THE 100 BEST NOVELS IN TRANSLATION Selected by Boyd Tonkin

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I’m a sucker for books like Boyd Tonkin’s fascinating The 100 Best Novels in Translation. I’ve read a fair number of novels in translation and sometimes they read well…and sometimes they don’t. Boyd Tonkin introduces each novel, writes about the author, and then makes observations about the various translations available. Finally, Tonkin explains why the translation he’s selected is better than the others.

If you’re looking for a guide to novels in translation, Boyd Tonkin’s book checks all the boxes: well written, knowledgeable, and useful.

How many of these novels in translation have you read? Are there any here you would like to read? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION — 11

Works Cited — 25

A Note on the Entries –26

Acknowledgements — 27

THE ENTRIES: — 29

  1. Don Quixote (1605 and 1615) by Miguel de Cervantes. Translated by Edith Grossman — 29
  2. The Princesse de Cleves (1678) by Madame de Lafayette. Translated by Robin Buss –32
  3. Candide, or Optimism (1759) by Voltaire. Translated by Theo Cuffe — 34
  4. Dangerous Liaisons (1782) by Choderlos de Laclos. Translated by Douglas Parmee — 37
  5. The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — 40
  6. Dream of the Red Chamber (1792) by Cao Xuequin. Translated by David Hawkes & John Minford — 43
  7. Jacque the Fatalist (1796) by Denis Diderot. Translated by David Coward — 46
  8. Corinne, or Italy (1807) by Madame de Stael. Translated by Sylvia Raphael — 48
  9. Michael Kohlhaas (1810) by Heinrich von Kleist. Translated by David Luke — 51
  10. The Betrothed (1827; revised 1842) by Alexandre Manzoni. Translated by Bruce Penman — 54
  11. The Red and the Black (1830) by Stendhal. Translated by Roger Gard — 57
  12. IndianaT (1832) by George Sand. Translated by Sylvia Raphael — 60
  13. Old Goriot (1835) by Honore de Balzac. Translated by Olivia McCannon — 62
  14. A Hero of Our Time (1840) by Mikhail Lermonlov. Translated by Natasha Randall — 63
  15. Dead Souls (1842/1855) by Nikola Gogol. Translated by Donald Rayfield — 68
  16. Madame Bovary (1857) by Gustave Flaubert. Translated by Adam Thorpe — 71
  17. Les Miserables (1862) by Victor Hugo. Translated by Julie Rose — 74
  18. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. Translated by Peter Carson — 77
  19. War and Peace (1869) by Leo Tolstoy. Translated by Anthony Briggs — 79
  20. The Crime of Father Amaro: Scenes From the Religious Life (1875; revised 1880) by Era de Quieroz. Translated by Margaret Hull Costa. — 83
  21. Epitaph of a Small Winner (1880) by Machado de Assis. Translated by William L. Grossman –85
  22. Niels Lyhne (1880) by Jens Peter Jacobsen. Translated by Tiina Nunnally — 88
  23. The Brothers Karamazov (1880) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Translated by Richard Paver & Larissa Volokhonsky — 90
  24. Germinal (1885) by Emile Zola. Translated by Roger Pearson — 93
  25. Hunger (1890) by Knut Hamsun. Translated by Sverre Lyngstad –96
  26. The Duel (1891) by Anton Chekhov. Translated by Richard Paver & Larissa Volokhonsky — 98
  27. The Murderess (1903) by Alexandros Papadiamatis. Translated by Peter Levi — 101
  28. The Gate (1910) by Natsume Soseki. Translated by William F. Sibley — 103
  29. The Notebooks of Malte Laurrids Brigge (1910) by Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated by Michael Hulse — 106
  30. In Search of Lost Time (1913-1927) by Marcel Proust. Translated by CK Scott Moncrieff, Andreas Mayor, and Terence Kilmartin, revised by DJ Enright –108
  31. Reeds in the Wind (1913) by Grazia Deledda. Translated by Martha King — 112
  32. Petersburg (1916; revised 1922) by Andrei Bely. Translated by John Elsworth –114
  33. Home and the World (1916) by Rabindranath Tagore. Translated by Sreejata Guha — 117
  34. Kristin Lavransdatter (The Wreath; The Wife; The Cross) (1920-1922) by Sigrid Undset. Translated by Tiina Nunnally — 119
  35. Cheri/The Last of Cheri (1920; 1926) by Colette. Translated by Roger Senhouse –122
  36. Zeno’s Conscience (1923) by Italo Svevo. Translated by William Weaver — 125
  37. The Good Soldier Svejk (1923) by Jaroslave Hasek. Translated by Cecil Parrott — 127
  38. The Magic Mountain (1924) by Thomas Mann. Translated by John E. Woods –130
  39. The Trial (1914-1915; published 1925) by Franz Kafka. Translated by Mike Mitchell –133
  40. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) by Alfred Doblin. Translated by Michael Hoffman — 136
  41. The Seven Madmen (1929) by Roberto Arit. Translated by Nick Caistor — 138
  42. The Man Without Qualities (1930-1933) By Robert Musil. Translated by Sophie Wilkins & Burton Pike — 141
  43. The Foundation Pit (1930; published 1973) by Anthony Platonov. Translated by Robert Chandler, Elizabeth Chandler, and Olga Meerson — 144
  44. Journey to the End of the Night (1932) by Louis-Ferdinand Celine. Translated by Ralph Manheim — 147
  45. The Radetzky March (1932) by Joseph Roth. Translated by Michael Hofmann — 149
  46. Independent People (1934-1935) by Halidor Laxness. Translated by JA Thompson — 152
  47. Journey By Moonlight (1937) by Antal Szerb. Translated by Len Rix — 155
  48. The Gift (1938; 1952) by Vladimir Nabokov. Translated by Michael Scammell, Dmitri Nabokov, and Vladimir Nabokov — 157
