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Gertrude Vakar

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Gertrude Clafton Vakar (1904 – 1973) was born in Reval, Russian Empire, to family of British descent that had been in the Russian Empire since 1795. She grew up in Arkhangelsk, Russian Empire.

Life

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During the Russian Revolution, the Clafton family moved to England, while Gertrude—the oldest of five girls—went to the Russian lycée in Paris on a scholarship. She graduated at the top of her class in 1923. On a visit back to Paris, she met Nicholas Vakar, a former White Army officer, then a writer for the Russian language daily Posledniye Novosti. They married in 1926 and settled in Paris. They had two daughters, Catherine in 1927 and Anna in 1929; both girls have escaped from France to the United States in 1940.[1] The latter is well-known Canadian haiku poet residing in Oliver, British Columbia.[2]

Vakar, trilingual since childhood, translated some 37 novels into Russian, from French or English, perhaps also German, for serialization in the Russian newspapers. She also translated a number of academic works from Russian into English.,[3] including many of the works of the psychologist Lev Vygotsky.

References

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