Norman Douglas
George Norman Douglas (born December 8, 1868 in Thuringia (Vorarlberg) , Austria , † February 7, 1952 in Capri , Italy ; family name when born Douglass ) was a Scottish writer. He was best known in 1917 with his novel "South Wind" .
Life
His father John Sholto Douglass (1845–1874) was a textile manufacturer of Scottish origin and, among other things, an avid hunter and mountaineer. He had an accident on September 15, 1874, when Norman was not yet six years old. His mother Vanda (born Baroness von Pöllnitz) was a Scottish-German noblewoman.
Norman Douglas spent the first few years at the family seat, Villa Falkenhorst , in Thuringia (Vorarlberg). He was a half-brother of the Austrian writer and local poet Grete Gulbransson , since his mother married the Bludenz painter Jakob Jehly in 1879, five years after his father's death , with whom she had a daughter Margarete. From 1877 to 1883, Norman Douglas went to school in England (Yarlet Hall, Mowsley, Uppingham) and then to high school in Karlsruhe (1883-1889).
From 1893 to 1901, Norman Douglas worked for the British Foreign Office and during this time also lived in Saint Petersburg (1894–1896). His first published work was an official report, The Pumice Stone Industry of the Lipari Islands (1895).
In 1897 he bought a villa (Villa Maya) at Posillipo near Naples , Italy . He began a relationship with the 15-year-old brother of his then 16-year-old lover. In 1898 he married his cousin Elsa Fitzgibbon, with whom he had two sons. Together with Elsa he published his first book in 1901 under the pseudonym "Normyx" - Unprofessional Tales . He separated from Elsa and divorced her in 1904. He was judged to have custody of his sons. In 1904 he settled on Capri (Villa Daphne) and tried to reforest the island. He began his more intensive writing activities ( Siren Land , 1911, Fountains in the Sand , 1912) and was in close contact with Joseph Conrad .
From 1912 to 1914 he worked for The English Review in London, where he met the British writer David Herbert Lawrence . In his work Aaron's Road the figure James Argyle portrays Norman Douglas. The travelogue Old Calabria (1915) (English title: Travel in Southern Italy ) established his reputation as a travel writer. When he was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in London in 1916 , he fled to Italy via France. In 1917 he published his first novel South Wind (Eng. Title: Südwind ), his most successful book.
photograph by Carl van Vechten , from the Van Vechten Collection of the Library of Congress
From 1922 to 1937 he settled in Florence, where he met his friend and publisher Pino Orioli (1884–1942). Travels to Austria, France, Greece, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria, East Africa and India. In the travelogue Together (1923) Douglas was named by “Mr. R. ”, the 18-year-old René Mari. In this work (German title: Wieder im Walgau ) Douglas noted memories of his childhood in Vorarlberg . In 1933 he published his autobiography Looking back (English title: Review - Journey into my past ).
During the Second World War he stayed in southern France, Lisbon and London. In the summer of 1946 he returned to Capri (Villa Tuoro) and was made an honorary citizen of Capri. He died on the night of February 7th to 8th, 1952 and was buried on the Cimitero Acattolico .
When describing homosexuality , Norman Douglas was rather reserved in his work.
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
- DH 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)
literature
- Richard MacGillivray Dawkins : Norman Douglas . G. Orioli, Florence, 1933. Enlarged and revised edition: Rupert Hart-Davies, London, 1952.
Web links
- Literature by and about Norman Douglas in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by Norman Douglas in Project Gutenberg ( currently not usually available for users from Germany )
- Collection Norman Douglas
- Norman Douglas Collection
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Douglas, Norman |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Douglas, George Norman |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 8, 1868 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Thuringia (Vorarlberg) |
| DATE OF DEATH | 7th February 1952 |
| Place of death | Capri , Italy |