Subject
VN and 'Theory' (fwd)
From
Date
Body
From: Arthur Glass <goliard@worldnet.att.net>
The current discussion of VN's relationship to 'theory' brought to mind a
saying of Samuel Johnson's (from the Preface to Shakespeare) : '"Nothing
can please many, and please long, but just representations of general
nature".
VN is a great artist, not just because of the fact that he was incapable of
composing a sentence that did not scintillate, or a plot that hasn't all of
the fascination of an n-dimensional chess problem, but because, like every
great artist, he has given us 'just representations of a general nature'
that are grounded in the inevitabilities of human nature.
----- Original Message -----
From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 12:00 PM
Subject: Douglas & South Wind (fwd)
> From: Carolyn Kunin <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
>
> For those on the list, like myself, unacquainted with Norman Douglas here
is
> some information garnered on the web (by the way, South Wind can be
> downloaded for free from Abacci.com)
>
>
>
> Douglas, Norman. (1868 - 1952) www.LitEncyc.com
> Domain: Literature, History, Science . Status: Major.
> Novelist, Essayist, Antiquary, Autobiographer, Editor, Geologist,
> Historian, Humorist, Literary Critic, Man of Letters, Pamphleteer,
Scholar,
> Scientist, Story writer, Travel Writer, Zoologist
> Active 1886 - 1952 in England, Britain, Italy, Austria, Continental
> Europe, Europe
> This essay written by Grove Koger, Boise Public Library, Idaho
> Works by Douglas Back to Home New Search
>
>
> Norman Douglas was born on December 8, 1868, in Thüringen in the
Vorarlberg,
> the mountainous, westernmost region of Austria, into a predominantly
> Scottish family that had settled there to run the region¹s cotton mills.
> Although Douglas was only five when his father Sholto died, he seems to
have
> idolized him, adopting Sholto¹s enthusiasm for natural history and the
> out-of-doors as his own.
>
> Douglas spent his early school years at several British schools, all of
> which he loathed. As a result of his unhappiness, he was allowed to attend
> the Karlsruhe gymnasium in what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden. There,
> despite having developed a ³healthy contempt for all education,² he
studied
> widely and enthusiastically, mastering several languages. His interest in
> natural history had thrived, and his first published, albeit brief,
> work<²;The Variation of Plumage in the Corvidae² (1886) > Zoologist when
he was only seventeen. A brief visit to the Bay of Naples and
> the Sorrento Peninsula in 1888 proved propitious, for Douglas was to spend
> much of his later life there and was to celebrate the region as ³Siren
> Land.²
>
> During the following years Douglas lived in London but travelled abroad
> frequently. He continued to produce scientific papers, and a private
> reprinting of one of these, Zur Fauna Santorins (1892), constitutes his
> first separate publication. Douglas had entered the foreign service in
1893
> and was posted to St. Petersburg the following year. Yet he left the
> service > indiscreet love affair (or affairs).
>
> In 1897 Douglas settled in Naples, where he purchased and refurbished a
> villa. He married his cousin Elizabeth FitzGibbon in 1898, and within two
> years found himself the father of two sons. Douglas and Elizabeth also
> produced a collection of stories; entitled Unprofessional Tales (1901),
the
> volume appeared under the pseudonym ³Normyx² and sold very few copies.
When
> Douglas and Elizabeth divorced in 1903, Douglas relocated to nearby Capri,
> where he researched and wrote a series of pamphlets on various aspects of
> the island¹s geography and history. As his financial situation worsened,
he
> also began selling travel articles to English periodicals.
>
> Despite his fascination with the Mediterranean world, Douglas made London
> his base from 1910 to 1917, placing articles with ever-increasing
frequency,
> befriending such figures as Joseph Conrad, and eventually editing
> (1912-1916) for Ford Madox Ford at the English Review. During this period
he
> also published three highly regarded travel books. The first of these,
Siren
> Land (1911), drew in part upon his Capri pamphlets. Fountains in the Sand
> (1912) described his 1910 visit to Tunisia. Old Calabria (1915) grew out
of
> several tours of southernmost Italy, the ³Magna Graecia² of the ancients,
> which was then little known and difficult of access. Douglas concluded
this
> last volume with a statement that might well stand as his credo as man,
> writer and traveller: ³From these brown stones that seam the tranquil
> Ionian, from this gracious solitude, [the sage] can carve out, and bear
away
> into the cheerful din of cities, the rudiments of something clean and
> veracious and wholly terrestrial > sunny mischiefs and farewell regret.²
>
> A far different book, London Street Games, appeared in 1916. Based on
close
> observations of children¹s games in the capital, the volume appeared,
> perhaps not coincidentally, at about the same time as a second crisis in
> Douglas¹s life. In late 1916 he was arrested for sexual misconduct with a
> boy and the following year fled England to escape trial. The man who had
> been a thoroughgoing (one might easily say indefatigable) heterosexual was
> now devoting most of his attentions to young men and boys.
