Alexander Louis Teixeira de Mattos (9 April 1865 – 5 December 1921), known as Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, was a Dutch-English journalist, literary critic and publisher, who gained his greatest fame as a translator.

Early life The Teixeira de Mattos Sampaio e Mendes family was of Portuguese Jewish origin, having been driven out of Portugal to the Netherlands by Holy Office persecution. Alexander Teixeira de Mattos was born as a Dutch Protestant to an English mother and a Dutch father. In 1874, when he was nine years old, he and his family moved from Amsterdam to England. There, he studied under Monsignor Thomas John Capel and converted to Roman Catholicism. He then studied at the Kensington Catholic Public SchoolMcKenna, p. 11. and at the Jesuit school Beaumont College.

Career After his studies, Teixeira came into contact with J. T. Grein, a London impresario of Dutch origin, and was made secretary of Grein's Independent Theatre Society. He worked as a freelance translator, as the London correspondent of a Dutch newspaper, and as the editor of the papers Dramatic Opinions and The Candid Friend, and, in collaboration with Leonard Smithers, in publishing. He became the official translator of the works of Maurice Maeterlinck, beginning with Maeterlinck's The Double Garden.

Teixera was fluent in English, French, German, Flemish, Dutch, and Danish.McKenna, p. 8. In addition to the later works of Maeterlinck, his translations include works by Émile Zola, Alexis de Tocqueville, Maurice Leblanc, Gaston Leroux, François-René de Chateaubriand, Paul Kruger, Carl Ewald, Georgette Leblanc, Stijn Streuvels, and Louis Couperus. He considered his greatest achievement to be his complete translation of Jean-Henri Fabre's natural history.McKenna, p. 12.

In the 1890s, Teixeira was the leading translator for the Lutetian Society, a group whose mission was "to issue, to its members, translations of such representative master-pieces of fiction by Continental authors as are unprocurable in English in an unmutilated rendering". He oversaw the Society's publication of unexpurgated translations of six banned novels by Émile Zola in 1894–5, contributing his own translation of the third volume in the series, La curée.

During World War I, Teixeira was head of the Intelligence Section, as well as a member of the Advisory Board, of the War Trade Intelligence Department.McKenna, p. 14. Midway through the war, Teixeira became a British subject. In June 1920, he was made a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold II.McKenna, p. 90.

Personal life On 20 October 1900, he married Lily Wilde (née Sophie Lily Lees, 1859–1922), the widow of Oscar Wilde's older brother Willie Wilde, and thus became the stepfather of Dolly Wilde, then age 5. Alexander and Lily Teixeira de Mattos had one son, who died a few hours after birth.McKenna, p. 16.

Teixeira was known to his acquaintances as a dandy and a fastidious worker, keeping strictly to set hours, and was linked to the Symbolist movement thanks to his friendship and travels with Arthur Symons. He was also personal friends with Maurice Maeterlinck and Louis Couperus, both of whom wrote works he translated.McKenna, p. 19. He was politically liberal and a devout Catholic.McKenna, pp. 29.

Due to ill health, Teixeira traveled on a rest cure in 1920 at Crowborough and the Isle of Wight, returning to his home in Chelsea, London in spring 1921. He worked as usual through the autumn and traveled to Cornwall for the winter.McKenna, p. 15. On 5 December 1921, in St Ives, Cornwall he collapsed and died from angina pectoris. The New York Times, in its obituary notice, called him "one of the best translators of foreign languages of the present generation." The high quality and readability of Teixera's work was such that many of his translations are still in print today. For example, though his translation of La curée is over a century old, its accuracy and style have given it a status still unrivaled by more modern versions.

List of translations The dates given in the list below are the publication dates for Teixeira's translations. Unless otherwise referenced, all information in the list is derived from catalog entries in WorldCat.

