Netta Syrett

Netta Syrett
Born Janet Syrett
(1865-03-17)17 March 1865
Landsgate, Kent
Died 15 December 1943(1943-12-15) (aged 78)
London
Nationality English
Alma mater Hughes Hall, Cambridge
Period 1890–1940
Literary movement Realism; New Woman
Notable works The Victorians (1915)
Relatives Grant Allen (uncle)

Netta Syrett (17 March 1865 – 15 December 1943) was an English writer of the late Victorian period whose novels featured New Woman protagonists. Her novel Portrait of a Rebel was adapted into the 1936 film A Woman Rebels.

Biography

Early life and education

Netta Syrett was born Janet Syrett on 17 March 1865 in Landsgate, Kent. She was one of five daughters born to silk merchant Ernest Syrett and the niece of writer Grant Allen.[1] First educated at home by their mother and a German governess, Syrett left home at age 11 to attend North London Collegiate School. She continued her education at Hughes Hall, Cambridge where she completed the three years' coursework necessary for a full teaching certificate in one year.[2]

Career

Syrett taught for two years at a school in Swansea before accepting a post at the London Polytechnic School for Girls. Through her friend and coworker Mabel Beardsley, Netta met Aubrey Beardsley, Mabel's brother, and through him she was introduced to Henry Harland and included in his circle of friends. Harland published three of her short stories in the Yellow Book.

Syrett's first novel, Nobody's Fault (1896), was published by The Bodley Head in their Keynote series. Her writing and teaching careers coincided until 1902, when her play The Finding of Nancy received negative attention after Clement Scott, writing for the Daily Telegraph (9 May 1902), insinuated that the play was thinly disguised autobiography. Syrett was asked to resign her teaching position after a student's mother read Scott's review. By that time, novel writing had become for her "a sure thing" and Syrett continued to turn out a novel per year until retiring in 1939.[2]

Death and afterward

Syrett died in London on 15 December 1943 following a long illness.[3]

Published works

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Novels

  • Nobody's Fault (1896)
  • The Tree of Life (1897)
  • Rosanne (1902)
  • The Day's Journey (1905)
  • The Child of Promise (1907)
  • Anne Page (1908)
  • A Castle of Dreams (1909)[4]
  • Olivia L. Carew (1910)
  • Drender's Daughter (1911)
  • Three Women (1912)
  • The Endless Journey (1912)
  • Stories from Mediaeval Romance (1913)
  • Barbara of the Thorn (1913)
  • The Jam Queen (1914)
  • The Victorians (1915; republished as Rose Cottingham)
  • Rose Cottingham Married (1916)
  • Troublers of the Peace (1917)

  • The Wife of a Hero (1918)
  • The God of Chance (1920)
  • As the Stars Come Out (1920?)
  • Cupid and Mr. Pepys (1923)
  • The House in Garden Square (1924)
  • The Shuttles of Eternity (1928)
  • Portrait of a Rebel (1930)
  • The Path to the Sun (1931)
  • Strange Marriage (1931)
  • Moon Out of the Sky (1932)
  • Who was Florriemay? (1932)
  • The House That Was (1933)
  • The Farm on the Downs (1936)
  • Angel Unawares (1936)
  • Fulfilment (1938)
  • ...As Dreams Are Made On (1939)
  • Gemini (1940)

Plays

Short stories

Children's books

  • The Garden of Delight: Fairy Tales (1898)
  • The Magic City and Other Fairy Tales (1903)
  • Six Fairy Plays for Children (1904)
  • The Dream Garden (1905)
  • The Day's Journey (1906)
  • The Hidden Country (1907)[7]
  • The Castle of Four Towers (1908)
  • The Vanishing Princess (1910)

  • The Old Miracle Plays of England (1911)
  • Godmother's Garden (1918)
  • Robin Goodfellow and Other Fairy Plays for Children (1918)
  • Toby and the Odd Beasts (1921)
  • The Fairy Doll (1922)
  • Magic London (1922)
  • Tinkelly Winkle (1923)
  • Rachel and the Seven Wonders (1923)

Other works

References

  1. Carolyn Christensen Nelson, ed. (1 June 2000). "Netta Syrett". A New Woman Reader: Fiction, Articles, and Drama of the 1890s. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press. p. 356. ISBN 1-55111-295-7. Retrieved 5 May 2008.
  2. 1 2 (2006) "Netta Syrett" in Jill Tedford Jones: Dictionary of Literary Biography. Gale Thomson.
  3. "NETTA SYRETT; British Author Wrote 30 Novels; Many Children's Stories". New York Times. 19 December 1939.
  4. "A CASTLE OF DREAMS". The New York Times. 2 October 1909. p. BR585.
  5. "A PRIZE PLAY IN LONDON; "The Finding of Nancy," Crowned by the Playgoers' Club, Performed at the St. James's Theatre". The New York Times. 9 May 1902. p. 8.
  6. 1 2 3 "Syrett, Netta (Harper's Magazine)".
  7. serialised in Our Jabberwock 1907

External links


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