  49. Nausea (1938) by Jean-Paul Sartre. Translated by Robert Baldick — 160
  50. The Invention of Morel (1940) by Adolfo Bioy Casares. Translated by Ruth L. C. Simms — 163
  51. The Tartar Steppe (1940) by Dino Buzzati. Translated by Stuart Hood — 165
  52. The Master and Margarita (1928-1940; published in full 1973) by Mikhail Bulgakov. Translated by Hugh Aplin — 168
  53. The Outsider (1942) by Albert Camus. Translated by Sandra Smith — 171
  54. Suite Franchise (1942; published 2004) by Irene Nemirovsky. Translated by Sandra Smith — 173
  55. Near to the Wild Heart (1943) by Clarice Lispector. Translated by Alison Entrekin — 176
  56. The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric. Translated by Lovett F. Edwards –179
  57. Only Yesterday (1945) by SY Agnon. Translated by Barbara Harshav — 181
  58. The Makioka Sisters (1946-1948) by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki. Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker– 174
  59. Fortress Besieged (1947) by Qian Zhongshu. Translated by Jeanne Kelly & Nathan K. Mao –187
  60. Dirty Snow (1948) by Georges Simenon. Translated by Marc Romano & Louise Varese — 190
  61. The Moon and the Bonfires (1950) by Cesare Pavese. Translated by RW Flint — 192
  62. Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnameable (1951-1953) by Samuel Beckett. Translated by Samuel Beckett & Patrick Bowles — 195
  63. The Hive (1946; published 1951) by Camilo Jose Cela. Translated by JM Cohen — 197
  64. Memoirs of Hadrian (1951) by Marguerite Yourcenar. Translated by Grace Frick — 200
  65. Pedro Paramo (1955) by Juan Rulfo. Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden — 203
  66. The Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street) (1956-1957) Naguib Mahfouz. Translated by William Maynard Hutchins, Olive E. Kenny, Lorne A Kenny & Angele Boors Samaan –205
  67. That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana (1946- 1957) by Carol Emilio Gadda. Translated by William Weaver — 208
  68. The Leopard (1948) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Translated by Archibald Colquhoun — 210
  69. The Tin Drum (1959) by Gunter Grass. Translated by Breon Mitchell — 213
  70. Life and Fate (1959; published 1980) by Vasily Grossman. Translated by Robert Chandler — 216
  71. Solaris (1961) by Stanisław Lem. Translated by Bill Johnston –219
  72. The Time Regulation Institute (1962) by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar. Translated by Maureen Freely & Alexander Dawe — 222
  73. The Garden of the Finzi-Contints (1962) by Giorgio Bassani. Translated by Jamie McKendrick — 225
  74. The Slave (1962) by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Translated by Isaac Bashevis Singer & Cecil Hemley — 227
  75. The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962) by Carlos Fuentes. Translated by Alfred McAdam –230
  76. Hopscotch (1963) by Julio Cortazar. Translated by Gregory Rabassa — 233
  77. Three Trapped Tigers (1965) by Guillermo Cabrera Infante. Translated by Suzanne Jill Levine & Donald Gardner — 235
  78. Season of Migration to the North (1960) by Tayeb Salih. Translated by Denys Johnson-Davies — 238
  79. One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Translated by Gregory Rabassa –241
  80. The Quest for Christa T. (1968) by Christa Wolf. Translated by Christopher Middleton –244
  81. I Served the King of England (1971) by Bohumil Hrabal. Translated by Paul Wilson –246
  82. Chronicle in Stone (1971; revised 1997) by Ismail Kadare. Translated by Arshi Pipa– 249
  83. The Bridge of Beyond ( 1972) by Simon Schwartz-Bart. Translated by Barbara Bray — 251
  84. Correction (1975) by Thomas Bernhard. Translated by Sophie Wilkins — 254
  85. Life: A user’s Manual (1978) by Georges Perec. Translated by David Bellos –257
  86. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1978) by Milan Kundera. Translated by Michael Henry Helm –260
  87. If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller (1979) by Italo Calvino. Translated by William Weaver — 262
  88. Basti (1979) by Intizar Husain. Translated by Frances W. Pritchett –265
  89. So Long a Letter ((1979) by Mariama Ba. Translated by Modupe Bode-Thomas — 267
  90. Buru Quartet (This Earth of Mankind; Child of All Nations; Footsteps; House of Glass) (1980-1988) by Pramodeya Ananda Toer. Translated by Max Lane — 270
  91. The True Deceiver (1982) by Tove Jansson. Translated by Thomas Teal — 273
  92. The Lover (1984) by Marguerite Duras. Translated by Barbara Bray — 276
  93. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis (1984) by Jose Saramago. Translated by Giovanni Pontiero — 278
  94. Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of the World (1985) by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum — 281
  95. See Under: LOVE (1986) by David Grossman. Translated by Betsy Rosenberg — 284
  96. The Black Book (1990) by Orhan Pamuk. Translated by Maureen Freely — 287
  97. The Emigrants (1992) by WG Seabald. Translated by Michael Hulse — 289
  98. The Land of Green Plums (1993) by Herta Muller. Translated by Michael Hoffmann –292
  99. A Dictionary of Maqiao (1996) by Han Shaogong. Translated by Julia Lovell — 295
  100. The Feast of the Goat (2000) by Mario Vargas Liosa. Translated by Edith Grossman — 297

