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Birth date:
Constance Clara Garnett was born on December 19, 1861, in Brighton, England (UK). She was a remarkable english translator of Russian literature. -
Her Chilhood
Her childhood had not been a happy one. She suffered from tuberculosis until the age of seven. -
Scholarship
In 1879, when advanced education for women was unusual, she won a scholarship to Newnham College Association for advanced Learning and Education among Women in Cambridge. -
London
In 1883 she moved to London, where she started to work as a governess, and then as the librarian at the People's Palace Library. -
Her marriage
In 1889, she married Edward Garnett, a writer and literary critic. -
Pregnancy
In the summer of 1891 she got pregnant and she started to study Russian. -
Her works
Constance Garnett picked up a dictionary and set out to bring the Russian masters to life in her native tongue. -
Her career as a Translator
In 1892, she began her career as a translator with Ivan Goncharov’s Obyknovennaya istoriya. -
Travel to Russia
In the winter of 1894 Garnett traveled alone in Russia for three months. -
Period: to
Retirement
By the late 1920s, Garnett was frail and half-blind. She retired from translating after the publication in 1934 of Three Plays by Turgenev. -
Death
She developed a heart condition, with attendant breathlessness, and in her last years had to walk with crutches. She died at The Cearne, Crockham Hill, on December 17 in 1946 at the age of 84. -
Influence on English literature
While some of her translations now seem dated, they were considered as an influence on English literature during the first half of the 20th century. -
Remarks
Her translations of Turgenev were highly regarded by Rachel May, in her study on translating Russian classics. -
Legacy
It was Garnett’s translations that made their way to college campuses throughout the English-speaking world, and introduced readers to the characters they know today.
