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Norman Douglas

The Knitting Circle: Literature

Biography,work,bibliography,web site.

British writer and diplomat.

His full name was George Norman Douglas.

His father was Scottish manager of a cotton mill, and his mother was half Scottish and half German.

He was educated at Uppingham School from 1881 to 1883, and at the Gymnasium at Karlsruhe from 1883 to 1889. This provided him with a sound scientific and classical education.

He worked in the Foreign Office from 1893 to 1901, and served in St Petersburg from 1894 to 1896.

His first published work was an official report,The Pumice Stone Industry of the Lipari Islands, (1895).

He travelled to Italy and bought a villa at Gaiola in the Bay of Naples. He then settled on the island of Capri in 1896.

In 1897 he became erotically involved with Michelle, the 15 year-old brother of a short-term mistress.

In 1898 he married a cousin, Elsa Fitzgibbon, and they had two sons. However, in 1903 he divorced her on the grounds of her infidelity.

His first novelSouth Windwas co-authored with his ex-wife Elsa and was published under the pseudonym 'Normyx'. It gave him his only popular success and was considered shocking at the time with its host of characters with various moral and sexual persuasions. Seeweb site.

His next bookSiren Landwas an exotic account of his travels in southern Italy and received critical attention.

From 1912 to 1914 he was assistant editor ofThe English Reviewand met D. H. Lawrence who portrayed Norman Douglas as James Argyle inAaron's Road, (1922).

Norman Douglas received poems fromJ R Ackerleywho had just left school and was asking for comments on his writing. They subsequently met, and Norman Douglas continued to write letters, although he often only received poems in reply.

While in England in 1916 Norman Douglas was charged with gross indecency with a 16-year-old youth he had picked up while loitering in the Natural History Museum in Kensington. After further charges and several court appearances he skipped bail and boarded the Channel packet to flee to exile in Florence.

Norman Douglas met Joe Ackerley again while in Florence and introduced him to the ways of picking up young Italian men. He also met D. H. Lawrence in Italy, and his other friends including Compton Mackenzie, and Ouida.

In his travel bookTogether, (1923), he had a companion "e;Mr R."e; which, unknown to the general reader, was actually a 15-year-old Italian, René.

Norman Douglas was always reticent about homosexuality in his writing, and readers must read between the lines. HisPaneros, (1930, 1931), describes the art of getting sex but fails to state the sex of the object of pursuit. His biographyLooking Back, (1933), is also coy.

In 1952Brian Howardtravelled through Italy, following in the footsteps of Norman Douglas, about whom he was hoping to write a biography.

• The Pumice Stone Industry of the Lipari Islands, 1895.

• Unprofessional Tales, with Elsa Douglas, 1901, published by Fisher Unwin.

• Fabio Giordano's Relation of Capri, 1906, published in Naples privately.

• Siren Land, 1911.

• Fountains in the Sand: Rambles among the Oases of Tunisia, 1912, a travel book, published in London by Martin Secker.

• Old Calabria, 1915, published in London by Martin Secker, 352 pages.

• London Street Games, 1916, published in London by St Catherine Press, 162 pages.
  An account directly from children and others of the games played in the streets by London children around the time of World War I and before.

• South Wind, 1917, a novel, published in London by Martin Secker, 464 pages.
  Seeweb site.

• They Went, 1920, a novel, published in London by Chapman & Hall, 250 pages.

• Alone, 1921, a travel book, published in London by Chapman & Hall, 280 pages.

• Together, 1923, a travel book, published in Britain by Chapman & Hall, 248 pages, (hardback).

• D. H. Lawrence and Maurice Magnus: a plea for better manners, 1924, published in Florence by the author, 54 pages, (paperback).

• Experiments, 1925, printed privately.

• In the Beginning, 1928, a novel, published in London by Chatto & Windus, 272 pages.

• Birds and Beasts of the Greek Anthology, 1928, published in London by Chapman & Hall, 215 pages.
  Blurb:"e;How birds and beasts affect these men, what they say about them and what they fail to say, reveal, when taken as a whole, an outlook harmonious, and yet, with a faint persistence dissimilar to that of the present day. It is as if we were glancing from a window upon some unfamiliar landscapes."e;

• Nerinda, 1929, published in Florence by Orioli.

• One Day, 1929, published in Chapelle-Reanville, Eure by Hours Press.

• The Angel of Manfredonia, 1929, published in San Francisco by Windsor Press.

• Paneros: Some words on aphrodisiacs and the like, 1930, 1931, published by Chatto & Windus, 103 pages.

• Three of Them, 1930, published in London by Chatto & Windus, (hardback).
  Includes:One Day, an account of Athens revisited, written in 1929;Nerinda, an ironic and imaginative story, published anonymously in a collection long since out-of-print; and an essay,On the Herpetology of the Grand Duchy of Baden, first published in theZoologist, 1891, and one of the scarcest bibliographical items in the Douglas corpus."e;

• How About Europe? Some footnotes on East and West, 1930, published in London by Chatto & Windus, 216 pages.

• Summer Islands, 1931, published in London by Desmond Harmsworth, 80 pages, (hardback).
  Essays on the islands of Iscia and Ponza.

• Looking Back, 1933, an autobiography, published in London by Chatto & Windus, 528 pages.

• Life and Letters To-Day, edited by Robert Herring, vol. 40, No. 77, 1944, published by the Brendin Publishers.

• An Almanac, 1945, published in London by Chatto & Windus, 85 pages.
  Aphorisms selected by Norman Douglas from his published works.

