Stopping by Barnes & Noble, thinking about picking up The Count of Monte Cristo, but I heard there were a bunch of different versions of it, how do I go about this without autism getting involved?
had a translation i really liked, but can't find it, and don't remember which off the top of my head. sorry anon
>you will never be american
>>7522630
Translations don't matter too much with Dumas. Nobody reads him for his prose.
>>7522724
easy to say until you read a shitty clunky translation. the story's certainly what that book is about, but it still needs to read well
>>7522744
Fair enough. Ok, OP I've read the book twice. One was the Penguin classic edition and the second was this ancient edition I got from the public library. Both were fine. If you really wanna play it safe go with the Penguin classic. /lit/s hatred of Penguins is a real head-scratcher.
>>7522763
>Penguin classic edition
that might have been the one i liked. i'm looking at cover pics on amazon, and that's the one i've gravitated to, but i'm not 100%. i certainly didn't have some obscure "look how much better than you i am" translation.
>>7522763
>>7522769
Penguin Classics did a version? If so, I'm sold, I read their version of the prose edda and had no complaints.
Thanks all, happy new year!
>>7522763
>/lit/s hatred of Penguins is a real head-scratcher.
>>7522769
>"look how much better than you i am" translation.
I didn't jump behind /lit/ on this because of their griping, I've only been on this board/ 4chan for about a year. It's not that Penguin is by default bad, but before I came to this board either from my own research or from the advice of my college professors years ago (the latter obviously less, although they'd assign specific editions that rarely involved Penguin for my political theory classes) I've found them to be almost always inferior to Oxford World Classics, Norton Critical, Hackett or different independent presses.
The covers & quality are nice and they look great on your shelves and feel great in your hands. Some of their publishing/ transations are excellent. They miss the mark alot though. If translation matters to you, it's worth the research before buying. If it doesn't, Penguin will work great.
>>7522769
>i certainly didn't have some obscure "look how much better than you i am" translation.
Only brought that up to point out that old translations are fine, too. Sorry if it sounded pretentious.
>>7522858
You're an idiot if you think Norton's translations are good. God this board is filled with you plebs.
>>7522630
the current penguin edition is a newer Buss translation from 1996. it is unabridged and totally fine.
the newest oxford edition from 2008 is also unabridged. it uses the old 1849 anonymous translation that is very commonly used. be careful as the older oxford is abridged.
as far as i am aware these are the only two unabridged versions currently in print by reputable publishers. many others are ABRIDGED.
in all honesty i would recommend the 1849 translation as you'd be reading the same text that people have for over 150 years. it is not a hard read and is still very enjoyable.
hope this helps.
>>7523353
not that guy, but all of my college professors assign norton critical editions. are they all wrong or what?
I finished the Oxford World's Classics one yesterday, I thought the translation was perfectly good
>>7523353
That bad?
>>7524256
>Self-Portrait of David on cover
Interesting choice.
>>7522718
You are a vapid cunt.
>>7522630
your only two options will be B&N Classics and Penguin unless you are going to some sort of super barnes and noble
