Christopher Isherwood: A Personal Memoir

by John Lehmann

In 1931, John Lehmann joined Leonard and Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press as trainee manager and shortly thereafter became the publisher of Christopher Isherwood's work, including The Berlin Stories, on whixlch the highly successful musical Cabaret was based some years later. A strong friendship developed between the two men and lasted until the end of Isherwood's life. This stylish and affectionate memoir is based on Lehmann's own diaries and on the letters Isherwood wrote to him from the '30s on as he roamed Europe, then came to America with W. H. Auden, and finally settled in California.

In addition to its insider's view of major literary figures of the '30s, the book is replete with Isherwood's astute observations of Europe and America preparing for war. As well as an entertaining and candid personal portrait, it will undoubtedly be an important sourcebook for the future.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Queer

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

John Lehmann, the fourth child of journalist Rudolph Lehmann, and brother of Helen Lehmann, novelist Rosamond Lehmann and actress Beatrix Lehmann, was educated at Eton and read English at Trinity College, Cambridge. He considered his time at both as "lost years".

After a period as a journalist in Vienna, he returned to England to found the popular periodical New Writing (1936 - 1940) in book format. This literary magazine sought to break down social barriers and published works by working-class authors as well as educated middle-class writers and poets. It proved a great influence on literature of the period and an outlet for writers such as Christopher Isherwood, W.H. Auden, and miner-author B.L. Coombes. Lehmann included many of these authors in his anthology Poems for Spain which he edited with Stephen Spender.

With the onset of the Second World War and paper rationing, New Writing's future was uncertain and so Lehmann wrote New Writing in Europe for Pelican Books, one of the first critical summaries of the writers of the 1930s in which he championed the authors who had been the stars of New Writing - Auden and Spender - and also his close friend Tom Wintringham and Wintringham's ally, the emerging George Orwell. Wintringham reintroduced Lehmann to Allen Lane of Penguin Books, who secured paper for The Penguin New Writing a monthly book-magazine, this time in paperback. The first issue featured Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant". Occasional hardback editions combined with the magazine Daylight appeared sporadically, but it was as Penguin New Writing that the magazine survived until 1950.

After joining Leonard and Virginia Woolf as managing director of Hogarth Press between 1938 and 1946 he established his own publishing company, John Lehmann Limited, with his novelist sister Rosamond Lehmann (who had a nine-year affair with one of Lehmann's contributing poets, Cecil Day-Lewis). They published new works by authors such as Sartre and Stendhal, and discovered talents like Thom Gunn and Laurie Lee. He also published the first two books by the cookery writer Elizabeth David, A Book of Mediterranean Food and French Country Cooking.

In 1954 he founded The London Magazine, remaining as editor until 1961, following which he was a frequent lecturer and completed his three-volume autobiography, Whispering Gallery (1955), I Am My Brother (1960) and The Ample Proposition (1966). In The Purely Pagan Sense (1976) is an autobiographical record of his homosexual life in England and pre-war Germany, discreetly written in the form of a novel. He also wrote the biographies Edith Sitwell (1952), Virginia Woolf and her World (1975), Thrown to the Woolfs (1978) and Rupert Brooke (1980).

In 1965 he published Christ the Hunter, a spiritual/autobiographical prose poem which had been broadcast in 1964 on the BBC Third Programme, In 1974 Lehmann published a book of poems, The Reader at Night, hand-printed on handmade paper and hand-bound in an edition of 250 signed copies (Toronto, Basilike, 1974). An essay by Paul Davies about the creation of this book is included in Professor A.T. Tolley's collection, John Lehmann: a Tribute (Ottawa, Carleton University Press, 1987), which also includes pieces by Roy Fuller, Thom Gunn, Charles Osborne, Christopher Levenson, Jeremy Reed, George Woodcock, and others.

Reviews

[Jean-Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me knows that I am all for the brief biography, especially one written by a friend or acquaintance of the subject--in this case John Lehmann, poet and man of letters, who briefly worked for the Hogarth Press and became lifelong friends with Isherwood. I love biographies that skim over many of the minor details--birth, childhood, who cares?-- in favor of something more intimate. And that's exactly what this is, a portrait of a friendship similar to Letters between Forster and Isherwood on Homosexuality and Literature. It is astounding how many of the 20th century's prominent literary figures Isherwood counted among his friends and I am honestly a little envious. The decades of devotion these individuals show to each other is touching. Little in way of revelations, I'm sure--no shit Auden and Isherwood, two horny young gay boys, at some point hooked up--but mesmerizing nonetheless. On to read more about Denham Fouts, whose Wikipedia entry dubs him an 'American male prostitute, socialite, and literary muse.' Ugh, jealous.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice. Nothing here anyone who reads Isherwood hasn't heard from him before, but it's interesting to get an outside view of Isherwood's books from his favorite editor. Also, the letters are touching and show how sweet and concerned he could be. I love this sentence: "When I think of my friends, I remember them all laughing."

