author
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
1865–1921
A gifted translator, critic, and publisher, he helped bring major French and Belgian writers into English and became especially closely linked with Maurice Maeterlinck’s work. His career moved between journalism, books, and literary society, making him an important bridge between European literature and English-speaking readers.
1 Audiobook
The Life of the Weevil
by Jean-Henri Fabre, Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
About the author
Born in Amsterdam in 1865, he later moved to England with his family and built a literary career there as a journalist, critic, publisher, and above all a translator. He is best remembered for introducing English-language readers to a wide range of continental writers, with translations from French and Dutch that were widely read in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
He became particularly associated with the Belgian Nobel laureate Maurice Maeterlinck, serving as one of his main English translators. He also translated work by authors including Émile Zola and Jean-Henri Fabre, helping shape how many readers first encountered these writers in English.
He died in 1921. Though his name is less widely known today than the authors he translated, his work played a real part in carrying European literature across languages and into new audiences.