Constance Garnett

Altogether, she translated 71 volumes of Russian literature, many of which are still in print today.

• Name — Constance Garnett • Birth Name — Constance Clara Black • Born — 19 December 1861 • Birthplace — Brighton, England • Died — 17 December 1946 • Place of death — The Cearne, Crockham Hill, Kent, England • Occupation — * Writer • translator • Education — Brighton and Hove High School • Alma Mater — Newnham College, Cambridge • Children — David Garnett

Garnett was born in Brighton, England, the sixth of the eight children of the solicitor David Black (1817–1892), afterwards town clerk and coroner, and his wife, Clara Maria Patten (1825–1875), daughter of painter George Patten. Her brother was the mathematician Arthur Black, and her sister was the labour organiser and novelist Clementina Black. Her father became paralysed in 1873, and two years later her mother died from a heart attack after lifting him from his chair to his bed. She was initially educated at Brighton and Hove High School. Afterwards she studied Latin and Greek at Newnham College, Cambridge, on a government scholarship. In 1883 she moved to London, where she started work as a governess, and then as the librarian at the People's Palace Library. Through her sister, Clementina, she met Dr. Richard Garnett, then the Keeper of Printed Materials at the British Museum, and his son Edward Garnett, whom she married in Brighton on 31 August 1889. Edward, after working as a publisher's reader for T. Fisher Unwin, William Heinemann, and Duckworth, went on to become a reader for the publisher Jonathan Cape. In the summer of 1891, then pregnant with her only child, she was introduced by Edward to the Russian exile Feliks Volkhovsky, who began teaching her Russian. He also introduced her to his fellow exile and colleague Sergius Stepniak and his wife Fanny. Soon after, Garnett began working with Stepniak, translating Russian works for publication; her first published translations were A Common Story by Ivan Goncharov, and The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy. The latter was published while she was making her first trip to Russia in early 1894. After visits to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, she travelled to Yasnaya Polyana where she met Tolstoy; although the latter expressed interest in having her translate more of his religious works, she had already begun working on the novels of Turgenev and continued with that on her return home. Initially she worked with Stepniak on her translations; after his untimely death in 1895, Stepniak's wife Fanny worked with her. From 1906, her favourite amanuensis was a young Russian woman, Natalie Duddington whom she had met in Russia and in whom she found "real intellectual companionship". Over the next four decades, Garnett produced English-language versions of dozens of volumes by Tolstoy, Gogol, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Ostrovsky, Herzen and Chekhov. She played a critical role in translating Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (1901) and War and Peace (1904), which were well received. Fellow writer and translator Isabel Florence Hapgood translated Tolstoy's Childhood, Boyhood, Youth (1886), and Sevastopol (1888), thereby helping to complete the Tolstoy opus. Additionally, Garnett translated Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (1912) and Crime and Punishment (1914). Her translations expanded the popularity of the novels to the English speaking world and even overshadowed Hapgood's first translation of The Brothers Karamazov (1905). Her son and only child, David Garnett, trained as a biologist and later wrote novels, including the popular Lady into Fox (1922). By the late 1920s, Garnett was frail and half-blind. She retired from translating after the publication in 1934 of Three Plays by Turgenev. After her husband's death in 1937, she became reclusive. 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, Kent, at the age of 84.

• The Darling and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1916) • The Darling • Critique of The Darling by Leo Tolstoy • Ariadne • Polinka • Anyuta • The Two Volodyas • The Trousseau • The Helpmate • Talent • An Artist's Story • Three Years • The Duel and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1916) • The Duel • Excellent People • Mire • Neighbours • At Home • Expensive Lessons • The Princess • The Chemist's Wife • The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1917) • The Lady with the Dog • A Doctor's Visit • An Upheaval • Ionitch • The Head of the Family • The Black Monk • Volodya • An Anonymous Story • The Husband • The Party and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1917) • The Party • Terror • A Woman's Kingdom • A Problem • The Kiss • Anna on the Neck • The Teacher of Literature • Not Wanted • Typhus • A Misfortune • A Trifle from Life • The Wife and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1918) • The Wife • Difficult People • The Grasshopper • A Dreary Story • The Privy Councillor • The Man in a Case • Gooseberries • About Love • The Lottery Ticket • The Witch and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1918) • The Witch • Peasant Wives • The Post • The New Villa • Dreams • The Pipe • Agafya • At Christmas Time • Gusev • The Student • In the Ravine • The Huntsman • Happiness • A Malefactor • Peasants • The Bishop and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1919) • The Bishop • The Letter • Easter Eve • A Nightmare • The Murder • The Steppe • The Chorus Girl and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1920) • The Chorus Girl • Verotchka • My Life • At a Country House • A Father • On the Road • Rothschild's Fiddle • Ivan Matveyitch • Zinotchka • Bad Weather • A Gentleman Friend • A Trivial Incident • Letters of Anton Tchehov to his Family and Friends London: Chatto & Windus (1920) • The Cherry Orchard and Other Plays London: Chatto & Windus (1923) • The Cherry Orchard • Uncle Vanya • The Sea-Gull • The Bear • The Proposal • Three Sisters and Other Plays London: Chatto & Windus (1923) • Three Sisters • Ivanov • A Swan-Song • An Unwilling Martyr • The Anniversary • On the High Road • The Wedding

