Norman Douglas
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
George Norman Douglas (December 8 1868 - February 7 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind. He was born in Thüringen in Austria into a Scottish family (his mother was half-German). His father was manager of a cotton mill there, but died when Douglas was young. He was brought up mainly at Tilquhillie, Deeside, his paternal home. He was educated at Uppingham School England, and then at the Gymnasium school in Karlsruhe.
He started in the diplomatic service in 1894 but was put on leave after a potential (possibly bisexual) scandal arose. In 1897 he bought a villa in Naples. The next year he married Elizabeth FitzGibbon, a cousin; they had two children, but divorced in 1903 on grounds of her infidelity. The pseudonym Normyx, used for Unprofessional Tales (1901) may refer to work that was jointly his and Elizabeth's.
He moved to Capri, spending time there and in London, and became a more committed writer. Nepenthe, the fictional island setting of South Wind, is Capri in light disguise. In 1912-1914 he worked for The English Review. He met D. H. Lawrence though this connection. This led to a feud, after Lawrence in 1922 in Aaron's Rod based a character on Douglas. In late 1916 he jumped bail in London on a charge of sexual assault on a boy, and effectively then lived in exile. He travelled, and also lived in Florence.
Works
- The Forestal Conditions of Capri (1904)
- Three Monographs (1906),
- Some Antiquarian Notes (1907)
- Siren Land (1911) travel book
- Fountains In The Sand (1912)
- Old Calabria (1915) travel book
- London Street Games (1916)
- South Wind (1917) novel
- They Went (1920) novel
- Alone (1921) travel book
- Together (1923) travel book
- D.H. Lawrence and Maurice Magnus: A Plea for Better Manners (1924)
- Experiments (1925)
- In the Beginning (1927) novel
- Nerinda (1929)
- One Day (1929)
- Birds and Beasts of the Greek Anthology (1927)
- Some Limericks (1928),
- Paneros (1930). essay on aphrodisiacs
- Capri: Materials for a Description of the Island (1930),
- How About Europe? (1930)
- Three Of Them (1930)
- Looking Back (1933) autobiography
- An Almanac (1945)
- Late Harvest (1946) autobiography
- Venus in the Kitchen (1952) cookery, written under the pseudonym Pilaff Bey
- Footnote on Capri (1952)
References
- H. M. Tomlinson (1931) Norman Douglas
- Mark Holloway (1976) Norman Douglas, A Biography
- Project Gutenburg titles by Norman Douglas (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/author?name=Douglas%2c%20Norman%2c%201868%2d1952)
