South Wind Norman Douglas 9781482710854 Books
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South Wind is a 1917 novel by British author Norman Douglas. It is Douglas' most famous book. It is set on an imaginary island called Nepenthe, located off the coast of Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea, a thinly fictionalized description of Capri's residents and visitors. The novel's discussion of moral and sexual issues caused considerable debate.
South Wind Norman Douglas 9781482710854 Books
Once upon a time people could get away with writing books like this--pages and pages of rococo dialogues and diatribes spoken by brilliant people never at a loss for words; landscape descriptions of Italy at its most enchanting; and humans at their worst. There is a plot of sort, and a cast of international characters as they were once upon a time when people had money, a little or a lot, and were not ashamed to amuse themselves. Norman Douglas both entertains and annoys. There are times when you wish you could get him (or his characters) to shut up; at other times you will be delighted to be in their company. An old-fashioned book, yes, but one worth the effort. They don't make 'em like this anymore.Product details
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Tags : South Wind [Norman Douglas] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. South Wind is a 1917 novel by British author Norman Douglas. It is Douglas' most famous book. It is set on an imaginary island called Nepenthe,Norman Douglas,South Wind,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1482710854,FICTION Classics
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South Wind Norman Douglas 9781482710854 Books Reviews
This is a great book of the everybody-sits-around-talking variety. It was published in 1917 and makes no reference to World War I. (It does say something about bayonets, so the reader can be sure the author is leaving out the Great War entirely on purpose.) It's slyly mischievous about all moral values, perhaps partly because its author was prosecuted for moral offenses of various kinds, mostly gay, about every twenty years or so. He also wrote some great dirty limericks, and the spirit of them is in this much more highly cultured novel.
There is at present only one edition available, a Gutenberg retread, and less good than most of Gutenberg's. Typos include night for nigh, thee for there, how for who, you for your, was for that was, car for care, and so on. There are one or two passages where words are missing, too. Douglas is too busy laughing there to roll over in his grave, and the typos create surprisingly little disturbance, and as always the book is free.
Furthermore, reading the book on allows you to look up each character as it is mentioned, and that can be a big help when dealing with such a deliberately disorganized production as this. It helps a lot to know who's talking, because nobody's going to do anything except for one or two corrupt police officials, who are going to do something wrong.
Meanwhile the Anglican Bishop, Mr. Heard, is converted from Anglicanism to -- not caring much at all about everybody's foibles. You have to be in the right mood to read this book, but if you are ... why, what a wonderful mood you're in.
So many ideas and thoughts to digest! There is such a lot of interesting perspectives of humanity and yet it is familiar in many ways.
It is hard to sum this book up. So much happens; some but not all threads are drawn together. The loss of a bishop's faith; acerbic digs at the Protestant and Catholic Churches, the Italian legal system, politicians; all in this strange, apparently late 19th-early 20th century island creation with its own bloodthirsty, fictitious history and mythology. I think Norman Douglas targets everything that had ever annoyed him in an entertaining and erudite way.
this edition is so full of typos it's almost impossible to read. South Wind is an old minor classic which I love, but will probably not appeal to younger readers.
I came to South Wind out of curiosity. I first heard it mentioned, of all places, in Dorothy L. Sayers' Clouds of Witness. It's one of the books found in the bedroom of poor Denis Cathcart. I always wondered why that book, and why Peter Wimsey found it so revealing of the man. Then I read a review this year--in the Christian Science Monitor, I think. Had to try it. Well, I can what see Lord Peter saw. It might not be to everyone's taste, but I found it quirky, funny and very revealing of a certain kind of early 20th century thinking. The writer has a gift for wit, satire and sly description of character.
By the way, that's important, because the book is all about the characters. There really isn't much of a plot, so if you go into it thinking the Big Event is going to happen in the next chapter, you're going to be disappointed. Not much really happens on the Island of Nepenthe, which is the point. All these ex-pats come to the island, some to stay permanently, some just "for the season." They're all trying to escape some place else--usually cold England, both its weather and what they feel are the constrictions of its societal demands, as well as whatever unfortunate personal messes they've left behind. Nepenthe offers them the temporary vision (and fantasy) of a life free of most restrictions where everyone seems to tolerate everyone else, even poverty isn't particularly onerous because there's always someone around to stand the drinks and invite one to dinner parties, and the hardest work anyone seems to do is be part of the conspiracy to keep the town drunk from getting herself into too much trouble. And there's a wry and satirical look at that popular myth that seemed to be going around in England then that only by returning to the purity of Greek culture, with it's imagined freedoms from the constrictions of current British society, could one really live. The boring, duty-bound life of England was stifling and only in the hot Mediterranean with its very different attitudes could one be truly free to live and be one's self.
It's not a difficult read. A good book to curl up with on a rainy weekend (the sun is almost always shining on Nepenthe and it's always hot). It's a lot like those crustless sandwiches served at high tea. Great fun if not particularly nourishing over the long hall.
Edition is FULL of typos; very sloppy editing. I couldn’t get through the book and stopped reading a third of the way through. Slow, meaningless dialogue punctuated (very) occasionally by something thoughtful or clever. A waste of time.
This is an old book that is strikingly like Kings Row-but not as well written. It describes a fictitious set of characters that I am told were based on real people on Corfu. A good editor would have saved it-indeed still could if it were worthwhile.
Once upon a time people could get away with writing books like this--pages and pages of rococo dialogues and diatribes spoken by brilliant people never at a loss for words; landscape descriptions of Italy at its most enchanting; and humans at their worst. There is a plot of sort, and a cast of international characters as they were once upon a time when people had money, a little or a lot, and were not ashamed to amuse themselves. Norman Douglas both entertains and annoys. There are times when you wish you could get him (or his characters) to shut up; at other times you will be delighted to be in their company. An old-fashioned book, yes, but one worth the effort. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
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