Best Les Miserables NOVEL translation?

[The Distinctive Baritone]

I've been obsessed with Les Miserables (the musical) for something like eighteen years now (hey, almost as long as Valjean was imprisoned!) and seeing the film version has made me want to maybe, finally, read the (really, really long, oh my God it's so long) book. Before I buy a copy, I must ask though, which is the best translation? Cuz if reading a poorly translated Chekov play is bad, reading a poorly translated 1,400 novel will be even worse.

[broadwaydevil]

Very good decision! It's one of my favorites. I think one of the better translations is the one I have read most recently. It's published by Simon & Schuster and is the complete and unabridged edition.

[Kelly2]

Though I have to say it does lose something in translation. Reading it in the original French is an amazing literary experience.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Go with the one by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee from Signet Classics. It's highly readable and faithful to the original French, and not too distractingly modernized (like the recent Julie Rose translation for Modern Library, IMO).

[bwayphreak234]

I just bought the movie tie in at Barnes and Noble. I am not sure which translation it uses, but so far it is pretty easy to read.

[michellek45]

Out of the two I've read (Charles Wilbour and Norman Denny), I much prefer the Denny. The Wilbour was published a couple of years after the original French, so it's very much written in the style of the period. The Denny is modernized without being distracting. But the biggest thing the Denny has going for it, I think, is that it does translates all the little snippets of poetry, verse, and song Hugo puts in. The Wilbour one doesn't, which is incredibly maddening, especially since some very important lines are left in French

[SporkGoddess]

I also recommend the one translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee

[EricMontreal22]

I read the Fahnestock and MacAfee version as a teenager. Last year I read the Rose translation. (In between I had slogged through parts of the French original).

I think it depends what you want. If you want a really enjoyable, somewhat easy read, go with Rose. I didn't find the "modernization" (which I didn't see much of) too distracting, and I think she gets the heart of it. Some of the lines are actually much more direct translations of the French than the previous one. However it's badly edited--little things popped up that annoyed me. And I know many purists dislike it.

The F&McA is well done but it's written in a very formal way, so much so that some lines take a few readings to make sense (at least for me...)

Be careful though--aside from those two, many of the versions you find are abridged. The Denny one isn't abridged but does move two of Hugo's (several) lengthy diatribes to the end as an appendix.

[Kelly2]

I'm surprised no one else is mentioning reading it in the original French. The Fahnestock and MacAfee is my favorite of the American version. The Rose version is far too simplistic and loses a lot.

[EricMontreal22]

Wiout sounding bitchy, the original poster said he wanted a translation. I somehow took that to assume that he couldn't read it in french...

[Kelly2]

Fair point. :) I'm just biased because French is my favorite language, almost anything sounds more romantic in French.

[EricMontreal22]

I agree that it's always preferable to read the original--if you can. I'm fine with spoking and listening to French (I was in French school from preschool on, and worked in Montreal), but I admit I'm a SLOW French reader--especially a book written in the mid 1800s (Colette in comparison is like a beach read). I did read all of Notre Dame de Paris, but have only managed to read key sections of Les Miz. I guess I should make it a project.