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The Brothers Karamazov

A New Translation by Michael R. Katz

Fyodor Dostoevsky author Michael R Katz translator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:WW Norton & Co

Published:8th Sep '23

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The Brothers Karamazov cover

Dostoevsky’s final, greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov, paints a complex and richly detailed portrait of a family tormented by its extraordinarily cruel patriarch, Fyodor Pavlovich, whose callous decisions slowly decimate the lives of his sons—the eponymous brothers Karamazov—and lead to his violent murder. In the aftermath of the killing, the brothers contend with dilemmas of honour, faith and reason as the community closes in on the murderer in their midst. Acclaimed translator Michael R. Katz renders this masterpiece’s nuanced and evocative storytelling in a vibrant, signature prose style that captures all the power of Dostoevsky’s original—the clever humour, the rich emotion, the passion and the turmoil—and that will captivate and unsettle a new generation of readers.

"This book weigh about two pounds, but I found it quite light. The writing is good and clear; fuss has been eliminated. Katz's lucid, unpretentious language opens up my favourite scenes, characters and even monologues." -- Lan Samantha Chang - The Guardian
"In 'The Brothers Karamazov,' now available in a lively, fast-flowing new translation by Michael Katz (Liveright), Dostoyevsky blended the family novel with the whodunnit, revealing the capaciousness of the novel as a form and the power of blood as a metaphor... [Katz's] is, by my estimation, the voiciest translation of the novel thus far. He writes at the fever pitch of speech, unleashing the speed and the chaos of the original." -- Jennifer Wilson - The New Yorker
"Mr. Katz has accepted ungainliness in return for greater intensity. His translation sharpens the sensation unique to Dostoevsky, that of a man clutching your forearm and shouting something into your face. It feels truly manic—though the better word surely is 'ecstatic.'" -- Sam Sacks - The Wall Street Journal
"Katz is the translator of more than fifteen novels from Russia's golden age, by Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Herzen, and others. His latest effort, a new version of The Brothers Karamazov, is every bit as smart as his earlier work. Attentive to both style and substance, Katz renders all of Dostoevsky's edges in sharp relief. " -- New Criterion
"[A]s enthralling and nightmarish as a modern psychological thriller or film noir... the sheer vitality, the thirst for life, that characterises all the Karamazovs sweeps the reader irresistibly along. It is a work of restless energy and plenitude, filled with unexpected reversals and revelations, at once raucous and poignant, satirical and grand... exceptionally charming. " -- Michael Dirda - The Washington Post

ISBN: 9781631498190

Dimensions: 244mm x 168mm x 46mm

Weight: 1250g

928 pages