Constance Garnett

[WILLIAM KERR]

Hello Judith ...

If your colleague hasn't seen it, there's a marvellous chapter ('Russian Translation') in John H. Willis' (1992 - University of Virginia Press) work "Leonard and Virginia Woolf as publishers: the Hogarth Press, 1917-41" with some information on Garnett's work with (most specifically) Chekhov translations, Samuel Kotelianskiy, and Garnett's influence on the Wolffs and the Hogarth Press / Bloomsbury society related to her Russian translations.

Rachel May's "The Translator in the Text: On Reading Russian Literature in English" (Northwestern University Press, 1995) offers fascinating insight into Garnett's work and translation style, depth of her work, and critics (notably Chukovskiy).

Adrian Hunter's article in "Translation & Literature"  (Spring 2003, 12,1), "Constance Garnett's Chekov and the Modernist Short Story", focusing on Garnett's important contributions to the development of the short story in modern English literature.

Perhaps more closely related to your specific questions might be "The Achievement of Constance Garnett" (Charles A. Moser, in "American Scholar", Summer 1988, Vol. 57 Issue 3), which includes details of her earliest translations and publishers, her trips to Russia, and her legacy as one of the pioneers in her field.

Garnett's lifetime devotion to the translation of Russian literature surely deserves, as Robert Chandler and others here have so clearly pointed out, much more positive than that offered by Remnick.

Kind regards,

William Kerr
Koc Universitesi
Istanbul

>>> JUDITH KORNBLATT <jkornbla at WISC.EDU> 08/14/09 7:37 PM >>>
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.

************************
Judith Deutsch Kornblatt
Professor
Dept of Slavic Languages and Literature
University of Wisconsin-Madison
jkornbla at wisc.edu 
(608) 262-9762

Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education
Graduate School
231a Bascom Hall
jkornblatt at bascom.wisc.edu 
(608) 262-1044

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