• Late Harvest, 1946, an autobiography, published in London by Lindsay Drummond, 132 pages, (hardback).
  The author gives a retrospective of his literary work, noting the circumstances in which his books were written and how he feels about them at the time of publication. His essays on Ischia and Ponza, originally published asSummer Islands, are reprinted together with a selection of his book reviews written when he was assistant editor ofEnglish Review.

• Venus in the Kitchen or Love's Cookery Book, as editor, by Pilaff Bey, with an introduction by Graham Greene, 1952, published in London by William Heinemann, 192 pages, (hardback).
  

  • "e;Recipes for romatic evenings, with an emphasis on ingredients and spices likely to revive the fading ardours of middle age."e;
    

  • Re-published, with an introduction byStephen Fry, 1992, by Mandarin, 208 pages, ISBN 074931057X (paperback).
    
    Synopsis:"e;A collection of exotic and aphrodisiac recipes of varying complexity both for the kitchen and bedroom. Some are drawn from ancient Greece and Rome, some from hearsay and some, it seems, from trial and error."e;

  • Re-published, including the introduction by Graham Greene and illustrations by Bruce Roberts, 2002, by Bloomsbury, 192 pages, ISBN 0747556032 (hardcover).
    

  • Re-published 2003, by Bloomsbury, 208 pages, ISBN 0747562032 (paperback).
    
    Synopsis:"e;VENUS IN THE KITCHEN is a delightful and eccentric collection of aphrodisiac recipes. Here are dishes to seduce with and be seduced by - oysters with champagne, elderflower fritters and intoxicating love drinks, combined with fascinating recipes from antiquity to marvel at, from crane cooked with red wine to leopards marrow in goats milk. A classic, indispensable and utterly decadent book of recipes first published in 1952, Norman Douglas's VENUS IN THE KITCHEN is sure to put you in the mood for love."e;
    

• Norman Douglas: a selection from his works, with an introduction by D. M. Low, 1955, published by Chatto & Windus/Secker & Warburg, 394 pages.

• The Norman Douglas Limerick Book: Collected for the Use of Students & Ensplendour'd with Introduction, Geographical Index, and with Notes Explanatory and Critical, 1969, published in London by Anthony Blond, 94 pages.

• Richard Aldington, (1954), "e;Pinorman - Personal Recollections of Norman Douglas, Pino Orioli and Charles Prentice"e;, London: Heinemann, 218 pages.

• Nancy Cunard, (1954), "e;Grand Man - Memories of Norman Douglas"e;, London: Secker & Warburg, 317 pages.
  With extracts from his letters, and appreciations by Kenneth MacPherson, Harold Acton, Arthur Johnson, Charles Duff, and Victor Cunard. Biographical Note by Cecil Woolf. Illustrated.

• R. M. Dawkins, (1952, revision of 1933 private printing), "e;Norman Douglas"e;, published by Rupert Hart-Davis.

• Constantine Fitzgibbon, (1953), "e;Norman Douglas: A Pictorial Record. Together with a Critical and Biographical Study"e;, London: The Richards Press, 71 pages.

• Ian Greenlees, (1957), "e;Norman Douglas"e;, London: Longman's, 44 pages.

• Mark Holloway Graham Greene, (1976), "e;Norman Douglas: A Biography"e;, London: Secker & Warburg, 519 pages.
  Book description:"e;Graham Greene was a neighbour of Norman Douglas in Capri during the 50's. He also wrote the Introduction to Norman Douglas'sVenus In the Kitchen. Graham Greene famously edited the memoirs of Dottoressa Moor, one of the first women to qualify as a Doctor in Austria, who nursed Norman Douglas for the last two years of his life. See Graham Greene,An Impossible Woman, London, 1975."e;

• Ralph D. Lindeman, (1965), "e;Norman Douglas"e;, New York: Twayne Publishers, 208 pages, (hardback).

• Ian Littlewood, (2001), "e;Sultry Climates"e;, John Murray.

  • Going all the wayby AC Grayling inThe Independent on Sunday, 10th. June, 2001, page 49. "e;Littlewood classifies sexual travellers into connoisseurs, pilgrims and rebels. The first group comprised Grand Tourists, the second those Romantic seekers after self-discovery who expected (and often found) fulfilment in the holy places of antique culture, and the third those who travelled as a way of rejecting the restrictions of home. That this taxonomy is not exclusive is already implied in the idea that many in the first two categories also belonged to the third. A signal example of the rebel is afforded by Norman Douglas who abandoned his diplomatic career when he discovered his homosexuality."e;

    "e;Douglas is the paradigm of the gay or bisexual man for whom escape from what he called the 'murk' of England - a moral and emotional murk - was release into life itself. Italy, North Africa, and between-the-wars Berlin, were havens for such, fromOscar Wildeand André Gide toChristopher Isherwood.

• Edward D. McDonald, (1927), "e;A Bibliography of the Writings of Norman Douglas"e;, Philidelphia: The Centaur Book Shop.

• H. M. Tomlinson, (1931), "e;Norman Douglas"e;, London: Chatto & Windus, 63 pages.

• Cecil Woolf, (1954), "e;A Bibliography of Norman Douglas"e;, The Soho Bibliographies VI, 201 pages.

• Cecil Woolf, (1955), "e;Notes on the Bibliography of Norman Douglas"e;, privately printed in Edinburgh at the Tragara Press.

Biography,work,bibliography,web site.

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First uploaded 11th. June, 2001.

Last altered 10th. September, 2006