstoy's Translators Experience Oprah's Effect | work=New York Times | author=Edward Wyatt | date=7 June 2004 | accessdate=2008-04-23] [cite news | url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/11/07/051107fa_fact_remnick?currentPage=all | title=The Translation Wars | work=The New Yorker | author=David Remnick | date=7 November 2005 | accessdate=2008-04-23] Their translation of Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" won the first Efim Etkind Translation Prize awarded by the European University of St. Petersburg.

Pevear and Volokhonsky work in a general two-stage process, where Volokhonsky prepares a literal translation of the Russian text, which Pevear then adapts into stylistically appropriate English. Pevear has variously described their working process as follows:

"Larissa goes over it, raising questions. And then we go over it again. I produce another version, which she reads against the original. We go over it one more time, and then we read it twice more in proof." [cite web| title=Eizie - Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky|url=http://www.eizie.org/News/1092659205| format=HTML|accessdate=2007-05-26]

"We work separately at first. Larissa produces a complete draft, following the original almost word by word, with many marginal comments and observations. From that, plus the original Russian, I make my own complete draft. Then we work closely together to arrive at a third draft, on which we make our 'final' revisions." [cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/books/review/Pevear-t.html?pagewanted=all | title=Tolstoy’s Transparent Sounds | work=New York Times | author=Richard Pevear | date=14 October 2007 | accessdate=2008-04-23]

Their most recent translation, Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" was published on 16 October 2007 by Alfred A. Knopf. [cite news | url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/11/26/071126crat_atlarge_wood?currentPage=all | title=How "War and Peace" Works | work=The New Yorker | author=James Wood | date=26 November 2007 | accessdate=2008-04-23]

Pevear and Volokhonsky were interviewed about the art of translation for "Ideas", the long running Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) radio documentary. It was a 3-part program called "In Other Words" and involved discussions with many leading translators. The program was podcast in April 2007. In October-November 2007, their translation of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" was the subject of a month-long discussion in the "Reading Room" site of the N.Y Times Book Review. [cite web| title=Welcome - Reading Room - Sunday Book Review - New York Times Blog|url=http://readingroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/on-books/#more-8|format=HTML|accessdate=2008-09-10]

Pevear and Volokhonsky make their home in Paris. He is the father of two children.

Bibliography

Fyodor Dostoevsky
* "The Brothers Karamazov" (1990)
* "Crime and Punishment" (1992) [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D61E3EF935A15757C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | title=Raskolnikov Says the Darndest Things | work=New York Times | author=Richard Lourie | date=26 April 1992 | accessdate=2008-05-06]
* "Notes from Underground" (1993)
* "Demons" (1994)
* "The Eternal Husband and Other Stories" (1997)
* "The Idiot" (2002)
* "The Adolescent" (2003)
* " (2005)
* "The Gambler (2005)

Mikhail Bulgakov
* "The Master and Margarita" (1997)

Nikolai Gogol
* "The Collected Tales" (1998)
* "Dead Souls" (1996) [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403EED8143FF937A3575BC0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | title=Waiting for Gogol | work=New York Times | author=Ken Kalfus | date=4 August 1996 | accessdate=2008-05-06]

Leo Tolstoy
* "What Is Art?" (1995)
* "Anna Karenina" (2000)
* "War and Peace" (October 16, 2007)

Anton Chekhov
* "Stories of Anton Chekhov" (2000) - 30 short stories in total. ISBN 0553381008
* "The Complete Short Novels" (2004)

Alexandre Dumas, père
*"The Three Musketeers" (2006) [cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/books/review/20pevear.html?pagewanted=all | title=All for One | work=New York Times | author=Terrence Rafferty | date=20 August 2006 | accessdate=2008-05-06]

Mother Maria Skobtsova
* "Essential Writings" (2003)

References

External links

* [http://www.aup.fr/faculty/dept/clen/pevear.htm American University of Paris page on Pevear]
* [http://www.poloforli.unibo.it/NR/rdonlyres/EA7222E5-56BD-4CD7-A809-FD2466F2412F/45097/CvPEVEAR.doc Resume from University of Bologna website]