Constance Garnett

[Michele A. Berdy]

There are several books by members of the Garnett family:

Constance Garnett, A Heroic Life by Richard Garnett (her grandson); 
Sinclair-Stevenson 1991
The Golden Echo by David Garnett (her son); Harcourt, Brace and Company 1954
The two editions of diaries of Olive Garnett (her sister-in-law): Tea and 
Anarchy (1890-1893) and Olive and Stepniak (1893-1895); Barletts Press 1989 
and 1993 respectively).

And also The Garnett Family: The History of a Literary Family by Carolyn G. 
Heilbrun; The MacMillan Company, 1961.

I've found them all via internet used book stores, although it took awhle 
for the second diaries to show up for sale.

There isn't much in print about her actual translating methods, philosophy, 
etc., but I've read that a BBC interview late in life is pretty much the 
best source for that.

In 1891she and her husband became friends with Felix Volkhonsky, and she 
credits him with two "great services" -- making her go for long walks during 
her pregnancy and suggesting she learn Russian, which he helped her with. By 
1892 (!) she translated her first work, Goncharov's A Common Story, although 
with a dictionary and slowly (for her). She found a publisher for it in (I 
think) 1893 -- Heinemann.  I think she then did some late Tolstoy, and then 
launched into Turgenev. Later in life she said she regretted she did 
Turgenev before she had developed her translating skills.

I especially recommend the diaries, which were one of the main sources for 
Richard's book.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JUDITH KORNBLATT" <jkornbla at WISC.EDU>
To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 8:37 PM
Subject: [SEELANGS] Constance Garnett


> Does anyone know of a source on the translator Constance Garnett? A 
> colleague is writing a book on the British Museum's Reading Room and the 
> early women writers, translators, and scholars who were associated with 
> it, and it seems that our very own Garnett plays an important role. How 
> did she learn Russian? Who did she translate first? Who was the publisher? 
> Any leads are appreciated. Thank you.

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