Author Title Year Arthur Byl Yvette Guilbert 1898 Antoine de Castellane Men and things of my time 1911 François-René de Chateaubriand The memoirs of François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, sometime ambassador to England 1902 Louis Couperus Ecstasy: A Study of Happiness (translated with John Gray) 1892 Louis Couperus Majesty: A Novel (Begun by Teixeira, completed by Ernest Dowson) 1894 Louis Couperus The Books of Small Souls, Vol. I: Small Souls 1914 Louis Couperus The Books of Small Souls, Vol. II: The Later Life 1915 Louis Couperus The Books of Small Souls, Vol. III: The Twilight of the Souls 1917 Louis Couperus The Books of Small Souls, Vol. IV: Dr. Adriaan 1918 Louis Couperus Old People and the Things that Pass 1918 Louis Couperus The Tour: A Story of Ancient Egypt 1920 Louis Couperus The Inevitable 1920 Louis Couperus The Hidden Force: A Story of Modern Java 1921 Robert d'Humières Through Isle and Empire 1905 Carl Ewald My Little Boy 1906 Carl Ewald Two-Legs 1906 Carl Ewald The spider, and other tales 1907 Carl Ewald The Old Room 1908 Carl Ewald The Four Seasons 1913 Carl Ewald The Old Willow-tree, and other stories 1921 Carl Ewald The Pond 1922 Carl Ewald The twelve sisters and other stories 1923 Jean-Henri Fabre The Works of J. H. Fabre 1912–1922 Fernand Grenard Tibet: the country and its inhabitants 1904 Jozef Israëls Spain: the story of a journey 1900 Melati van Java The Resident's Daughter 1893 Paul Kruger The memoirs of Paul Kruger, four times president of the South African republic 1902 Georgette Leblanc The Children's Bluebird 1913 Georgette Leblanc The Choice of Life 1914 Georgette Leblanc The girl who found the blue bird; a visit to Helen Keller 1914 Georgette Leblanc Maeterlinck's dogs 1920 Maurice Leblanc The Exploits of Arsène Lupin 1907 Maurice Leblanc Arsène Lupin versus Holmlock Shears 1909 Maurice Leblanc 813 1910 Maurice Leblanc The Frontier 1912 Maurice Leblanc The Confessions of Arsène Lupin 1912 Maurice Leblanc The Hollow Needle 1913 Maurice Leblanc The Crystal Stopper 1913 Maurice Leblanc The Teeth of the Tiger 1915 Maurice Leblanc The Bomb-Shell: 1914 1916 Maurice Leblanc The Golden Triangle 1917 Maurice Leblanc Coffin Island 1920 Maurice Leblanc The Eyes of Innocence (Original title: Le Roman d'une jeune fille) 1920 Maurice Leblanc The secret of Sarek 1920 Maurice Leblanc The Three Eyes 1921 Maurice Leblanc The Eight Strokes of the Clock 1922 Maurice Leblanc The Tremendous Event 1922 Maurice Leblanc The Secret Tomb 1922 Gaston Leroux The Phantom of the Opera 1911 Gaston Leroux Balaoo 1913 Jean Léonard Souvenirs of Léonard, hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette 1897 Maurice Maeterlinck Chrysanthemums and other essays 1904 Maurice Maeterlinck The Double Garden 1904 Maurice Maeterlinck "King Lear" in Paris 1905 Maurice Maeterlinck My Dog 1906 Maurice Maeterlinck Old-fashioned flowers and other open-air essays 1906 Maurice Maeterlinck The Intelligence of the Flowers 1907 Maurice Maeterlinck Life and Flowers 1907 Maurice Maeterlinck The Measure of the Hours 1907 Maurice Maeterlinck News of spring and other nature studies 1907 Maurice Maeterlinck Joyzelle 1907 Maurice Maeterlinck The leaf of olive 1908 Maurice Maeterlinck Mary Magdalene 1910 Maurice Maeterlinck The Blue Bird 1910 Maurice Maeterlinck Death 1911 Maurice Maeterlinck Hours of Gladness 1912 Maurice Maeterlinck Our Eternity 1913 Maurice Maeterlinck Our Friend the Dog 1913 Maurice Maeterlinck The Unknown Guest 1914 Maurice Maeterlinck Life and letters 1914 Maurice Maeterlinck The Wrack of the Storm 1916 Maurice Maeterlinck The Light Beyond 1917 Maurice Maeterlinck The Burgomaster of Stilemonde 1918 Maurice Maeterlinck The Betrothal or the Blue Bird Chooses 1918 Maurice Maeterlinck The Miracle of Saint Anthony 1918 Maurice Maeterlinck Mountain Paths 1919 G. Hermine Marius Dutch painting in the nineteenth century 1908 Eugénie de Coucy Oudinot Memoirs of Marshal Oudinot, duc de Reggio 1896 Xavier Paoli My royal clients 1911 Peter Rosegger The forest farm: tales of the Austrian Tyrol 1912 Stijn Streuvels The Path of Life 1915 Alexis de Tocqueville The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville 1896 August Weissl The Mystery of the Green Car 1913 Émile Zola The heirs of Rabourdin 1894 Émile Zola La curée 1895

References

Further reading , Louis Couperus in den vreemde (Leiden, 2008). Includes ten letters by Teixeira to the Dutch writer Louis Couperus.

External links