• The Brothers Karamazov London: Heinemann (1912) • The Idiot London: Heinemann (1913) • The Possessed London: Heinemann (1913; revised to incorporate "Stavrogin's Confession" [the censored chapter "At Tikhon's"], 1923) • Crime and Punishment London: Heinemann (1914) • The Gambler and Other Stories London: Heinemann (1914) • The Gambler • Poor People • The Landlady • The House of the Dead London: Heinemann (1915) • The Insulted and Injured London: Heinemann (1915) • A Raw Youth London: Heinemann (1916) • The Eternal Husband and Other Stories London: Heinemann (1917) • The Eternal Husband • The Double • A Gentle Spirit • White Nights and Other Stories London: Heinemann (1918) • White Nights • Notes from Underground • A Faint Heart • A Christmas Tree and a Wedding • Polzunkov • A Little Hero • Mr. Prohartchin • An Honest Thief and Other Stories London: Heinemann (1919) • An Honest Thief • Uncle's Dream • A Novel in Nine Letters • An Unpleasant Predicament • Another Man's Wife • The Heavenly Christmas Tree • The Peasant Marey • The Crocodile • Bobok • The Dream of a Ridiculous Man • The Friend of the Family; or, Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants and Another Story London: Heinemann (1920) • The Friend of the Family • Nyetochka Nyezvanov

• Dead Souls London: Chatto & Windus (1922) • The Overcoat and Other Stories London: Chatto & Windus (1923) • The Overcoat • The Carriage • The Nevsky Prospect • A Madman's Diary • The Prisoner • The Nose • The Portrait • Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka London: Chatto & Windus (1926) • The Government Inspector and Other Plays London: Chatto & Windus (1926) • The Government Inspector • Marriage • The Gamblers • An Official's Morning • A Lawsuit • The Servant's Hall • A Fragment • Mirgorod London: Chatto & Windus (1928)

• A Common Story London: Heinemann (1894)

• The Storm London: Duckworth (1899)

• The Kingdom of God Is Within You London: Heinemann (1894) • Anna Karenina (1901) • The Death of Ivan Ilyitch and Other Stories (1902) • The Death of Ivan Ilyitch • Family Happiness • Polikushka • Two Hussars • The Snowstorm • Three Deaths • War and Peace London: Heinemann (1904)

• A Nest of Gentlefolk London: Heinemann (1894) • Rudin London: Heinemann (1894) • The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories London: Heinemann (1894) • The Diary of a Superfluous Man • A Tour in the Forest • Yakov Pasinkov • Andrei Kolosov • A Correspondence • A Sportsman's Sketches London: Heinemann (1895) • Fathers and Children London: Heinemann (1895) • On the Eve London: Heinemann (1895) • Smoke London: Heinemann (1896) • Virgin Soil London: Heinemann (1896) • Torrents of Spring London: Heinemann (1897) • A Desperate Character and Other Stories London: Heinemann (1899) • A Desperate Character • A Strange Story • Punin and Baburin • Old Portraits • The Brigadier • Pyetushkov • The Jew and Other Stories London: Heinemann (1899) • The Jew • An Unhappy Girl • The Duellist • Three Portraits • Enough • Three Plays London: Cassell & Company (1934) • A Month in the Country • A Provincial Lady • A Poor Gentleman