Oliver James Ready (born 17 April 1976) is a British

Slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translator.

Biography

In 1994–1998, he studied Modern Languages (Russian and Italian) at Worcester College, University of Oxford. In 2000–2001, he did MA in Russian Studies at SSEES,

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. In 2007, he completed his

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research a ...

. In 2008–2017, he was Consultant Editor for Russian and East-Central Europe at

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

. Since 2010, he has been a Research Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford. In 2011–2014, he was director of the Russkiy Mir Program. Since 2014, he has been working as a teacher of Russian literature at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Literary translation

Oliver Ready came to the attention of the general public in 2014 when his translation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Преступление и наказание, Prestupléniye i nakazániye, prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje ɪ nəkɐˈzanʲɪje) is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. ...

'' was published. In a review with the telling title "This new translation of Crime and Punishment is a masterpiece", the writer and critic A. N. Wilson writes: "Sometimes, though, a new translation really makes us see a favourite masterpiece afresh", which is followed by claims that Ready's translation is better than the classic translations of

Constance Garnett Constance Clara Garnett (; 19 December 1861 – 17 December 1946) was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian literature. She was the first English translator to render numerous volumes of Anton Chekhov's work into English and the ...

and David Magarshak.

Bibliography

Author

* ''Persisting in Folly: Russian Writers in Search of Wisdom, 1963–2013'' (Peter Lang: Oxford, 2017) (Russian Transformations: Literature, Culture and Ideas). .

Translator

* Yury Buida: ''The Zero Train'' = Дон Домино (London: Dedalus, 2001; ) * Yury Buida: ''The Prussian Bride'' = Прусская невеста (London: Dedalus, 2002; ) *

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

. ''Crime and Punishment'' = Преступление и наказание (London: Penguin Books, 2014; ) * Vladimir Sharov. ''Before and During'' = До и во время (London: Dedalus, 2014; ) *

Ivan Maisky Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky (also transliterated as "Maysky"; russian: Ива́н Миха́йлович Ма́йский) (19 January 1884 – 3 September 1975), a Soviet diplomat, historian and politician, served as the Soviet Union's ambassad ...

: ''The Maisky Diaries: The Wartime Revelations of Stalin's Ambassador in London'' = Дневник дипломата (Лондон, 1934–1943) (edited by Gabriel Gorodetsky, translated by Oliver Ready and Tatiana Sorokina. — London: London Yale University Press, 2016; ) * Vladimir Sharov: ''The Rehearsals'' = Репетиции (London: Dedalus, 2018; ) * Nikolai Gogol: ''And the Earth Will Sit on the Moon'' = Рассказы (London: Pushkin Press, 2019; ) *Vladimir Sharov: ''Be as Children'' = Будьте как дети (London: Dedalus, 2021)

Acclaim

* 2005 — Rossica Translation Prize for translation of the short-story cycle ''The Prussian bride'' (author Yuri Buida) into English. * 2015 — Read Russia English Translation Prize for translation of the novel ''Before and during'' (author Vladimir Sharov) into English. * 2016 — shortlist of the

PEN Translation Prize The PEN Translation Prize (formerly known as the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize through 2008) is an annual award given by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to outstanding translations into the English language. It has been p ...

for translation of the novel ''

'' (author Fyodor Dostoevsky) into English. * 2018 — Read Russia Prize for translation of the novel ''Rehearsals'' (author Vladimir Sharov) into English.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ready, Oliver Living people 1976 births English translators Russian–English translators Translators of Fyodor Dostoyevsky People from Pembury