On the downside, there are big time gaps and obscure references, not to mention a breakdown of coherence at the end. This was Lehmann's very last book before he died, and I wonder if it wasn't really finished by him. From 1968 on it's all diary entries and brief excerpts from letters, with a few that don't seem to reference Isherwood at all. Maybe, sadly, there was no time to tighten this up.

[Craig Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christopher Isherwood: A Personal Memoir by John Lehmann was a Glad Day purchase from thirty years ago which, like Christopher Isherwood I am only getting around to reading now. The author was the managing director of Hogarth Press, the British firm that published Isherwood’s first novels. Lehmann and Isherwood had a professional relationship that lasted over fifty years and this slight book of 142 pages captured their platonic intimacy through correspondence. It was indeed a personal memoir and not an Isherwood biography, and the author did not deal with any part of Isherwood’s life that he did not have any part in.

I had never read Isherwood’s correspondence and I can see how seamlessly his writing style in letters translated to his prose in novels. His wit and personal observations are evident in both. I was able to eavesdrop on two friends who dished, complained, worried, trashed and praised without ever feeling like an unwanted stranger in the room, hence my use of the word “intimacy”. The letters were never long (unless Lehmann edited them for publication, which is likely) and you see the evolution of comfortability in confessions over decades of correspondence.

While Isherwood was based in Berlin, he wrote of Hitler’s rise to power and how it was transforming the world around him. His immediate concern was the fate of his boyfriend Heinz, who as a German was eligible for conscription. The couple travelled throughout Europe on any kind of visa they could get in order to grant Heinz some kind of safe haven. In spite of the dire situation they were in, I had to have a chuckle at one of their considerations:

“Once he had rejoined Heinz in Amsterdam, the great debate about plans for where they were to go next–and for longer and further away–began again. Quito? Tahiti? The Seychelles? Tristan da Cunha?”

These letters shared Isherwood’s insecurities that undoubtedly many writers feel about their work and their ability to create. Isherwood was often self-deprecating to the point where he fulfills the maxim that you are always your own worst critic. After his Berlin stories and two subsequent works of nonfiction, Isherwood returned to the realm of fiction and wrote to Lehmann:

“In a few days I hope to start driving the plough over the terrain for my new novel. I have terrible stage-fright about it but the only thing is to make a start. At all costs, I’m resolved, this time, not to be funny. I don’t care how dreary and boring it is, as long as it isn’t the kind of book anybody could possibly read for pleasure on a train. People resent being amused more than anything, I’ve decided.”

One of the nonfiction books Isherwood was working on at the time was a travelogue to South America, called The Condor and the Cows: A South American Travel-Diary, with photographs by his companion William Caskey. Thirty years ago in my quest to read all of Isherwood’s work, I had the toughest time finding a copy of this book, which most likely had never been reprinted since its publication in 1949. I was delighted to acquire it as an interloan from my library system. It is one of my favourite Isherwood works. The book is often ignored by critics of the Isherwood oeuvre and was given only a mention in the literary encyclopedias my library had at the time. The digital age has given me a wide world of literary sources to find other critics’ opinions of The Condor and the Cows, but nothing they wrote could compare to Isherwood’s own thoughts in his correspondence with Lehmann. Maybe the reason I liked the book so much is because of Isherwood’s honesty: he didn’t like South America and told us so:

“Caskey paints, carpenters, sews and cooks untiringly, and so far we have had only one wild party. I am churning out a travel-book, which is going to be my longest and worst work, I fear. I just can’t do straight journalism, and the truth is that South America bored me, and I am ashamed that it bored me, and I hate it for making me feel ashamed. However, I am determined to go through with it and then get on with the novel, which at least will be an honourable failure.”

The novel Isherwood would eventually write, which he alludes to in both cited passages above, would be The World in the Evening, published in 1954.

Although Isherwood was living his life out of the closet and not keeping his homosexuality a secret from his friends, he still hadn’t acknowledged his gayness professionally. His readers certainly picked up on his violet quill–even I did years before I drew back the rainbow curtain–yet the closest he had come to coming out in public had been to disguise himself as closeted gay characters in his fiction. Thus it wasn’t until 1976 that he finally decided to write about his life as a young gay man living in Berlin. Lehmann wrote:

“He showed me parts of the new book, which indicated that he was at last going to make no bones about his queerness.”

That new book would turn out to be Christopher and his Kind 1929-1939.

