All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.<\/p>\n
Anna Karenin<\/em>, Leo Tolstoy (Trans. by Rosemary Edmonds, who prefers this title over Anna Karenina<\/em>)<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n This novel brings two things to mind:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 An author I work for dictates while I type.\u00a0 She dictates for several minutes, then thinks for several more.\u00a0 During one of these silences I once pulled\u00a0Anna Karenin<\/em> from her shelves and began reading.\u00a0 After six months, I’d read about half the novel during our dictation sessions.\u00a0 She rewarded me with my own copy so I could finish it.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 The opening line is famous, but Tolstoy didn’t write these words;\u00a0 the translator did.\u00a0 You might recognise or have heard the line as it is above, translated by Rosemary Edmonds, or another of the many slight variations on this opening proverb, like a recent one by Pevear and Volokhonsky: Or a golden oldie by Constance Garnett: If you ever quote one of them, you’re giving credit to a translator.\u00a0 And that makes me feel like my hours translating literature are worthwhile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion. Anna Karenin, Leo Tolstoy (Trans. by Rosemary Edmonds, who prefers this title over Anna Karenina) ***** This novel brings two things to mind: 1.\u00a0 An author I work for dictates while I type.\u00a0 She dictates for several minutes, then thinks … <\/p>\n
\n‘All happy families are alike: each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’<\/p>\n
\n‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. ‘<\/p>\n