>
> Despite difficulties in his personal life, Douglas enjoyed a banner year
in
> 1917, seeing his novel South Wind published to enthusiastic reviews. Set
on
> Nepenthe > colourful cast of characters and described the liberalizing
effect of the
> island¹s climate and mores upon an English bishop. For the generation then
> approaching adulthood, South Wind represented the ultimate in
> sophistication, and the book sold accordingly. Douglas went on to publish
> two more novels, They Went (1920) and In the Beginning (1928), both of
them
> mythological fantasies, but neither proved as popular as their famous
> predecessor. More successful were the travel books Alone (1921), which was
> based on Douglas¹s excursions in central Italy during the war years, and
> Together (1923), which described his return to the Vorarlberg with a young
> companion. The former was more conversational in tone than the works that
> had come before, and apparently was Douglas¹s favourite.
>
> In 1922 Douglas had settled in Florence, where with the help of bookseller
> Giuseppe (²;Pino²;) Orioli he began private publication of books for sale
to
> wealthy friends and collectors. One of the first of these was the pamphlet
> D.H. Lawrence and Maurice Magnus: A Please for Better Manners (1924), a
> volley in the running feud that Douglas carried on with Lawrence. Far more
> substantial was Capri: Materials for a Description of the Island (1930),
> which collected his pamphlets from the early part of the century. Other
such
> publications included Birds and Beasts of the Greek Anthology (1927), the
> delightful Some Limericks (1928), and an essay on aphrodisiacs entitled
> Paneros (1930).
>
> Douglas produced an informal autobiography in Looking Back (1933), in
which
> he commented on visiting cards he had > decades. Another scandal forced
the ageing writer to quit Italy in 1937, and
> he managed to return to that country and his beloved Capri only in 1946.
The
> last work to appear during his lifetime was Footnote on Capri, an essay
> written to accompany a selection of photographs. Douglas died February 7,
> 1952, apparently by his own hand > wondered, ³Why prolong life save to
prolong pleasure?²
>
> Norman Douglas produced one of the key English novels of the 1910s in
South
> Wind (1917), while his travel books, especially Old Calabria, can stand as
> models of the genre, displaying their author¹s wit, lightly worn
erudition,
> hatred of cant, unapologetic hedonism, and reverence for the physical
world.
>
>
> Works by Douglas Back to Home New Search
>
> Website Links:
> This article is provided by and copyright to ©The Literary Encyclopedia at
> www.LitEncyc.com. Articles from The Literary Encyclopedia may be called
into
> non-profit internet sites using direct hyperlinks without charge but not
> otherwise reproduced. To insert such hyperlinks, read our "How to Use"
> document on our home page. No other non-profit use is allowed. For
insertion
> into commercial publication a formal licence must be obtained from
> Editors@LitEncyc.com.
The current discussion of VN's relationship to 'theory' brought to mind a
saying of Samuel Johnson's (from the Preface to Shakespeare) : '"Nothing
can please many, and please long, but just representations of general
nature".
VN is a great artist, not just because of the fact that he was incapable of
composing a sentence that did not scintillate, or a plot that hasn't all of
the fascination of an n-dimensional chess problem, but because, like every
great artist, he has given us 'just representations of a general nature'
that are grounded in the inevitabilities of human nature.
----- Original Message -----
From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 12:00 PM
Subject: Douglas & South Wind (fwd)
> From: Carolyn Kunin <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
>
> For those on the list, like myself, unacquainted with Norman Douglas here
is
> some information garnered on the web (by the way, South Wind can be
> downloaded for free from Abacci.com)
>
>
>
> Douglas, Norman. (1868 - 1952) www.LitEncyc.com
> Domain: Literature, History, Science . Status: Major.
> Novelist, Essayist, Antiquary, Autobiographer, Editor, Geologist,
> Historian, Humorist, Literary Critic, Man of Letters, Pamphleteer,
Scholar,
> Scientist, Story writer, Travel Writer, Zoologist
> Active 1886 - 1952 in England, Britain, Italy, Austria, Continental
> Europe, Europe
> This essay written by Grove Koger, Boise Public Library, Idaho
> Works by Douglas Back to Home New Search
>
>
> Norman Douglas was born on December 8, 1868, in Thüringen in the
Vorarlberg,
> the mountainous, westernmost region of Austria, into a predominantly
> Scottish family that had settled there to run the region¹s cotton mills.
> Although Douglas was only five when his father Sholto died, he seems to
have
> idolized him, adopting Sholto¹s enthusiasm for natural history and the
> out-of-doors as his own.
>
> Douglas spent his early school years at several British schools, all of
> which he loathed. As a result of his unhappiness, he was allowed to attend
> the Karlsruhe gymnasium in what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden. There,
> despite having developed a ³healthy contempt for all education,² he
studied
> widely and enthusiastically, mastering several languages. His interest in
> natural history had thrived, and his first published, albeit brief,
> work<²;The Variation of Plumage in the Corvidae² (1886) > Zoologist when
he was only seventeen. A brief visit to the Bay of Naples and
> the Sorrento Peninsula in 1888 proved propitious, for Douglas was to spend
> much of his later life there and was to celebrate the region as ³Siren
> Land.²
>
> During the following years Douglas lived in London but travelled abroad
> frequently. He continued to produce scientific papers, and a private
> reprinting of one of these, Zur Fauna Santorins (1892), constitutes his
> first separate publication. Douglas had entered the foreign service in
1893
> and was posted to St. Petersburg the following year. Yet he left the
> service > indiscreet love affair (or affairs).
