Citizendia
Your Ad Here

For the New Zealand politician see Norman Douglas (New Zealand)
Norman Douglas
Norman Douglas

George Norman Douglas (December 8, 1868 - February 7, 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind. Norman Vazey Douglas ( 15 March 1910 - 26 August 1985) was a New Zealand Politician of the Labour Party. Events 1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room the second public library of Europe. Year 1868 ( MDCCCLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap Events 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1074 - Battle of Montesarchio in which the Prince Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story

Contents

Life

Norman Douglas was born in Thüringen, Austria (his surname was registered at birth as Douglass). Thüringen is a municipality in the district of Bludenz in Vorarlberg, Austria. His mother was Vanda von Poellnitz. His father was John Sholto Douglas (1845-1874), manager of a cotton mill, who died when Norman was about six. Norman was brought up mainly at Tilquhillie, Deeside, his paternal home. For Royal Deeside see River Dee Aberdeenshire Deeside (Glannau Dyfrdwy is the name given to the predominantly industrial Conurbation of towns that He was educated at Uppingham School England, and then at a grammar school in Karlsruhe. Uppingham School is a co-educational Independent school situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England. Karlsruhe (ˈkaɐ̯lsʁuːə population 285812 in 2006 is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near Norman's paternal grandfather was the 14th Laird of Tilquhillie. Norman's maternal great-grandfather was General James Ochoncar Forbes (1765-1843), 17th Lord Forbes. Lord Forbes is the senior Lord of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland.

He started in the diplomatic service in 1894 but was placed on leave in unclear circumstances (probably relating to sexual scandal). In 1897 he bought a villa in Naples. Naples ( Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule) is a historic City in southern Italy, the Capital of the The next year he married Elizabeth Louisa Theobaldina FitzGibbon, a cousin (their mothers were sisters, daughters of Baron Ernst von Poellnitz). They had two children, but divorced in 1903 on grounds of Elizabeth's infidelity. Norman's first book publication, (Unprofessional Tales (1901)) was written under the pseudonym Normyx, in collaboration with Elizabeth. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias)

He moved to Capri, spending time there and in London, and became a more committed writer. Capri ( Italian pronunciation Cápri usual English pronunciation Caprí is an Italian island off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side Nepenthe, the fictional island setting of South Wind, is Capri in light disguise. South Wind may refer to The South wind, a wind that originates in the south and blows north In 1912-1914 he worked for The English Review. He met D. H. Lawrence through this connection. David Herbert Richards Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930 was an English writer of the 20th century whose prolific and diverse output included Novels short 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 indecent assault on a sixteen year old boy, and effectively then lived in exile. Indecent assault is a form of Sex crime in many Jurisdictions Indecent assault is defined by UK Law as any unwanted sexual behaviour or touching He himself wrote of this in self-exculpation: 'Norman Douglas of Capri, and of Naples and Florence, was formerly of England, which he fled during the war to avoid persecution for kissing a boy and giving him some cakes and a shilling'. Naples ( Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule) is a historic City in southern Italy, the Capital of the Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany (The boy in fact complained to the police).

During Douglas's years in Florence, he was associated with the publisher and bookseller Pino Orioli, who published in Italy in his 'Lungarno' series a number of Douglas's books and also works by other English authors, many of which (such as the first edition of Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover), would have been prosecuted for obscenity if published in London. Lady Chatterley's Lover is a Novel by D H Lawrence written in 1928 Douglas probably had a major hand in writing Orioli's autobiography, Memoirs of a Bookseller.

Further scandals led to Douglas leaving Italy for the south of France in 1937. During World War II Douglas left France, and on a circuitous journey to London, where he lived from 1942 to 1946, he published the first edition of his 'Almanac' in a tiny edition in Lisbon. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including He returned to Capri, where his circle of acquaintances included the writer Graham Greene and the food writer Elizabeth David. Henry Graham Greene OM, CH (2 October 1904 &ndash 3 April 1991 was an English writer best known as a novelist but who also produced Short stories Elizabeth David CBE ( 26 December 1913 &ndash 22 May 1992) was a pre-eminent British cookery writer of the mid 20th century He died in Capri, apparently deliberately overdosing himself on drugs after a long illness. (see Impossible Woman: Memoirs of Dottoressa Moore, ed. by Greene).

Works

South Wind remains Douglas's most famous work, and has been frequently reprinted. South Wind may refer to The South wind, a wind that originates in the south and blows north However it has been argued that his best work was in his travel books which combine erudition, insight, whimsicality and some fine prose. These works include Siren Land (1911), Fountains in the Sand, described as 'rambles amongst the oases of Tunisia' (1912), Old Calabria (1915), Together (Austria) (1923) and Alone (Italy) (1921). Tunisia (تونس Tūnis officially the Tunisian Republic ( is a country located in North Africa.

Douglas's early pamphlets on Capri were revised in Capri (privately published, 1930). His last published work was A Footnote on Capri (1952).

In the 1920s, perhaps piqued by D. H. Lawrence's success with Lady Chatterley, Douglas published Some Limericks, an anthology of more-or-less obscene limericks with a mock-scholarly critical apparatus. A limerick is a five-line Poem with a strict form originally popularized in English by Edward Lear. This classic (of its kind) has been frequently republished, often without acknowledgement in pirate editions.

List of works

Norman Douglas in fiction

References

External links

Henry Major Tomlinson ( 21 June 1873 – 5 February 1958) was a British writer and Journalist. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic