Which translation of Crime and Punishment should you read?

The version that introduced Raskolnikov to the English-speaking world, and still a perfectly serviceable free one. Garnett is clear, brisk, and readable, and she keeps the story hurtling forward, which matters in a book that lives on suspense and dread. The usual criticism applies: she smooths Dostoevsky’s deliberately ragged, feverish prose into more even Edwardian English and softens some of the strangeness of his voice. But generations first felt the novel’s grip through her, and being public domain she is free and everywhere. Choose Garnett if you want a dependable, fast Crime and Punishment at no cost, and are willing to trade a little of the delirium for smoothness.

The first widely read English version (1914); shaped the novel’s Anglophone reputation for a century.

The version that reopened the argument about how Dostoevsky should sound in English. Volokhonsky drafts close to the Russian, Pevear shapes, and the point is to keep what Garnett smooths: the nervous repetitions, the dashes, the unfinished sentences and colloquial jolts that make the prose feel feverish. Admirers say it finally lets English readers hear Dostoevsky’s actual voice; critics find it clumsy or literal in places. The notes are helpful. It reads rougher than Garnett or Ready by design, which is either the whole point or a barrier depending on your taste. A strong choice if you want texture over smoothness and do not mind the friction.

The Vintage Classics edition (1992); a landmark that launched the P&V phenomenon in the 1990s.

The modern front-runner, and many readers’ outright favourite. Oliver Ready set out to catch the book’s fever in living English, and his prose has real nervous energy, colloquial, headlong, and true to the way Raskolnikov’s mind lurches and doubles back. He is faithful without being stilted, and his Penguin edition is well introduced and annotated. Some purists prefer the harder literalism of Pevear and Volokhonsky, and it is in copyright, so not free. But if you want one modern Crime and Punishment that reads like a living novel and keeps you inside the delirium, Ready is the one to reach for first.

The Penguin Classics edition (2014); widely acclaimed and now a common recommendation as the best modern version.

The steady, trustworthy modern option. Michael Katz, a seasoned scholar of Russian fiction, writes clear, accurate contemporary English that stays close to the sense without either Garnett’s smoothing or the deliberate awkwardness of Pevear and Volokhonsky. The Norton Critical Edition wraps it in first-rate supporting material, sources, criticism, and context, which makes it a favourite for students and anyone who wants the novel with its scholarship attached. It is less flashy than Ready and less bracingly rough than the P&V version, landing in a sensible middle. A dependable choice when you want a faithful, well-supported modern text and value the apparatus as much as the prose.

Issued by Liveright and as a Norton Critical Edition; valued for accuracy and its scholarly apparatus.