Ellen Marriage
Encyclopedia
Ellen Marriage was an English translator from French, notably of Balzac
's novels. She also translated under the male pseudonym
James Waring.
. On leaving she went to work as an invoice clerk, but she was already reading widely in English and French and doing some writing.
Marriage met the English journalist Edmund Garrett (1865-1907) while they were both patients at a Suffolk sanatorium in 1901, he with tuberculosis, she with neurasthenia
. They were married on 26 March 1903 and moved first to St Ives, Cornwall
, then to Plympton
in Devon. Marriage returned to the Home Counties
after Garrett's death. In the 1920s she was living in Notting Hill
. She moved to Malvern
in the early 1930s, where she died.
that his firm embark on the first complete edition of Balzac
's immense novel cycle La Comédie humaine
. Hitherto only a few of the novels had appeared in the United Kingdom singly. George Saintsbury
was appointed editor and work began. Forty volumes duly appeared between 1895 and 1898, although five others were omitted as too shocking for Victorian
English tastes. Marriage, under her own name and under the pseudonym James Waring for some of the "bolder works", did most of the translation, except for 13 volumes done by Clara Bell (1834-1927), and one volume done by Rachel Scott.
The Marriage translation of Old Goriot
had gone through 54 editions by 2006 and was still held then by 1306 libraries worldwide. Marriage earned only about £3-4 a week while she worked on the project, but put an effort into ensuring it was readable and accurate that was unusual for translators in that period. She visited France to check details and researched specialist vocabulary on heraldry and other subjects. However, she found it lonely work, and never undertook another project on this scale. Many of the volumes remained in print for decades in Dent's Everyman's Library
. Three of Marriage's Balzac translations are available on Wikisource.
The only other literary works that Marriage translated were Henri Murger
's Scènes de la vie de bohème (1901) and Marcel Prévost
's Frédérique (1900) and Lea (1902). She prepared her husband's translations of Ibsen's poetry for the press while he was alive. After his death, she revised an earlier translation he had done of Ibsen's verse tragedy Brand
.
, and showed interest in the women's suffrage movement. She did some work for the suffragist newspaper Common Cause.
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
's novels. She also translated under the male pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
James Waring.
Life
Marriage was born into the Quaker family of James Haworth Marriage (1839-1913), a confectionery maker, and his wife, Mary, née Brookfield (1835-1899). All four children were sent to Quaker schools - she and her two sisters to The Mount School, YorkThe Mount School, York
The Mount School is a Quaker independent day and boarding school in York, England, for girls aged 11–18. It was founded in 1831. Its preparatory school is called Tregelles, and it accepts only girls from 2012 onwards and has a nursery department. There are two or three forms in Year 7 to 11 and...
. On leaving she went to work as an invoice clerk, but she was already reading widely in English and French and doing some writing.
Marriage met the English journalist Edmund Garrett (1865-1907) while they were both patients at a Suffolk sanatorium in 1901, he with tuberculosis, she with neurasthenia
Neurasthenia
Neurasthenia is a psycho-pathological term first used by George Miller Beard in 1869 to denote a condition with symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, headache, neuralgia and depressed mood...
. They were married on 26 March 1903 and moved first to St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
, then to Plympton
Plympton
Plympton, or Plympton Maurice or Plympton St Maurice or Plympton St Mary or Plympton Erle, in south-western Devon, England is an ancient stannary town: an important trading centre in the past for locally mined tin, and a former seaport...
in Devon. Marriage returned to the Home Counties
Home Counties
The home counties is a term which refers to the counties of South East England and the East of England which border London, but do not include the capital city itself...
after Garrett's death. In the 1920s she was living in Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
. She moved to Malvern
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
in the early 1930s, where she died.
Translations
A. R. Waller, a critic who was a neighbour of the Marriage family, suggested she do translations when he proposed to the London publisher J. M. DentJ. M. Dent
Joseph Malaby Dent was a British book publisher who produced the Everyman's Library series.Dent was born in Darlington in what is now the Britaania public house. After a short and unsuccessful stint as an apprentice printer he took up bookbinding...
that his firm embark on the first complete edition of Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
's immense novel cycle La Comédie humaine
La Comédie humaine
La Comédie humaine is the title of Honoré de Balzac's multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy .-Overview:...
. Hitherto only a few of the novels had appeared in the United Kingdom singly. George Saintsbury
George Saintsbury
George Edward Bateman Saintsbury , was an English writer, literary historian, scholar and critic.-Biography:...
was appointed editor and work began. Forty volumes duly appeared between 1895 and 1898, although five others were omitted as too shocking for Victorian
Victorian morality
Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria's reign and of the moral climate of the United Kingdom throughout the 19th century in general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous Georgian period...
English tastes. Marriage, under her own name and under the pseudonym James Waring for some of the "bolder works", did most of the translation, except for 13 volumes done by Clara Bell (1834-1927), and one volume done by Rachel Scott.
The Marriage translation of Old Goriot
Le Père Goriot
Le Père Goriot is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac , included in the Scènes de la vie Parisienne section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine...
had gone through 54 editions by 2006 and was still held then by 1306 libraries worldwide. Marriage earned only about £3-4 a week while she worked on the project, but put an effort into ensuring it was readable and accurate that was unusual for translators in that period. She visited France to check details and researched specialist vocabulary on heraldry and other subjects. However, she found it lonely work, and never undertook another project on this scale. Many of the volumes remained in print for decades in Dent's Everyman's Library
Everyman's Library
Everyman's Library is a series of reprinted classic literature currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent , who continue to publish Everyman Classics in paperback.J. M. Dent and Company began to publish the series in 1906...
. Three of Marriage's Balzac translations are available on Wikisource.
The only other literary works that Marriage translated were Henri Murger
Henri Murger
Louis-Henri Murger, also known as Henri Murger and Henry Murger was a French novelist and poet....
's Scènes de la vie de bohème (1901) and Marcel Prévost
Marcel Prévost
Eugene Marcel Prévost was a French author and dramatist.-Biography:He was born in Paris on 1 May 1862, and educated at Jesuit schools in Bordeaux and Paris, entering the École polytechnique in 1882...
's Frédérique (1900) and Lea (1902). She prepared her husband's translations of Ibsen's poetry for the press while he was alive. After his death, she revised an earlier translation he had done of Ibsen's verse tragedy Brand
Brand (play)
Brand is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is a verse tragedy, written in 1865 and first performed in Stockholm on 24 March 1867. Brand was an intellectual play that provoked much original thought....
.
Journalism
Marriage also wrote for the daily press, often anonymously and mainly on Balkan affairs, helped by the fact that her sister Elizabeth had married a Bulgarian diplomat, Constantin Mincoff. She was related by marriage to Millicent Fawcett and Elizabeth Garrett AndersonElizabeth Garrett Anderson
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, LSA, MD , was an English physician and feminist, the first woman to gain a medical qualification in Britain and the first female mayor in England.-Early life:...
, and showed interest in the women's suffrage movement. She did some work for the suffragist newspaper Common Cause.