The Serpent’s Tail and the Complete (which came out in Serpent’s Tail in the UK) are both translated by Margaret Jull Costa, I don’t know whether she re-worked any or all of the fragments for the complete edition. Her early 90s Serpent’s Tail is the one I read first and I love it.
Zenith is translator for the Carcanet edition ( The Book of Disquietude”) and the Penguin, I don’t know whether they are the same text. Interestingly the Carcanet one also claimed to be complete when published but is nowhere near as long as the MJC translated Complete Edition. This book is so slippery!
There is also a Quartet Encounters edition from the early 90s translated by Iain Watson, I haven’t read it.
I’ve only dipped into the Zenith, at a cursory glance I found it less lyrical than the Costa so I’m sticking with that one. I’ve talked to people who have done a bit of direct comparing, including with the original Portuguese, and they came out preferring the Zenith translation.
― Tim, Sunday, 17 January 2021 07:45 (three years ago) link