THE BOOKS OF THE SMALL SOULS : The series of four novels include;
I. SMALL SOULS.
II. THE LATER LIFE.
III. THE TWILIGHT OF THE SOULS.
IV. DR. ADRIAAN
Translated by
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS
This book is the series of four novels describing the fortunes of the Van Lowe family and known in Holland by the generic title The Books of the Small Souls. It was translated from the Dutch of Louis Couperus, the foremost novelist in a country which has lately had the good sense to join the Berne Convention by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos and published in 1914. Represents in digital format by a group of volunteers.
From The Translator in The Small Souls’s Preface:
Friends who have seen my version in manuscript suggest to me that certain details of the action and dialogue strike an exotic note to English ears and may therefore need some interpretation. But I could not bring myself to burden a work of fiction with an array of foot-notes nor to believe that it is really necessary to explain to readers of Couperus’ fellow-countryman, “Maarten Maartens,” that Dutch men and women of the upper classes still call their parents “Papa” and “Mamma,” as the English did in the sixties, and still drink tea after dinner, as the English did in the forties; that, in Holland, persons of quality are not addressed by their titles in conversation; that it is not quite correct, or that it is at least a departure from the aristocratic tradition, for a lady of family not to wash up her own breakfast-china at the table; that the Dutch speak of Java as India and sometimes marry native wives, who, nihilo obstante, are “received” by the “family” at home.
Small Souls is the first of a series of four novels describing the fortunes of the Van Lowe family and known in Holland by the generic title of The Books of the Small Souls. The remainder will be translated and published if and as the antecedent volumes find favour with English and American readers. They are called: The Later Life, The Twilight of the Souls and Dr. Adriaan.
Now you can read them all in this series:
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