Greville Texidor papers, 1926-1964, together with the papers of Werner O. Droescher, 1931-1979 and Rosamund Droescher, ca. 1965-1988

MLMSS 5235

fonds

1926-1988

873579

5 boxes - 0.85 metres

GREVILLE TEXIDOR
Greville Texidor was born in 1902. Before coming to New Zealand, and subsequently to Australia, Texidor led a colourful life, working for some years as a music hall dancer in New York, Paris and Barcelona. During the Spanish Civil War she fought with the republicans in an anarchist militia.
Texidor and her third husband, Werner Droescher, went to New Zealand as refugees in 1940. There, she soon met Frank Sargeson, and with his advice and encouragement began to write fiction seriously, quickly achieving publication in New Zealand New Writing and Penguin New Writing.
In 1948 she left New Zealand for Australia. In the 1950’s Texidor settled in NSW, in the township of Hazelbrook, and befriended Australians such as Kylie Tennant, Max Harris and Barrett Reid. During this time, Texidor wrote the bulk of her Lorca translations and continued to write fiction set in Spain and Australia.
Although the fiction written in Australia remains unpublished, her Lorca translations were broadcast by the ABC and were published in the Ern Malley’s Journal, as well as New Directions in New York. After living some years in Spain, Texidor returned to Australia in 1964 and, in the same year, she took her own life in Hazelbrook in the Blue Mountains.
Greville Texidor was one of the most daring and interesting writers in New Zealand and Australia in the 40s and 50s. However, her work for the most part remains unpublished or has long been out of print. She is now remembered mainly in New Zealand through accounts in the autobiographies of Janet Frame and Frank Sargeson.

WERNER O. DROESCHER
Droescher was a German who migrated to Spain and was involved in the Spanish Civil War on the republican side in an anarchist militia. He fled to New Zealand as a refugee in 1940 and worked for the Dept. of Immigration. Later he became a teacher.

Reference:
Library correspondence file

Collection includes pictorial material:
Greville Texidor and Werner O. Droescher photographs and negatives of Spain and Australia, ca. 1914-1960's

Detailed Contents list available at MLMSS 5235.

Folders numbered, inscribed and listed with annotations to contents by Rosamund Droescher and Werner O. Droescher