Dora Knowlton Ranous
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Dora Knowlton Ranous (August 16, 1859 – January 19, 1916) was an American actress, author, editor, translator, and
book review A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view. B ...
er. She began her literary career editing educational books and contributing to Appleton's '' Annual Cyclopaedia'' and ''
The Criterion ''The Criterion'' was a British literary magazine published from October 1922 to January 1939. ''The Criterion'' (or the ''Criterion'') was, for most of its run, a quarterly journal, although for a period in 1927–28 it was published monthly. It ...
''. Ranous attained distinction as a translator of French and Italian classics, and among the books rendered into English by her, either alone or in collaboration with
Rossiter Johnson Rossiter Johnson (27 January 1840 – 3 October 1931) was an American author and editor. He edited several encyclopedias, dictionaries, and books, and was one of the first editors to publish "pocket" editions of the classics. He was also an autho ...
, whom she assisted, are ''The Literature of Italy'', ''The Immortals'', a collection of French works published under the sanction of the
Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
;
Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...
's stories in fifteen volumes, and
Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...
's writings in ten volumes. She wrote two books of her own, ''The Diary of a Daly Debutante'' and ''Good English in Good Form''. A memoir entitled ''A Simple Record of a Noble Life'', which included some of her unpublished work, appeared in 1916.


Early years and education

Doris Isabelle Knowlton Thompson was born in
Ashfield, Massachusetts Ashfield is a New England town, town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,695 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachuset ...
, August 16, 1859. She was the daughter of Alexander Hamilton and Augusta (Knowlton) Thompson. Her father was an accountant in the service of the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
. Her sister Grace was born in 1857. The sisters had the advantage of the well-rounded governess,
Beatrice deMille Matilda Beatrice deMille (January 30, 1853 – October 8, 1923) (born Matilda Beatrice Samuel; also known as ''Beatrice C. deMille, Agnes Graham, Tillie Samuel, Mrs. Henry deMille)'' was an English-American play broker, screenwriter, playwright, ...
, who taught them French and music at an early age. After that, they attended the common school, where Ranous was noted especially for her ability to "spell down" the class. Then they were graduated at Sanderson Academy, in Ashfield, and their schooling was completed at
Packer Collegiate Institute The Packer Collegiate Institute is an independent college preparatory school for students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Formerly the Brooklyn Female Academy, Packer has been located at 170 Joralemon Street in the historic district of ...
, in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, where their parents had a winter home. The family were Episcopalians, but Ranous attended
Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the Abolitionism, abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery ...
's church, attracted by his eloquence, and was a member of the Bible-class taught by Thomas Gaskell Shearman, eminent as an advocate of free trade and as a writer of law books. Under his tutelage, she read the Bible from
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
to
Revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
, and found pleasure in the study of it. In their summer home, the sisters were peculiarly fortunate, for in Ashfield were also the summer homes of
Charles Eliot Norton Charles Eliot Norton (November 16, 1827 – October 21, 1908) was an American author, social critic, and Harvard professor of art based in New England. He was a progressive social reformer and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries c ...
and
George William Curtis George William Curtis (February 24, 1824 – August 31, 1892) was an American writer, reformer, public speaker, and political activist. He was an abolitionist and supporter of civil rights for African Americans and Native Americans. He also a ...
, who naturally attracted such visitors as
James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...
,
Francis Parkman Francis Parkman Jr. (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of '' The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life'' and his monumental seven-volume '' France and England in North Ame ...
,
Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner (September 12, 1829 – October 20, 1900) was an American essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel '' The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today''. Biography Warner was born of Puritan descen ...
, and John W. Field. The last-named was a retired merchant of
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, who was learned in the languages and in love with literature, and had become an intimate friend of Lowell and of
Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...
.


Career

She married William Vardell Ranous, at
Whitby, Ontario Whitby is a town in Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region in Ontario, Canada. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax, Ontario, Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is home to the headquarters of D ...
, May 26, 1881, and soon afterward she left the stage. They had a daughter, Alice Knowlton Ranous, in 1882. The couple later divorced. She never married again. In 1892 her mother died. About 1893, through unfortunate investment, Ranous lost the property that she had inherited. But this did not discourage her. She mastered
stenography Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''s ...
in half the usual time required, and set at work to earn her own living and the funds necessary for her daughter's education. This was completed in the Henry Churchill de Mille school at Pompton, New Jersey; and then the daughter also learned stenography and began to support herself. Ranous served for some time as assistant in an establishment that dealt in rare books and autographs, and acquired much knowledge of that peculiar business. She had always been interested in autographs, and had made a small but interesting collection.


