Marian Andrews (writer)

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Marian Andrews , b. Mary Ann Hare (born February 24, 1839 in Brompton , London , † March 29, 1929 in Eastbourne ) was a British writer. She published her works, mostly historical novels and biographies, under the pseudonym Christopher Hare .

Life

Family and first years of life

Mary Ann Hare was the oldest child of the lawyer Thomas Hare and his first wife Mary, b. Samson († 1855). In total, the couple had four sons and four daughters, including suffragette and artist Alice Westlake . The family lived in London, first at Pelham Place, Brompton, and in Chestnut Cottage in Ham , until they settled on Gosbury Hill in the Hook borough. The daughters were homeschooled.

In 1861 Mary Ann Hare married the pastor and amateur geomorphologist William Ryton Andrews (1834-1922). The marriage resulted in two sons and a daughter. The younger son was Arthur Westlake Andrews (1868-1959), a geographer, tennis player, and mountaineer.

Writing

Due to the various spiritual offices with which William Andrews was entrusted, the family lived among others in Hastings , Harlington in Middlesex (pastor 1870–1873) and Teffont Evias in Wiltshire (pastor 1873–1892). Influenced by her impressions of village life in Wiltshire, Marian Andrews began to publish under the pseudonym Christopher Hare in 1895. Her first work, the collection of stories Down the Village Street. Scenes in a West Country Hamlet , was received positively by critics. Other books with scenes from rural life followed, such as The Life Story of Dinah Kellow (1901), whose short stories are set in a place that resembles her husband's Parish . Andrews' knowledge of rural work and customs, as well as descriptions of the establishment of cottages and the local poorhouse, suggest that she assisted her husband with community work.

Andrews later published mostly books on historical subjects, which make up the bulk of her oeuvre. Many were published by Harper & Brothers , later by Stanley Paul & Co. She wrote historical novels such as Felicità: A Romance of Old Siena (1904), which focuses on a problematic love affair in Siena . In the course of annual trips to Italy visited Andrews cities in which Dante Alighieri had stopped during his exile, and described their impressions in the book Dante the wayfarer (1905), which is also the lives of some of the contemporary characters from his main work Divine Comedy dedicated . Andrews also wrote numerous biographies of important people from the 15th and 16th centuries, whereby it was particularly important to her to work out the often less noted life paths of women. She portrayed Margaret of Austria , Isabella I , Isabella of Aragón and the Italian noblewoman Giulia Gonzaga (1513–1566) , among others . She wrote other biographies about Louis XI. , Baldassare Castiglione , Maximilian I and Charles V.

When researching her books, Andrews often relied on primary sources such as letters and chronological lists of government documents ( Calendars of State Papers ). She also obtained information from the writings of historians such as Leopold von Ranke , Jean-Charles-Léonard Simonde de Sismondi and John Addington Symonds . Her works show literary influences from the writers George Eliot , Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Mary Yonge .

Marian and William Andrews spent their twilight years in Eastbourne , looked after by their unmarried daughter. Marian Andrews died in her home there in 1929.

Works (selection)

  • Down the Village Street. Scenes in a West Country Hamlet. William Blackwood & Sons, London 1895.
  • As we sow: A West Country drama. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., London 1897.
  • Broken arcs: A West Country chronicle. Harper, London 1898.
  • How Cynthia went a-maying: a romance of long ago wherein the seige of Wardour Castle is truly chronicled. Isbister, London 1901.
  • The Life Story of Dinah Kellow. Ward, Lock & Co., London 1901.
  • The Most Illustrious Ladies of the Italian Renaissance. Harper & Brothers, London 1904.
  • Felicita: A Romance of Old Siena. Harper & Brothers, London 1904.
  • In the Straits of Time: A Romance of Old France. Cassell, London 1904.
  • Dante the Wayfarer. Harper & Brothers, London 1905.
  • A Queen of Queens (Isabel of Castile) & the Making of Spain [1451-1555]. Harper & Brothers, London 1906.
  • The High and Puissant Princess Marguerite of Austria: Princess Dowager of Spain: Duchess Dowager of Savoy: Regent of the Netherlands. Harper & Brothers, London 1907.
  • The life of Louis XI, the Rebel Dauphin and the Statesman King, from his orig. Letters and other documents. Harper & Brothers, London 1907.
  • Courts & Camps of the Italian Renaissance: being a Mirror of the Life and Times of the Ideal Gentleman Count Baldassare Castiglione. Harper & Brothers, London 1907.
  • The Romance of a Medici warrior: being the Story of Giovanni delle Bande Nere. A Study in Heredity. Paul, London 1910.
  • Isabella of Milan, Princess d'Aragona, and wife of Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza. Harper & Brothers, London 1911.
  • Charles de Bourbon, High Constable of France, "The Great Condottiere" John Lane, New York 1911.
  • The Story of Bayard. Retold from the Old Chronicles of the Loyal Servitor and others. JM Dent & Sons, London 1911.
  • A Princess of the Italian Reformation, Giulia Gonzaga, 1513-1566, her family and her friends. Harper & Brothers, London 1912.
  • Maximilian the Dreamer, Holy Roman Emperor, 1459-1519. Stanley Paul & Co., London 1913.
  • Men and Women of the Italian Reformation. Stanley Paul & Co., London 1914.
  • Life and Letters in the Italian Renaissance. Stanley Paul & Co., London 1915.
  • A Great Emperor, Charles V, 1519–1558. Stanley Paul & Co., London 1917.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rosemary Mitchell: Andrews, Marian. In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of May 14, 2020, accessed June 12, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Andrews, Marian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hare, Christopher (pseudonym); Hare, Mary Ann (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Brompton , London
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 1929
Place of death Eastbourne