INDEX OF AUTHORS — 301

18 thoughts on “THE 100 BEST NOVELS IN TRANSLATION Selected by Boyd Tonkin”

  1. Jerry+House

    Favorites are the von Kleist, the Gogol, and the Musil –I have no idea who translated them. Hoping to get to Lem this coming month. Also intersted in the Bulkakov. and the Singer. I’ll probbly do Kafka some time in the future.

    Most of the others leave me cold. There are too many Gold Medal paperbacks out there for me to bother with these.

    Reply ↓
    1. george Post author

      Jerry, Boyd Tonkin’s essays on each of the 100 books in this book make the novel sound appealing. More Lem is coming your way soon!

      Reply ↓
  2. Deb

    The writer I’ve probably read the most in translation is Balzac—but I have to be honest and admit that I don’t always notice the name of the translator. I’m surprised the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy is included because that’s often relegated to women’s fiction/romance and not given much critical thought. Also, Beckett translated his own work from French into English (his native language) which makes it a bit of a stretch to call him a translator: in French or in English, he KNEW what he wanted to say.

    Reply ↓
  3. Byton

    Translated fiction is kind of hot on TikTok right now. Most of it is Japanese writers but Central / South American writers are also getting some exposure (particularly horror authors). This is encouraging and will hopefully continue. Let’s hope it leads to more pay and exposure for the translators who are notoriously neglected.

    Reply ↓
  4. Patti Abbott

    I never notice the name of the translator. And I have read only about ten of these and all a very long time ago. Americans do live in a bubble.

    Reply ↓
    1. george Post author

      Patti, you’re right about the Bubble. And that makes novels in translation poor prospects for publishers. It’s a vicious cycle.

      Reply ↓
    1. george Post author

      Neeru, you’re right. I would have like to have seen more translated novels from your part of the world. But, I’m guessing Boyd Tonkin might not know many non-European languages so he couldn’t really judge books from Asia, Africa, etc.

      Reply ↓
  6. Jeff+Meyerson

    I believe I’ve read a dozen, which doesn’t seem like a lot. In fact, I don’t know quite a few of them. The ones I’ve read which I would most recommend: LES MISERABLES and THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS (which I read after loving the movie version). The one I’d least recommend: OLD GORIOT (PERE GORIOT in the version I read). Of course, I’ve tried with Proust many times but never got far. I have read WAR AND PEACE but it was a much abridged Constance Garnett edition and I’ve always wanted to read the whole thing.

    Others I’ve always meant to read: FATHERS AND SONS, GERMINAL (I used to have half a dozen Zola books in Penguin editions), THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ (I enjoyed the television version), maybe the Musil (though it is even longer than WAR AND PEACE).

    The one I’ve read the most of, bar far, is Simenon for the novels and Chekhov for the short stories.

    Reply ↓
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I’m with you on Simenon and Chekhov. I’ve read a lot of Kafka, too, but not in the translations Boyd Tonkin recommends. I’ll have to give them a try.

      Reply ↓
  7. Steve+A+Oerkfitz

    I have read about 13 of these. My favorites being The Tim Drum, The Red and the Black and Dirty Snow.

    Reply ↓
    1. george Post author

      Steve, I loved DIRTY SNOW! I’ve had TIN DRUM on my shelf for decades. Maybe this Summer I’ll finally read it…

      Reply ↓
  8. Cap'n Bob

    Three! One was a comic book version, one was a standard book, and one was a Russian novel! I hate Russian novels! I only read it because it was a school assignment! BTW, TikTok is a ChiCom agent!

    Reply ↓
    1. george Post author

      Bob, I’m with you on Russian novels. I’ve read a few but I had to snuggle through all of them. I don’t have that problem with Chekhov’s short stories, though.

      Reply ↓
      1. Jeff+Meyerson

        In my brother’s prime druggie days, he gave me youngest sister (about 10 at the time) a copy of his favorite book – CRIME AND PUNISHMENT!

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