Chapter 23 Notes after translation

The fifteen novels before the readers are selected translations from Dostoevsky's ten-volume collection published by the Soviet State Literature and Art Publishing House in 1999.The standard of translation is mainly to see the size of the text.All of the works we have selected for translation are short-length works, including real short stories and medium-length novella.All of the author's short stories, except for one or two, are included.Judging from the writing time, there are early works of the author, and some works in the middle and late years of the author. Some of them have been widely praised, and some have caused controversy and criticism. Generally speaking, we can see the author's creative characteristics and works from them. These works of artistic style were translated by Liu Jiachao and Li Heling separately.Because Comrade Liu Jiachao was busy with teaching and housework, he only translated four of them: "A Clumsy Joke", "Farmer Malei", "A Centenary Old Lady", and "Dreams of a Ridiculous Man". Translated by Li Heling.

Most of these works have been translated before, and some have been published in many different translations. Only a few of them are translated for the first time by us.In the process of translation, we have referred to some of the previous translations, and gained a lot of inspiration and lessons from them. We hereby explain them here and express our deep gratitude to the translators of these translations! We know very well that Dostoevsky is a writer with a unique style, and his language is very distinctive, and the more distinctive the language, the more difficult it is to translate.Although we have worked diligently, tried our best, and borrowed from different translations, we still cannot say that there will be no mistakes. On the one hand, we must ask readers to forgive us, and on the other hand, experts and colleagues are welcome to correct us.We would be very grateful for that!

Translator beware May 1995