Great to have these, but if you're interested in a classic, five minutes' research will save you a lot of pain. The wrong translation can put you off a book or author for life, and a bad edit, abridgement, or lack of notes can render a work incomprehensible or weak.
Just take a second to look up whether there are any modern translations that might be up your alley, or whether you prefer accuracy over readability, or what have you.
Indeed, translations are products of their times, and most casual readers are better served by (non-public domain) contemporary translations. I'm reminded me of something Mary Beard said in a recent interview with the LA Review of Books [1]:
"It's very interesting to look back at classics a hundred years ago. One of the things I've done is look back at Gilbert Murray’s translations of Euripides, which were huge popular success at the time. It seemed to engage with all sorts of political issues of the time. And you look at them now, and they're unreadable."
There certainly can be misguided or biased translations, but I routinely recommend old ones like the anonymous translations of Dumas and Hugo from the mid-19th c. and Pope's Homer. It's probably worth 2 minutes of research to make sure you didn't get a dud, though.
I remember when I did classical studies (studying the classics in translation) Our teacher commented that as she had been taught by nuns the version of Thucydides that she had read had all the "gay" stuff taken out.
Yeah, there's a gay aspect in the Count of Monte Cristo that got excised or downplayed as well. The question becomes do you want a biased translation that reads better or an unbiased one that reads okay? It's really a case by case thing. Any classicist will tell you Pope butchered the original Homer - he didn't even speak Greek. But his is still the best in English, I think.
Like any other kind of review, you have to take what you can get, and it's difficult to find one source or person who is right for you most of the time. I would look at Amazon reviews and skim for translation notes - "the prose was difficult" or "the dialogue was too colloquial," that sort of thing.
But really the best thing is to decide for yourself. Go to the book store, pick up a couple translations (used book stores usually have quite a few for classics), and read the same five or six paragraphs in each. If there's one you like better, just go for it. Worry about accuracy and scholarly opinion later - your goal should be to read and enjoy the book. If something seems weird later... try the other translation! You should feel no pressure to do one over the other for your first run through.
Thanks. I'm reminded of the comments by Borges translator, Norman Thomas Di Giovanni, on his dispute with the estate. The shared history between Borges & Giovanni undoubtedly influenced his translations, which are now only available as used books, http://www.digiovanni.co.uk/borges.htm
Oh, how interesting, I had no idea. I've been reading Hurley's Borges this whole time (which I understand now is good but not great). Time to order this... thanks for the tip.
Just take a second to look up whether there are any modern translations that might be up your alley, or whether you prefer accuracy over readability, or what have you.