{{Short description|British writer, poet and translator (1926–2020)}} {{for|the curler|Mary Hobson (curler)}} {{EngvarB|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox writer | name = Mary Hobson | image = | birth_date = {{birth year|1926}} | birth_place = United Kingdom | death_date = 2020 (aged 93–94) | death_place = | genre = Novels, translations | notableworks = | nationality = English | awards = "The Enthusiast", "Griboedov prize" in London,"Pushkin medal" | signature = }} thumb|"Evgenii Onegin". Translated by Mary Hobson [[File:Signature of Mary Hobson.JPG|thumb|M. Hobson's signature on a page of the book "Evgenii Onegin". After the presentation at Moscow State Pedagogical University.]] '''Mary Hobson''' (1926–2020) was a British writer, poet and translator. She wrote four novels and an autobiography. She translated Alexander Griboedov's ''Woe from Wit'' and his letters. Hobson also translated works by Alexander Pushkin. She won the Griboedov Prize and Pushkin Medal.
==Personal life== Hobson married a stage designer named Neil, and together they had four children. At 25 years of age he developed a cerebral abscess which left him debilitated on the right side of his body and speechless. Her husband became very difficult to live with and Mary Hobson left him in her 60s. Her son, Matthew, stayed with his father to prevent his mother from returning to him.<ref name="Day in the life" /><ref name="BBC 2012" />
Matthew died during a motorcycle accident about 1999, which was very difficult, but she based her philosophy of managing her grief on Marcus Aurelius quote: "What we cannot bear removes us from life." Rather than living less, she chose to do more, including writing poetry about him.<ref name="Day in the life" /><ref name="BBC 2012" /> She was an atheist who lived in South London, wrote poetry and traveled to Moscow each year.<ref name="Day in the life">Caroline Scott. ''A Day in the life: Mary Hobson.'' The Sunday Times. 30 November 2003.</ref>
Hobson studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England.<ref name="Gazprom">[http://www.gazpromschool.ru/english/news/news_2_12.html "February News: Gazprom School Welcomes Mary Hobson."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419014733/http://www.gazpromschool.ru/english/news/news_2_12.html |date=19 April 2014 }} Gazprom School. 10 February 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2014.</ref>
==Career== While her husband underwent musical therapy, about the age of 40, Hobson wrote her first of four novels, the first three published by Heinemann Press.<ref name="Gazprom" /> She studied Russian<ref name="Gazprom" /> at 56 so that she could read the original version of Leo Tolstoy's ''War and Peace'', a book that had been a gift to her by her daughter to read while recovering from a surgery and one that she felt she would not truly understand until she read the original Russian version. Her first teacher was a Russian emigree,<ref name="Day in the life" /><ref name="BBC 2012" /> Tatiana Borisovna Behr, who inspired an interest in Aleksander Pushkin, starting with ''The Bronze Horseman''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Griboyedov |first1=A. S. |title=Woe From Wit / Горе от ума |date=2017 |publisher=Russian School |location=Moscow |isbn=9785916960419 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bf5ODwAAQBAJ |accessdate=16 May 2019}}</ref>
At 62, she enrolled at London University in the School of Slavonic and East European Studies.<ref name="Day in the life" /><ref name="Gazprom" /> During the politically turbulent year of 1991, she studied Russian language and literature in Moscow and lived in a hostel.<ref name="BBC 2012" /> She graduated while still in her 60s.<ref name="Gazprom" />
Hobson translated Alexander Griboedov's ''Woe from Wit'',<ref name="Gazprom" /> which was published in 2005 and the subject of her doctoral thesis. Subsequently, she translated Griboedov's letters, some of which she said were very scandalous.<ref name="Day in the life" /> She received her PhD at 74 years of age.<ref name="Gazprom" />
Her translation of ''Evgenii Onegin'' by Alexander Pushkin was published as an audiobook, narrated by Neville Jason.<ref name="Arnold">Sue Arnold. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/08/sue-arnold-audiobook-choice-review ''Sue Arnold's audiobook choice – review: Evengii Onegin''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304205622/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/08/sue-arnold-audiobook-choice-review |date=4 March 2016 }} The Guardian. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Evgenii-Onegin-Audiobook/B00852GS42 Audiobook: ''Evgenii Onegin: A New Translation by Mary Hobson.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413154814/http://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Evgenii-Onegin-Audiobook/B00852GS42 |date=13 April 2014 }} www.audible.com Retrieved 16 April 2014.</ref> She translated what was deemed a "mathematically impossible" poem to translate, including the declaration of Onegin, heir to his dying uncle's estate, when asked to visit him:<ref name="Arnold" /> {{Quotation| :The plan may be worth imitating :the boredom is excruciating. :Sit by a bedside night and day :and never move a step away. :With what low cunning one tries madly :to amuse a man who's half alive :Adjust his pillows and contrive :To bring his medicine to him sadly :Then sigh when proffering the spoon :'Let's hope the devil takes you soon'}}