Writer

Ranous entered upon literary work in 1898, as editor of educational text-books for Silver, Burdett & Co. In the spring of 1901, she joined D. Appleton & Company, and contributed to Appleton's ''Annual Cyclopedia'' and to ''The Criterion'' magazine. In 1903, she was engaged to assist Robert Arnot, a learned Oxonian, in editing sets of books for the subscription business of M. Walter Dunne, to include the first complete editions of works of Guy de Maupassant (15 vols.) and Gustave Flaubert (10 vols.), and edited a 20-vol. edition of
Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...
,
Earl of Beaconsfield Earl of Beaconsfield, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1876 for Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, a favourite of Queen Victoria. Victoria favoured Disraeli's Tory poli ...
. This work extended into 1904, and on its completion she was engaged, still in association with Arnot, upon a set of books known as ''The Immortals''. This consisted of translations of twenty French novels, each of which had been crowned by the Académie française. For this set, besides doing her usual editorial work, she made original translations of
André Bazin André Bazin (; 18 April 1918 – 11 November 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. He started to write about movies in 1943 and was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine '' Cahiers du cinéma'' in 1951 ...
's ''The Ink Stain'',
Anatole France (; born ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.André Theuriet Claude Adhémar André Theuriet (; 8 October 1833 in Marly-le-Roi – 23 April 1907 in Bourg-la-Reine) was a 19th-century French poet and novelist. Life Theuriet was born at Marly-le-Roi (Seine et Oise), and was educated at Bar-le-Duc in his ...
's ''A Woodland Queen'', and Phillipe De Massa's ''Zibeline'', ''A Turn of Luck'', ''The Scar'', and ''Mount Ida''. This work was completed in 1905. In March 1906, after her daughter, now Mrs. Chubb, died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
, Ranous assumed the charge of her grandchild, Catherine, and began all over again the task of supporting, rearing, and educating, which she relinquished only when the granddaughter was in her eleventh year and Ranous's health was so broken as to forbid a continuation. The child then went to live in her father's house in Brooklyn. In that same year, Ranous was the editor and translator (with Rossiter Johnson) for the National Alumni (New York City) of ''The Literature of Italy'' (16 vols.), as well as of ''The Authors' Digest'' (20 vols.). In 1910–11, she wrote much of the historical volume in the ''Foundation Library for Young People''. Ranous was a member of the editorial staff of
Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...
' new ''Standard Dictionary'', from July, 1911, to September, 1912, where she was entrusted with the work of reading the plate proofs. Then came an interval, which she improved by compiling a cook-book for an Ashfield townsman who had become a publisher in New York. She was the author of ''The Diary of a Daly Debutante'', 1910 (first edition published anonymously), in which she told the story of her life behind the
footlights The Cambridge Footlights, commonly referred to simply as Footlights, is a student sketch comedy troupe located in Cambridge, England. Footlights was founded in 1883, and is one of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupes. The comedy so ...
. She wrote book reviews for the Holiday Issue of ''The Bookseller'', ''Newsdealer'' and ''Stationer''. She was connected with the editorial staff of the University Society. When
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
broke out in 1914, Ranous was called to the headquarters of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, to edit the addresses delivered before the International Convention that had been held in Kansas City. These fill a large volume, containing about one million words, and she edited every page of the manuscript, and read all the proofs, her work being acknowledged with thanks in the General Secretary's Introductory Note. This done, she next edited an elaborate cable code for the use of the missionaries. In 1915, under the patronage of Milo M. Belding, she finished a peculiar piece of work—the "grangerizing" of Howes' ''History of Ashfield'', which she extended with illustrations till it made two volumes, which were bound and deposited in the Belding Memorial Library in that village. Her last visit to her old home was to attend the dedication of the new Alvah N. Belding Memorial Library building in the summer of that year. In her last year, she wrote for Sturgis & Walton a volume entitled ''Good English in Good Form'', and she lived to read the proof, but not to see a copy of the bound book.


Personal life

Ranous favored woman suffrage. Two of the most pleasant episodes in the last year of her life—reunion of friends long parted —were her visits to Mrs. Coleman in Washington and Mrs. Judkins in
Nantucket Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Island, Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and Co ...
. Her mother and her mother's mother had died of paralysis, and she always expected to go the same way. She had a considerable stroke in December, 1914, and a lighter one six months later. Then her sense of taste was gone, her strength declined steadily, and it was discovered that she had a serious heart trouble, which gave her constant pain. At the last, also, her sight was failing; and as she had not a living relative except the granddaughter and a cousin in
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
, the sense of loneliness in its intensity overwhelmed her. Ranous committed suicide by inhaling gas in her room at 246 West 103rd Street, New York City, on January 19, 1916. Her suicide was peculiarly tragic, as she became very despondent at the prospect of losing her
eyesight Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual perception can be enabled by ph ...
, and she had also suffered from a stroke of
paralysis Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of Motor skill, motor function in one or more Skeletal muscle, muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory d ...
, having left St. Luke's Hospital but a short time before her death. In a letter which was found in her room, she said there was no one to take care of her and she could not endure the "blackest misery" that was before her.


Selected works

* ''Diary of a Daly Debutante'' (New York: Duffield It Company, 1910) * ''Good English in Good Form'' (New York: Sturgis & Walton Company, 1916) * ''A Simple Record of a Noble Life'' (1916)


Translations

*
André Bazin André Bazin (; 18 April 1918 – 11 November 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. He started to write about movies in 1943 and was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine '' Cahiers du cinéma'' in 1951 ...
's ''The Ink Stain'' *
Anatole France (; born ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.André Theuriet Claude Adhémar André Theuriet (; 8 October 1833 in Marly-le-Roi – 23 April 1907 in Bourg-la-Reine) was a 19th-century French poet and novelist. Life Theuriet was born at Marly-le-Roi (Seine et Oise), and was educated at Bar-le-Duc in his ...
's ''A Woodland Queen'' * Phillipe De Massa's ''Zibeline'', ''A Turn of Luck'', ''The Scar'', and ''Mount Ida''


References


Attribution

* * * * *


Bibliography

*


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranous, Dora Knowlton 1859 births 1916 suicides People from Ashfield, Massachusetts 19th-century American writers 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers American book editors American socialites Suicides by gas 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses Suicides in New York City French–English translators Italian–English translators 19th-century American translators 1916 deaths