David McDuff (born 1945, Sale,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England) is a Scottish translator, editor and literary critic.

Life

McDuff attended the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where he studied

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and German, gaining a PhD in 1971. He married mathematician

Dusa McDuff Dusa McDuff FRS CorrFRSE (born 18 October 1945) is an English mathematician who works on symplectic geometry. She was the first recipient of the Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics, was a Noether Lecturer, and is a Fellow of the Royal So ...

, but they separated around 1975. After living for some time in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, Denmark,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, and the United States, he eventually returned to the United Kingdom, where he worked for several years as a co-editor and reviewer on the literary magazine ''Stand''. He then moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he began his career as a literary

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

. McDuff's translations include both

foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

and

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

, including poems by

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

and Tomas Venclova, and

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s including

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian literature, Russian and world literature, and many of his works are consider ...

's ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal '' The Russian Messenger'' in twelve monthly installments during 1866.

'', ''

The Brothers Karamazov ''The Brothers Karamazov'' ( rus, Братья Карамазовы, Brat'ya Karamazovy, ˈbratʲjə kərɐˈmazəvɨ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly ...

'', and ''The Idiot'' (all three in

Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English language, English, Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Korean language, Korean amon ...

). His ''Complete Poems'' of Edith Södergran (1984, 1992) and ''Complete Poems'' of

Karin Boye Karin Maria Boye (; 26 October 1900 – 24 April 1941) was a Swedish poet and novelist. In Sweden, she is acclaimed as a poet, but internationally, she is best known for the dystopian science fiction novel '' Kallocain'' (1940). Biography Ea ...

(1994) were published b
Bloodaxe Books
McDuff’s translation of the Finnish-language author Tuomas Kyrö’s 2011 novel ''The Beggar and the Hare'' was published in 2014. Among literary awards, he has received the 1994 TLS/George Bernard Shaw Translation Prize for his translation of Gösta Ågren's poems,'' A Valley In The Midst of Violence'', published by Bloodaxe, and the 2006 Stora Pris of the Finland-Swedish Writers' Association
Finlands svenska författareförening
, Helsinki. From 2007 to 2010, David McDuff worked as an editor and translator wit
Prague Watchdog
the Prague-based NGO which monitored and discussed human rights abuses in Chechnya and the North Caucasus. McDuff was honoured with th
Finnish State Award for Foreign Translators
in 2013.David Mcduff Honoured With State Translators Prize

Yleisradio Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

News in English In November 2019 McDuff's new translation of

's dystopian novel Kallocain was published b
Penguin Classics
McDuff was honoured with the Swedish Academy'
Interpretation Prize (Tolkningspris) 2021
McDuff’s translation of ''Anteckningar'' by

Tua Forsström Tua Birgitta Forsström (born 2 April 1947) is a Finland-Swedish writer who writes in Swedish. She was awarded the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1998 for the poetry collection '' Efter att ha tillbringat en natt bland hästar''. Forsströ ...

(''I walked on into the forest'', Bloodaxe, 2021) was The Poetry Book Society'
Translation Choice for Winter 2021

Works

*Osip Mandelʹshtam ''Selected poems'', Writers and Readers, 1983, *Edith Södergran ''Complete poems'', Bloodaxe Books, 1984, *Marina Tsvetaeva, ''Selected Poems'', Bloodaxe Books, 1987, *''Ice around our lips: Finland-Swedish poetry'', Bloodaxe Books, 1989, *Tua Forsström, ''Snow leopard'', Bloodaxe, 1990, * *Andrei Bely ''Petersburg'', Penguin. 1995. *Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, ''Rudin: On the eve'', Oxford University Press, 1999, *Fyodor Dostoyevsky (30 January 2003).
Crime and Punishment.
' Penguin Books Limited. * * *Fyodor Dostoyevsky (2003) The House of the Dead. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-044456-8 *Tua Forsström, ''I studied once at a wonderful faculty'', Bloodaxe, 2006, *Karin Boye, ''Kallocain'', Penguin Classics, 2019, *Tua Forsström, I walked on into the forest, Bloodaxe, 2021,

References

External links

The complete list of McDuff's published books of translationDatabase entry at Bloodaxe BooksPrague Watchdog's select bibliography of Chechnya-related works, compiled by David McDuff and others
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDuff, David 1945 births Living people Translators of Fyodor Dostoyevsky Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Swedish–English translators Russian–English translators Finnish–English translators People from Sale, Greater Manchester 20th-century Scottish translators 21st-century British translators Literary translators Reeves family