In Russia she was considered a Pushkin expert.<ref name="BBC 2012">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h2c3l "Later Life Linguist: Mary Hobson."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012174443/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h2c3l |date=12 October 2019 }} Saturday Life. ''BBC Radio 4.'' 5 May 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2014.</ref> She presented her translation of "Evgenii Onegin" 16 February 2012 at Moscow State Pedagogical University<ref>Evgenii Onegin A novel in verse by Aleksandr Pushkin. Translated by Mary Hobson, Moscow, Russian school, 2011.</ref> and has presented at educational conferences in Russia and Europe.<ref>[http://www.rosnou.ru/interest/hobson_translator/ Мэри Хобсон: «Мое студенчество началось в 62 года (Conference in Moscow)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325235105/http://rosnou.ru/interest/hobson_translator/ |date=25 March 2014 }}. www.rosnou.ru. Retrieved 16 April 2014.</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/russian/radio/radio_5etazh/2010/04/100422_5floor_mary_hobson Мэри Хобсон – пенсионер-подвижнник (Article about M. Hobson in Russian.)] BBC Russian. Retrieved 16 April 2014.</ref>
By 2003, she began to study ancient Greek.<ref name="Day in the life" /> As of March 2014, Hobson, in her late 80s, continues to take on new projects.<ref>Mary Kenny. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140611124140/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-35841534.html "How Stars like Joan Show You're Never Too Old to Have Fun."] ''Belfast Telegraph.'' Independent News & Media PLC. 2014. </ref>
Hobson won the bi-centenary Griboedov prize for the best translation of Alexander Griboedov's ''Woe from Wit'' in London in 1995,<ref name="Gazprom" /><ref>[http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/archives/gri.htm Griboyedov Collection (1995).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418220822/http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/archives/gri.htm |date=18 April 2014 }} UCL Library Services. SSEES. Retrieved 17 April 2014.</ref> the Pushkin medal, awarded by the Association of Creative Unions in Moscow<ref name="Gazprom" /> and in 2010 "The Enthusiast Award" by the New Millennium Foundation.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140418221026/http://academia-rossica.org/en/literature/london-book-fair-2010/translators-day ''Translators Day''.]}} Academia Rossica. Retrieved 17 April 2014.</ref> In 2011 she won the Podvizhnik Prize in Moscow.<ref>Alidë Kohlhaas. [http://www.lancette-arts-journal.ca/Audio_Books06.htm ''Eugenii Onigen: One of the most famous Russian stories in a novel in verse.''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419011505/http://www.lancette-arts-journal.ca/Audio_Books06.htm |date=19 April 2014 }} Lancette Arts Journal. August 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2014.</ref>
In 2015, Hobson's fourth novel, completed in the 1980s, was published, together with an autobiography. This was followed in 2017 by a book on the last seven years of Pushkin's life told exclusively through Dr Hobson's translations of his poems and letters.
Hobson died in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mary Hobson (1926–2020) |url=http://eng-poetry.ru/english/Poet.php?PoetId=474 |website=English Poetry |access-date=7 December 2022 |archive-date=6 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206203753/http://www.eng-poetry.ru/english/Poet.php?PoetId=474 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Works== ;Novels * Mary Hobson. ''This Place Is a Madhouse.'' William Heinemann, 1980. {{ISBN|978-0-434-34021-7}} * Mary Hobson. ''Oh Lily.'' William Heinemann Ltd, 1981. {{ISBN|978-0-434-34020-0}} * Mary Hobson. ''Poor Tom.'' David & Charles Publishers, 1982. {{ISBN|978-0-434-34022-4}} * Mary Hobson. ''Promenade.'' Thorpewood Publishing, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1-910873-00-7}}
;Translations of Russian literature * Mary Hobson; Aleksandr Sergeyevich Griboyedov. ''Aleksandr Griboedov's Woe from wit: a commentary and translation''. Edwin Mellen Press; 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-7734-6146-8}}. * Mary Hobson; Alexander Pushkin. ''Evgenii Onegin: A New Translation by Mary Hobson''. * Mary Hobson; Alexander Pushkin. "Friendship of Love." In ''Love Poems''. Alma Classics Ltd, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-84749-300-2}} * Mary Hobson; Alexander Pushkin. ''Eugene Onegin.''Anthem Press, 2016 {{ISBN|978-1-78308-458-6}}
; Non-Fiction * Mary Hobson. ''The Feast. An autobiography'' Thorpewood Publishing, 2015 {{ISBN|978-1-910873-03-8}} * Mary Hobson. ''After Onegin. The last seven years in the poems and letters of Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin.'' Thorpewood Publishing, 2017 {{ISBN|978-1-910873-05-2}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, Mary}} Category:1926 births Category:2020 deaths Category:20th-century British translators Category:English women non-fiction writers Category:Russian–English translators