Hegel: The Phenomenology of Spirit: Translated with introduction and commentary

This is not a review of Hegel's masterpiece as a philosophical work, only of the translation. The Phenomenology is one of the most difficult books ever written; the ideas are hard, and Hegel's style is particular to those ideas. I do not think the book could have been uttered in an "easier" way. The goal of a translation for a book like this is to do justice to the style while allowing (for students of philosophy) a sturdy reference that is technically reliable and accurate. Inwood is the best. I don't think this can be demonstrated by SHORT quotations, since the book has to be READABLE, paragraph by paragraph, over hundreds and hundreds of pages. But compare the Pinkard translation of section 95: "Therefore, sensuous-certainty itself is to be asked," where Inwood has: "So we have to put the question to sensory certainty itself." Inwood puts the verb in a natural, active, idiomatic form, at the start of the sentence. Both version are already NOT "literal" (the German is: "Sie ist also selbst zu fragen..." so that both translators have gone ahead and specified to what the question must be put...), so nothing is gained by Pinkard's passive convolutions. This ease of reading cannot be appreciated sentence by sentence, but only in the experience of going through a long and difficult book that does not need extra clunkiness or fussiness inserted as speedbumps.

Inwood's translation is fantastic. The editor's introduction, glossary and commentary are also excellent and very useful. Beyond the textual improvements in this edition compared to the Miller translation, the hardcover is superb and in keeping with OUP's quality materials.The price for this hardcover was of course a disappointment, but I was able to take advantage of a pre-publication discount from OUP, which made it more affordable. I had used Terry Pinkard's online translation for a number of years, which was systematically pulled once his CUP edition/translation went into production, but I never really warmed up to it.In any event, a new translation of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit was long overdue, and we were given the rare opportunity of having a choice between two separate editions from two distinguished Hegel scholars coming out at the same time. I'm glad to have had that choice and very happy with the choice I made.