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Norman Douglas
George Norman Douglas (8 December 1868 – 7 February 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind. His travel books, such as Old Calabria (1915), were also appreciated for the quality of their writing.
His sexual encounters with children—girls and boys, some as young as eleven—led to charges of indecent assault and his flight from England to Italy. He subsequently fled Florence to avoid arrest for the rape of a 10-year-old girl. His biographer Rachel Hope Cleves described him in 2020 as "[b]y present standards ... a monster".
Norman Douglas was born in Thüringen, Austria (his surname was registered at birth as Douglass; he dropped the second s as an adult). His mother was the German-Scottish aristocrat Vanda von Poellnitz (1840–1902). His father, John Sholto Douglass (1838–1874), was the 15th Laird of Tilquhillie. He was the manager of a local cotton mill; in his spare time, he was an archaeologist, researching the history of the Vorarlberg, and was also an enthusiastic mountaineer. Douglas's paternal grandfather, the 14th Laird of Tilquhillie, had established the factory in the 1830s, in order to pay off debts on his ancestral lands in Aberdeenshire. Douglas's maternal great-grandfather was General James Ochoncar Forbes, 17th Lord Forbes. Douglas had an older brother, John, and a younger sister, Mary. John "remained devout throughout his life, but Douglas came to consider religion a pernicious absurdity". "In September 1874, when Douglas was five years old, his father, John Sholto Douglass, fell a thousand feet to his death while hunting chamois in the mountains". "It's probable that the death of his father, a devout Presbyterian, contributed to Douglas's rejection of religion".
Five years after Douglas's father died, his mother married a local artist, the painter, Jakob Jehly. Both her Douglas in-laws and her own von Poellnitz family objected to the marriage, because Jehly was of a peasant background, Catholic, and fourteen years younger than Vanda. They pressured Vanda to send Douglas and his brother John to school in England, which she did. Douglas never mentioned the remarriage in any of his writings.
Douglas spent the first years of his life on the family estate, Villa Falkenhorst, in Thüringen, and was brought up mainly at Tilquhillie, Deeside, his paternal home in Scotland. He was educated at Yarlet Hall, then at a Leicestershire vicarage under the Rev. Green before attending Uppingham School in England, and finally, at a Gymnasium in Karlsruhe. He was fluent in German and English during his youth and later learnt French and Italian. Douglas developed an interest in natural science as a child and began contributing articles to papers about zoology at the age of 18.
Douglas started in the diplomatic service in 1894 and from then until 1896 was based in St. Petersburg. He was placed on leave after an alleged affair. In 1897 he bought a villa (Villa Maya) in Posillipo, a maritime suburb of Naples. The next year he married a first cousin, Elizabeth Louisa Theobaldina FitzGibbon, known as Elsa; their mothers were sisters, daughters of Baron Ernst von Poellnitz. They had two children, Louis Archibald (Archie) and Robert Sholto (Robin), and Norman's first published book, Unprofessional Tales (1901), was written in collaboration with Elsa and first appeared under the pseudonym Normyx. However, the couple divorced in 1903 because of Elizabeth's infidelity. Douglas then moved to Capri, began dividing his time between the Villa Daphne there and London, and became a more committed writer. Nepenthe, the fictional island setting of his novel South Wind (1917), is Capri in light disguise. His friends on the island included the opium addict Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen.
From 1912 to 1916 Douglas worked for The English Review. He met D. H. Lawrence through this connection. From 1918 to 1920, Douglas contributed fifteen pieces to the Anglo-Italian Review, "detailing his travels throughout Italy" and including descriptions of "charming boys and girls."
Douglas's novel They Went (1920), whose original title was to have been “Theophilus”, is a fantasy based on Breton folklore.
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Norman Douglas
George Norman Douglas (8 December 1868 – 7 February 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind. His travel books, such as Old Calabria (1915), were also appreciated for the quality of their writing.
His sexual encounters with children—girls and boys, some as young as eleven—led to charges of indecent assault and his flight from England to Italy. He subsequently fled Florence to avoid arrest for the rape of a 10-year-old girl. His biographer Rachel Hope Cleves described him in 2020 as "[b]y present standards ... a monster".
Norman Douglas was born in Thüringen, Austria (his surname was registered at birth as Douglass; he dropped the second s as an adult). His mother was the German-Scottish aristocrat Vanda von Poellnitz (1840–1902). His father, John Sholto Douglass (1838–1874), was the 15th Laird of Tilquhillie. He was the manager of a local cotton mill; in his spare time, he was an archaeologist, researching the history of the Vorarlberg, and was also an enthusiastic mountaineer. Douglas's paternal grandfather, the 14th Laird of Tilquhillie, had established the factory in the 1830s, in order to pay off debts on his ancestral lands in Aberdeenshire. Douglas's maternal great-grandfather was General James Ochoncar Forbes, 17th Lord Forbes. Douglas had an older brother, John, and a younger sister, Mary. John "remained devout throughout his life, but Douglas came to consider religion a pernicious absurdity". "In September 1874, when Douglas was five years old, his father, John Sholto Douglass, fell a thousand feet to his death while hunting chamois in the mountains". "It's probable that the death of his father, a devout Presbyterian, contributed to Douglas's rejection of religion".
Five years after Douglas's father died, his mother married a local artist, the painter, Jakob Jehly. Both her Douglas in-laws and her own von Poellnitz family objected to the marriage, because Jehly was of a peasant background, Catholic, and fourteen years younger than Vanda. They pressured Vanda to send Douglas and his brother John to school in England, which she did. Douglas never mentioned the remarriage in any of his writings.
Douglas spent the first years of his life on the family estate, Villa Falkenhorst, in Thüringen, and was brought up mainly at Tilquhillie, Deeside, his paternal home in Scotland. He was educated at Yarlet Hall, then at a Leicestershire vicarage under the Rev. Green before attending Uppingham School in England, and finally, at a Gymnasium in Karlsruhe. He was fluent in German and English during his youth and later learnt French and Italian. Douglas developed an interest in natural science as a child and began contributing articles to papers about zoology at the age of 18.
Douglas started in the diplomatic service in 1894 and from then until 1896 was based in St. Petersburg. He was placed on leave after an alleged affair. In 1897 he bought a villa (Villa Maya) in Posillipo, a maritime suburb of Naples. The next year he married a first cousin, Elizabeth Louisa Theobaldina FitzGibbon, known as Elsa; their mothers were sisters, daughters of Baron Ernst von Poellnitz. They had two children, Louis Archibald (Archie) and Robert Sholto (Robin), and Norman's first published book, Unprofessional Tales (1901), was written in collaboration with Elsa and first appeared under the pseudonym Normyx. However, the couple divorced in 1903 because of Elizabeth's infidelity. Douglas then moved to Capri, began dividing his time between the Villa Daphne there and London, and became a more committed writer. Nepenthe, the fictional island setting of his novel South Wind (1917), is Capri in light disguise. His friends on the island included the opium addict Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen.
From 1912 to 1916 Douglas worked for The English Review. He met D. H. Lawrence through this connection. From 1918 to 1920, Douglas contributed fifteen pieces to the Anglo-Italian Review, "detailing his travels throughout Italy" and including descriptions of "charming boys and girls."
Douglas's novel They Went (1920), whose original title was to have been “Theophilus”, is a fantasy based on Breton folklore.