Rating: 3/5
Review:
A rather clunky and stodgy translation of a true classic
Needless to say, I am not presuming to give a critique of Kafka's monumental classic, which is quite brilliant in its insight and originality. My three-star rating is of the translation, which I find clunky and hard to read.
This is a reprint of the original Penguin Modern Classics edition which has been on my bookshelf for forty years now and which I took down again because of the attention given to the centenary of Metamorphosis. Reading it again, I must say that this translation has not aged well. It dates originally from 1933, and even then I suspect it may have seemed on the stodgy side. I find this a surprise: Edwin Muir was a fine poet and a very distinguished academic, and as a couple the Muirs produced some very highly-regarded translations of Kafka and others. However, for this reader the prose often seemed rather awkward as if over-influenced by the structure of the original German rather than flowing, natural-sounding English.
This sentence is an example of what I mean: "With his sister alone had he remained intimate, and it was a secret plan of his that she, who loved music, unlike himself, and could play lovingly on the violin, should be sent next year to study at the Conservatorium, despite the great expense that would entail, which must be made up in some other way." It's not exactly flowing prose, is it? I suppose it could be argued that this fits Kafka's surreal, claustrophobic stories, but for me it just made it hard going - and Kafka really doesn't need any help with that a lot of the time.
So, if you're looking for a decent translation of Metamorphosis (which is the work of principal interest here) I can't really recommend this one. I haven't tried any others (yet) so can't make a recommendation, but I'd suggest trying some samples of more modern translations and seeing whether there's one that suits you better.
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