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American writer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abby Langdon Alger (August 3, 1850 – May 22, 1905) was an American writer and translator, mainly of religious, literary, or folklore texts.
Abby Langdon Alger | |
---|---|
Born | August 3, 1850 Roxbury, Massachusetts |
Died | May 22, 1905 Brookline, Massachusetts |
Occupation(s) | Writer, translator |
Father | William Rounseville Alger |
Relatives | Philip Rounseville Alger (brother) |
Alger was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the daughter of Unitarian clergyman William Rounseville Alger and Anna Langdon Lodge Alger.[1][2] Writer Horatio Alger was her father's cousin,[3] and statesman Henry Cabot Lodge was one of her maternal cousins.[4] Her brother Philip Rounseville Alger was a Naval officer; another brother, WIlliam E. Alger, was a diplomat who worked at American embassies in Latin America.[5] Her niece and namesake, Abby Langdon Alger Wilder (1889–1978), was a prominent state official in New Hampshire.[6]
Alger translated religious, literary, and folklore texts from Italian, French, and German, including works by historian Henri Martin, dramatist Ernest Legouvé, Benôit-Constant Conquelin, Judith Gautier, novelist Victor Hugo, Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry, philosopher Ernest Renan, Saint Francis of Assisi, scientist Louis Figuier, and dramatist X. B. Saintine. "She was a remarkable linguist and had French, German, Italian, and other tongues at her instant command," noted a 1905 obituary in the Boston Evening Transcript. "Possessing this valuable attainment, she was frequently in demand among publishing houses, for which she did much translating."[4]
Alger also produced a benefit performance of a miracle play, based on Italian traditions, performed with Italian musicians and puppeteers, at Boston's Minot Hall in 1894.[7] "It was my wish," she later explained, "to show the earliest form of dramatic representation. We, of the present, may call it rough and grotesque; but when one remembers that it was a faithful reproduction of what was given hundreds of years ago, and that it was then received with every mark of reverence, I am sure there will be no adverse criticism."[8] She interviewed Passamaquoddy and Penobscot elders to compile In Indian Tents (1897), a collection of folktales.[9]
Alger died after an operation in a Brookline hospital in 1905, at the age of 54, a few months after her father's death.[2][4]
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