George Douglas Brown’s reputation rests on a single short novel,

The House with the Green Shutters

; but it is one of the select company of individual works which instantly and irrevocably change the literary scene from which they emerge.

Brown was born in the village of Ochiltree in the south-west of Scotland, eleven miles inland from Ayr. He was the illegitimate son of a local farmer, also called George Douglas Brown, and Sarah Gemmell, a dairymaid of Irish parentage; and the social stigma of his illegitimacy, which blighted his childhood, has been seen as underlying the grim and embittered tone of his novel. His mother, a woman of forceful and independent personality, was the principal figure in his upbringing. His primary education was at the village schools of Ochiltree and Coylton;

1830 words

Citation: McClure, J. Derrick. "George Douglas Brown". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 June 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11800, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11800 George Douglas Brown 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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