Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
Alexander Louis Teixeira de Mattos (9 April 1865 – 5 December 1921) was a journalist, literary critic and publisher, who gained greatest fame as a translator.
Teixeira de Mattos moved with his family to England from Amsterdam in 1874 and was educated at the Kensington catholic public school. He worked as a correspondent, editor and dramatic critic for several Dutch newspapers. On 20 October 1900, he married Lily Wilde, née Sophie Lily Lees (1859-1922), the widow of Oscar Wilde's older brother Willie Wilde. During the First World War he was head of the intelligence section of the Department of War Trade Intelligence.
He was responsible for many extremely perceptive and well-executed English translations of major French and Dutch literary works, including works by Émile Zola, Maurice Maeterlinck, Alexis de Tocqueville, Jean Henri Fabre, Maurice Leblanc, Gaston Leroux, François René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, and Louis Couperus. The high quality and readability of his work was such that many of his translations are still in print today; although some of these are over a century old, they have yet to be superseded by a more modern version.
[edit] Translations of the work of Louis Couperus
- Ecstacy. A study of happiness (1892)
- Majesty (1894)
- The books of small souls (4 volumes, 1914-1918)
- Old people and the things that pass (1918)
- The tour. A story of ancient Egypt (1920)
- The inevitable (1920)
- The hidden force. A story of modern Java (1922)
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Alexander Teixeira de Mattos |
[edit] Sources
- Short Probert Encyclopedia bio
- Stephen McKenna, Tex. A chapter in the life of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. London, 1922
- R. Breugelmans, Louis Couperus in den vreemde. Leiden, 2008² [includes 10 letters by Tex to the Dutch writer Louis Couperus]