Lehmann wrote this charming memoir shortly before he died in 1987. It was a privilege to share fifty years of epistolary intimacy between him and my favourite author.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I borrowed a copy of this from the library as I figured Beatrix's brother writing about Christopher Isherwood would mention her. He did a few times though mostly he seemed to be focusing on what good friends *he* was with Christopher and how they worked on New writing together. Honestly the way he described it, it was like Christopher kept trying to put him off, Yes I will do something for your magazine, but I'm busy with this other thing right now.

I know that when he said he was going to publish some of their letters as a book Christopher was really upset and they had a massive falling out. Though they did reconcile it seems a bit telling that it was only after Christopher's death that John released this. Honestly I'm not sure quite why he did. He talks about Christopher's male partners and lovers, but doesn't mention his own. It comes across as Look I know a famous person, even though Christopher was actually better friends with Beatrix, and mostly just had a working relationship with John.

I'm afraid unless you are a completest there isn't really any reason to read this. Christopher covers the period in his own words in much more depth in Christopher and his kind, this is just a brief overview with emphasis on their working together. Quite disappointing though I did make several notes about Beatrix.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many in my library, I found this amongst a pile of discarded books on the sidewalk. I really enjoy Christopher Isherwood's work and have heard of the author, John Lehman-though, only vaguely. Of course, I nabbed it and have been reading it in little bits and pieces. It's very personal and has opened my eyes to the man and the artist. He kind of liked his companions a bit on the young side: He was 30-something when he visited NYC and requested the company of an 18-year old. Yesh! Still enjoy his writings though.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

“He liked to imagine himself as one of those mysterious wanderers who penetrate the depths of a foreign land, disguise themselves in the dress and customs of its natives and die in unknown graves, envied by their stay-at-home compatriots.”
--Christopher Isherwood



World War I (1914-1918) and II (1939-1945) shook the foundations of the Western world and caused an upheaval in society as well as the arts, including literature. Many new writers began to question long-held class and gender roles as they rebelled against a more traditional, formal and repressive age. Others began to see an industrial world where people were becoming increasingly alienated and lonely. Many others wondered what it means to live in a modern and increasingly complex and interconnected world. while others felt called to more directly address the brutality and horror of war, the moral questions it raises, and its genesis in human nature. In short, these emerging authors began to think the old traditions of writing would no longer work for a new age. All this brought great energy and tension to the arts and led to new writing.

In fact, this turbulent period produced many of the my favorite authors: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Huxley, Forster, Dos Passos, Orwell, Auden, Mailer, Steinbeck, and others, including Christopher Isherwood.

Isherwood's long-time friend, John Lehmann (1907-87), was an English poet who served as managing director of Leonard and Virginia Woolfe's Hogarth Press, and later founded the influential literary journal written in book form, New Writing (1936-1950), which sought to break down class barriers by publishing the work of emerging writers from the lower and middle classes. It also focused on literature that was anti-fascist in tone. Christopher Isherwood was one of those authors.

Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) was born in England but left the country, almost permanently, in 1929 when he moved to Berlin. As he wrote, "To Christopher, Berlin meant boys." Though he was referring to his gay sexual orientation, his words also portrayed a man turning his back on the values and traditions of pre-WWI England while seeking a new life. It was in Berlin that Isherwood found the people and experiences which formed his Berlin Stories and introduced the world to the unforgettable character, Sally Bowles.

As the Nazis came to power and the Weimer Republic bagan to collapse, Isherwood and his boyfriend, Heinz, left the country so Heinz could avoid being conscripted into the army. The two men found themselves moving to several countries in Europe until Heinz was finally arrested for draft evasion and sexual indecency. Isherwood, then, eventually relocated to China, South America, and finally California in 1939.

Many critics saw in Isherwood the hope for a new English literature and, though he did write books that are considered important and fresh, he was more promise than fulfillment of that hope.

Always an outsider due to his sexual orientation and his expatriatism, Isherwood was able to look in on a time and place and record what he saw from the outside. His best work, consequently, is about foreigners, outsiders, and exiles, and the rejection of the expectations, cultures, and values of the “real world”.

Compiled from over 50 years of memories, letters, and diary entries, this memoir, which reads like a summary of a life, tells us little new about Isherwood, but does provide a good introduction to the author.

[Alvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm crazy for anything having to do with Isherwood (except the Vedanta stuff), but this exceedingly slim volume could and should have been a lot slimmer. Lehmann spends most of the 142 pages recounting episodes in Isherwood's life that Isherwood fans will already be familiar with (and which I skimmed or skipped over). The rest is mildly interesting, but is overfull of details about people and events most modern readers won't be familiar with and won't care about. One does get a few good glimpses of Isherwood's remarkable and charmed life. It's really quite frustrating, though, to hear of his meetings with Mick Jagger, Elsa Lanchester, or Gore Vidal but not know what was said!