George Douglas

George Douglas pseud. of George Douglas Brown, 1869-1902, English novelist, b. Scotland. His reputation rests on his single novel, The House with the Green Shutters (1901), a somber story of Scottish life.

Douglas, George, the pseudonym of George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), the son of an Ayrshire farmer, published The House with the Green Shutters (1901) which was described as ‘a masterpiece’ by J. B. Priestley. The work, in contrast with the sentimental view of Scotland depicted by the ‘Kailyard School’, is set in the village of Barbie and describes the rise of the tyrannical, dull-minded John Gourlay who builds his business on his feckless wife's dowry. His house, which becomes the ‘passion of his life’, gives him a sense of triumph over the village, but his world finally collapses with the failure of his business and the disgrace of his son, and retribution falls. Brown died suddenly the year after the novel's publication, leaving other works unfinished.