Juliet Catherine Emma Soskice (née Hueffer; 1881–1944) was an English translator and writer.

Life

She was the daughter of

Francis Hueffer Francis Hueffer (born Franz Carl Christoph Johann Hüffer; 22 May 1845 – 19 January 1889) was a German-English writer on music, music critic, and librettist. Biography Hueffer was born in Münster, Germany, on 22 May 1845 to Johann Hermann Hü ...

and

Catherine Madox Brown Catherine Madox Brown Hueffer (11 November 1850 – 1927), also known as Cathy, the first child of Ford Madox Brown and Emma Hill, was an artist and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and married to the writer Francis Hueffer. Early li ...

, and younger sister of the novelist Ford Madox Ford who was born in 1873. After her father died in 1889, there were changes in the household. The legal position was that Charles Rowley and

Theodore Watts Theodore Watts-Dunton (12 October 1832 – 6 June 1914), from St Ives, Huntingdonshire, was an English poetry critic with major periodicals, and himself a poet. He is remembered particularly as the friend and minder of Algernon Charles Swinbu ...

acted as trustees. Juliet lived in London with

Lucy Madox Brown Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti (19 July 1843 – 12 April 1894) was a British artist, author, and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. She was married to the writer and art critic William Michael Rossetti. Early life Madox Brown was born in P ...

, her mother's older half-sister and her husband William Michael Rossetti. Her mother went to live with Ford Madox Brown, her father, with her sons Ford and Oliver. The houses were two doors apart. Juliet was therefore brought up with the Rossetti children, including

Olivia Olivia may refer to: People * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer) (Olivia Longott, born 1981), American singer * Olívia (basketball) (Carlos Henrique Rodrigues do Nascimento, born 1974 ...

, Gabriel Arthur and Helen. In the early 1890s she and Ford knew

Edward Garnett Edward William Garnett (5 January 1868 – 19 February 1937) was an English writer, critic and literary editor, who was instrumental in the publication of D. H. Lawrence's ''Sons and Lovers''. Early life and family Edward Garnett was born i ...

and his sister Olive, the children of Richard Garnett. The Hueffer, Garnett and Rossetti families were close, and in London's St Edmund's Terrace near

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

were at times in the 1890s neighbours. In her youth Juliet was known as a musician. She later turned to literature. The relationships between the families evolved: Juliet remained close to the Rossettis, but her brothers didn't, and the Rossetti children protected their political activities, anarchist and socialist, from casual attention. The brothers also distanced themselves from the Garnetts and their Surrey home at

Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25.

, which they found too closely aligned to the Fabian Society. Juliet's future husband David Soskice entered this circle through the Garnetts finding him a house near

Limpsfield Chart Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25.

in 1898.

Works

In 1917, Soskice translated the long poem ''

Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia? ''Who Lives Happily in Russia?'' (russian: Кому на Руси жить хорошо, translit=Komú na Rusí zhit' horoshó) is an epic four-part poem by Nikolai Nekrasov, which he started publishing in January 1866 in ''Sovremennik'' and '' ...

'' by Nikolai Nekrasov. Other works included: *''The Torch Bearers of Bohemia'' (1916), translator from the 1907 novel ''Svetochi Chekhii'' by

Vera Ivanovna Kryzhanovskaia Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Vera (given name) Vera (: ''Véra'', "faith") is a female given name of Slavic origin, and by folk etymology it has also been explained as Latin ''v ...

. *''Chapters from Childhood: Reminiscences of an Artist's Granddaughter'' (1921), memoirs. *''Poems by Nicholas Nekrasov'' (London, 1929), translator. *Short stories, as "J. Saturin", published in the ''

English Review ''The English Review'' was an English-language literary magazine published in London from 1908 to 1937. At its peak, the journal published some of the leading writers of its day. History The magazine was started by 1908 by Ford Madox Hueffer (la ...

''. *Five novels. She assisted

Constance Garnett Constance Clara Garnett (; 19 December 1861 – 17 December 1946) was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian literature. She was the first English translator to render numerous volumes of Anton Chekhov's work into English and the ...

in translations from Russian.

Rebecca West Dame Cicily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...

's last novel ''The Birds Fall Down'' (1966) is based on the life of

Yevno Azef Yevno Fishelevich Azef (russian: Евгений Филиппович (Евно Фишелевич) Азеф, also transliterated as ''Evno'' Azef, 1869–1918) was a Russian socialist revolutionary who also operated as a double agent and agent ...

, and West acknowledged influence on it by Ford Madox Ford as well as Juliet Soskice, whom she calls a "pioneer translator" from Russian and the original source from which she heard Azef's story.

Family

In 1902, Juliet married the revolutionary journalist David Soskice (1866–1941), as his second wife. The couple appear as Cyril Brandetski and Ophelia Bransdon in her brother's 1911 novel ''The Simple Life Limited.'' They had three sons, one being Frank Soskice. David had a son Victor by his first wife Anna Sophia Johansen, a marriage which ended in divorce in August 1902.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soskice, Juliet 1881 births 1944 deaths English translators English writers