After graduating from University College London with a degree in English Language and Literature in 1924, Magarshack attempted to make a career out of journalism, and then out of writing crime fiction, neither of which were successful.

In early 1949, Magarshack was approached by E. V. Rieu, the editor of the Penguin Classics series, in order to translate Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.

Magarshack's translation work was assisted by his wife Elsie, a Yorkshire-born, Cambridge-graduate of English.

[2] The Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro has identified Magarshack's translations as a significant influence on his writing style.

And often when people ask me who my big influences are, I feel I should say David Magarshack, because I think the rhythm of my own prose is very much like those Russian translations that I read.