Richard Pevear

Richard Pevear (born Waltham, Massachusetts, 21 April 1943) is a poet and translator. He is best known for his translations in collaboration with his Russian-born wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, on literature principally in Russian. He has also translated works from the French, Italian and Greek. Pevear earned a B.A. degree from Allegheny College in 1964, and a M.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1965. He has taught at the University of New... more

Richard Pevear (born Waltham, Massachusetts, 21 April 1943) is a poet and translator. He is best known for his translations in collaboration with his Russian-born wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, on literature principally in Russian. He has also translated works from the French, Italian and Greek. Pevear earned a B.A. degree from Allegheny College in 1964, and a M.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1965. He has taught at the University of New Hampshire, The Cooper Union, Mount Holyoke College, Columbia University, and the University of Iowa. In 1998, he joined the faculty of the American University of Paris (AUP), where he teaches courses in Russian literature and translation. In 2007, he was named Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at AUP. Pevear and Volokhonsky's first literary translation was of The Brothers Karamazov, from 1990, published by North Point Press after being rejected by other publishers such as Random House and Oxford University Press. It went on to... less