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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Constance Fletcher

Author: Constance Fletcher (1858–1938)

Alternate Name(s): George Fleming (pseudonym)

Biography: Julia Constance Fletcher was born in 1858 in the United States, the daughter of the Rev. James Coolie Fletcher and Henrietta Malan (the daughter of a Swiss pastor). When she was still a child, her parents separated and Fletcher moved with her mother to Venice. Subsequently, her mother married the American painter Eugene Benson. For the remainder of her life, Fletcher would split much of her time between London and Italy. At age eighteen, she published her first book A Nile Novel (1877) under the pseudonym "George Fleming" which brought her to the attentions of literary London including such figures as Robert Browning, Henry James, Walter Pater, John Addington Symonds, and Oscar Wilde. She dedicated her second novel Mirage (1877) to Pater; Wilde dedicated his poem "Ravenna" (1878) to her. In addition, she contributed essays and stories to many of the leading periodicals. By the 1890s, Fletcher moved from fiction to drama, her first play Mrs. Lessingham appeared at the Garrick Theatre in 1894. Her most successful play was the 1903 adaptation of Kipling's The Light That Failed. During the first world war, Fletcher served as a nurse in the military hospitals in Venice, for which she was recognized by the Italian government. She never married and died in 1938 in Venice.

Author Tags:

References: Times (11 June 1938)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Mirage.  3 vol.  London: Macmillan, 1877.
  2. A Nile Novel.  2 vol.  London: Macmillan, 1877.
  3. The Head of Medusa.  3 vol.  London: Macmillan, 1880.
  4. Vestigia.  2 vol.  London: Macmillan, 1884.
  5. Andromeda.  2 vol.  London: Bentley, 1885.
  6. The Truth about Clement Ker.  1 vol.  Bristol: Arrowsmith, 1889.
  7. For Plain Women Only.  1 vol.  London: John Lane, 1895.
  8. Little Stories about Women.  1 vol.  London: Grant Richards, 1897.