South Wind (novel)
| Author | Norman Douglas |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | |
| Set in | Kingdom of Italy |
| Publisher | Martin Secker |
Publication date | 1917 |
| 823.912 |
South Wind is a 1917 novel by British author Norman Douglas.[1] It is Douglas' most famous book[2] and his only success as a novelist.[3] It is set on an imaginary island called Nepenthe, located off the coast of Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea,[1] a thinly fictionalized description of Capri's residents and visitors. The narrative concerns twelve days during which Thomas Heard, a bishop returning to England from his diocese in Africa, yields his moral vigour to various influences. Philosophical hedonism pervades much of Douglas' writing,[3] and the novel's discussion of moral and sexual issues caused considerable debate.[4]
The South Wind of the title is the Sirocco which wrecks havoc with the islanders' sense of decency and morality.[5] Much of the natural detail in the book is provided by Capri and other Mediterranean locations that Douglas knew well.[3] The island's name Nepenthe denotes a drug of Egyptian origin (mentioned in the Odyssey) which was capable of banishing grief or trouble from the mind.[6] The novel was written in Capri and in London, and after its publication in June 1917 it went through seven editions rapidly, achieving startling large-scale success.[7] Critics at the time complained about the lack of a well-constructed plot.[8] The book was adapted for the stage in London in 1923 by Isabel C. Tippett,[3] and Graham Greene considered the possibility of writing a film script based on it.[9]
In Dorothy Sayers's 1926 detective novel Clouds of Witness, Lord Peter Wimsey goes through the possessions of a murdered man – a young British man living in Paris, whose morality had been put in question. Finding a copy of South Wind Wimsey remarks "Our young friend works out very true to type".
References
- 1 2 South Wind, Literary Encyclopedia.
- ↑ Norman Douglas, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- 1 2 3 4 Stringer 1996, p. 634.
- ↑ Ousby 1996, p. 118.
- ↑ Rennison 2009. entry for Norman Douglas
- ↑ Orel 1992, p. 69.
- ↑ Orel 1992, p. 73.
- ↑ Orel 1992, p. 68.
- ↑ Orel 1992, p. 77.
Bibliography
- Ousby, Ian (1996). Cambridge Paperback Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43627-3.
- Stringer, Jenny (1996). The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Literature in English. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192122711.
- Orel, Harold (1992). Popular Fiction in England, 1914-1918. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813117898.
- Rennison, Nick (2009). London Blue Plaque Guide (4th ed.). The History Press. ISBN 9780752499963.