Netta Syrett

Netta Syrett
Born	Janet Syrett March 17, 1865(1865-03-17) Landsgate, Kent
Died	December 15, 1943(1943-12-15) (aged 78) London
Nationality	English
Period	1890-1940
Literary movement	Realism; New Woman
Notable work(s)	The Victorians (1915)
Relative(s)	Grant Allen (uncle)

Netta Syrett (March 17, 1865-December 15, 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 March 17, 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 Cambridge Training College 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

• The Finding of Nancy (1902)^[5]
• Two Domestics (1922)

Short stories

• "Sylvia" (Macmillan's, 1891)
• "Thy Heart's Desire" (Yellow Book, July 1894)
• "A Correspondence" (Yellow Book, October 1895)
• "Her Wedding Day" (Quarto, 1896)
• "Fairy-Gold" (Temple Bar, 1896)
• "Far Above Rubies" (Yellow Book, January 1897)
• "Chiffon" (Pall Mall, 1900)
• "A Revelation in Arcadia" (Harper's, August 1902) ^[6]
• "Poor Little Mrs. Villiers" (Venture, 1903)
• "An Idealist" (Harper's, May 1903)^[6]
• "A Common Occurrence" (Harper's, February 1904)^[6]
• "Madame de Meline" (Acorn, October 1905)

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 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) Tinkelly Winkle (1923) Rachel and the Seven Wonders (1923)

Other works

• The story of Saint Catherine of Siena (1910)
• Sketches of European History (1931)
• The Sheltering Tree (autobiography, 1939)

References

1. ^ Carolyn Christensen Nelson, ed (2000-06-01). "Netta Syrett". A New Woman Reader: Fiction, Articles, and Drama of the 1890s. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press. pp. 356. ISBN 1551112957. http://books.google.com/books?id=flLS5Lg9M_AC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52. Retrieved 2008-05-05. 
2. ^ ^{a b} (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. 1939-12-19. http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F1071EF63854107B93CBA81789D95F478485F9. 
4. ^ "A CASTLE OF DREAMS". The New York Times: p. BR585. 1909-10-02. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A00E3D61539E733A25751C0A9669D946897D6CF. 
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: p. 8. 1902-05-09. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D02E7DE1330E733A2575AC0A9639C946397D6CF. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} "Syrett, Netta (Harper's Magazine)". http://www.harpers.org/subjects/NettaSyrett. 

External links

• Works by or about Netta Syrett in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Works by Netta Syrett at Project Gutenberg

Persondata
Name	Syrett, Netta
Alternative names	Syrett, Janet
Short description	English novelist of the late Victorian era.
Date of birth	March 17, 1865
Place of birth	Landsgate, Kent, England
Date of death	December 15, 1943
Place of death	London, England