>
> In 1897 Douglas settled in Naples, where he purchased and refurbished a
> villa. He married his cousin Elizabeth FitzGibbon in 1898, and within two
> years found himself the father of two sons. Douglas and Elizabeth also
> produced a collection of stories; entitled Unprofessional Tales (1901),
the
> volume appeared under the pseudonym ³Normyx² and sold very few copies.
When
> Douglas and Elizabeth divorced in 1903, Douglas relocated to nearby Capri,
> where he researched and wrote a series of pamphlets on various aspects of
> the island¹s geography and history. As his financial situation worsened,
he
> also began selling travel articles to English periodicals.
>
> Despite his fascination with the Mediterranean world, Douglas made London
> his base from 1910 to 1917, placing articles with ever-increasing
frequency,
> befriending such figures as Joseph Conrad, and eventually editing
> (1912-1916) for Ford Madox Ford at the English Review. During this period
he
> also published three highly regarded travel books. The first of these,
Siren
> Land (1911), drew in part upon his Capri pamphlets. Fountains in the Sand
> (1912) described his 1910 visit to Tunisia. Old Calabria (1915) grew out
of
> several tours of southernmost Italy, the ³Magna Graecia² of the ancients,
> which was then little known and difficult of access. Douglas concluded
this
> last volume with a statement that might well stand as his credo as man,
> writer and traveller: ³From these brown stones that seam the tranquil
> Ionian, from this gracious solitude, [the sage] can carve out, and bear
away
> into the cheerful din of cities, the rudiments of something clean and
> veracious and wholly terrestrial > sunny mischiefs and farewell regret.²
>
> A far different book, London Street Games, appeared in 1916. Based on
close
> observations of children¹s games in the capital, the volume appeared,
> perhaps not coincidentally, at about the same time as a second crisis in
> Douglas¹s life. In late 1916 he was arrested for sexual misconduct with a
> boy and the following year fled England to escape trial. The man who had
> been a thoroughgoing (one might easily say indefatigable) heterosexual was
> now devoting most of his attentions to young men and boys.
>
> Despite difficulties in his personal life, Douglas enjoyed a banner year
in
> 1917, seeing his novel South Wind published to enthusiastic reviews. Set
on
> Nepenthe > colourful cast of characters and described the liberalizing
effect of the
> island¹s climate and mores upon an English bishop. For the generation then
> approaching adulthood, South Wind represented the ultimate in
> sophistication, and the book sold accordingly. Douglas went on to publish
> two more novels, They Went (1920) and In the Beginning (1928), both of
them
> mythological fantasies, but neither proved as popular as their famous
> predecessor. More successful were the travel books Alone (1921), which was
> based on Douglas¹s excursions in central Italy during the war years, and
> Together (1923), which described his return to the Vorarlberg with a young
> companion. The former was more conversational in tone than the works that
> had come before, and apparently was Douglas¹s favourite.
>
> In 1922 Douglas had settled in Florence, where with the help of bookseller
> Giuseppe (²;Pino²;) Orioli he began private publication of books for sale
to
> wealthy friends and collectors. One of the first of these was the pamphlet
> D.H. Lawrence and Maurice Magnus: A Please for Better Manners (1924), a
> volley in the running feud that Douglas carried on with Lawrence. Far more
> substantial was Capri: Materials for a Description of the Island (1930),
> which collected his pamphlets from the early part of the century. Other
such
> publications included Birds and Beasts of the Greek Anthology (1927), the
> delightful Some Limericks (1928), and an essay on aphrodisiacs entitled
> Paneros (1930).
>
> Douglas produced an informal autobiography in Looking Back (1933), in
which
> he commented on visiting cards he had > decades. Another scandal forced
the ageing writer to quit Italy in 1937, and
> he managed to return to that country and his beloved Capri only in 1946.
The
> last work to appear during his lifetime was Footnote on Capri, an essay
> written to accompany a selection of photographs. Douglas died February 7,
> 1952, apparently by his own hand > wondered, ³Why prolong life save to
prolong pleasure?²
>
> Norman Douglas produced one of the key English novels of the 1910s in
South
> Wind (1917), while his travel books, especially Old Calabria, can stand as
> models of the genre, displaying their author¹s wit, lightly worn
erudition,
> hatred of cant, unapologetic hedonism, and reverence for the physical
world.
>
>
> Works by Douglas Back to Home New Search
>
> Website Links:
> This article is provided by and copyright to ©The Literary Encyclopedia at
> www.LitEncyc.com. Articles from The Literary Encyclopedia may be called
into
> non-profit internet sites using direct hyperlinks without charge but not
> otherwise reproduced. To insert such hyperlinks, read our "How to Use"
> document on our home page. No other non-profit use is allowed. For
insertion
> into commercial publication a formal licence must be obtained from
> Editors@LitEncyc.com.