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Isherwood on Writing: The Lectures in California
In the 1960s, Christopher Isherwood gave an unprecedented series of lectures at California universities on the theme “A Writer and His World.” During this time Isherwood, who would liberate the memoir and become the founding father of modern gay writing, spoke openly for the first time about his craft—on writing for film, theater, and novels—and on spirituality. Isherwood on Writing brings these public addresses together to reveal a distinctly—and surprisingly—American Isherwood. Given at a critical time in Isherwood’s career, these lectures mark the era when he turned from fiction to memoir. In free-flowing, wide-ranging discussions, he reflects on such topics as why writers write, what makes a novel great, and what influenced his own work. Isherwood talks about his working relationship with W. H. Auden; his literary friendships with E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Stephen Spender, Aldous Huxley, and Somerset Maugham; and his work in the film industry in London and Hollywood. He also explores uncharted territory in candid comments on his own work, something not contained in his diaries. Isherwood on Writing uncovers an important and often-misunderstood time in Isherwood’s life in America. The lectures present, in James J. Berg’s words, “an example of a man, comfortable in his own sexuality and self, trying to talk about himself and his own life in a society that is not yet ready to hear the whole story.” A major figure in twentieth-century fiction and the gay rights movement, Christopher Isherwood (1904–1986) is the author of many books, including A Single Man and Down There on a Visit, available from Minnesota. James J. Berg is dean of liberal arts and sciences at Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota. He is editor, with Chris Freeman, of The Isherwood Essays on the Life and Work of Christopher Isherwood (winner of the Lambda Award) and Conversations with Christopher Isherwood. Claude Summers is professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, Dearborn and author of many works, including Gay Wilde to Stonewall.
- GenresWritingNonfiction
274 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Christopher Isherwood
175 books1,548 followersEnglish-born American Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist who portrayed Berlin in the early 1930s in his best known works, such as
Goodbye to Berlin
(1939), the basis for the musical
Cabaret
(1966).
With W.H. Auden he wrote three plays— The Dog Beneath the Skin (1932), The Ascent of F6 (1936), and On the Frontier (1938). Isherwood tells the story in his first autobiography, Lions and Shadows .
After Isherwood wrote joke answers on his second-year exams, Cambridge University in 1925 asked him to leave. He briefly attended medical school and progressed with his first two novels, All the Conspirators (1928) and The Memorial (1932). In 1930, he moved to Berlin, where he taught English, dabbled in Communism, and enthusiastically explored his homosexuality. His experiences provided the material for Mister Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1938), still his most famous book.
In Berlin in 1932, he also began an important relationship with Heinz Neddermeyer, a young German with whom he fled the Nazis in 1933. England refused entry to Neddermeyer on his second visit in 1934, and the pair moved restlessly about Europe until the Gestapo arrested Neddermeyer in May 1937 and then finally separated them.
In 1938, Isherwood sailed with Auden to China to write Journey to a War (1939), about the Sino-Japanese conflict. They returned to England and Isherwood went on to Hollywood to look for movie-writing work. He also became a disciple of the Ramakrishna monk, Swami Prabhavananda, head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California. He decided not to take monastic vows, but he remained a Hindu for the rest of his life, serving, praying, and lecturing in the temple every week and writing a biography, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (1965).
In 1945, Isherwood published Prater Violet, fictionalizing his first movie writing job in London in 1933-1934. In Hollywood, he spent the start of the 1950s fighting his way free of a destructive five-year affair with an attractive and undisciplined American photographer, William Caskey. Caskey took the photographs for Isherwood’s travel book about South America, The Condor and The Cows (1947). Isherwood’s sixth novel, The World in the Evening (1954), written mostly during this period, was less successful than earlier ones.
In 1953, he fell in love with Don Bachardy, an eighteen-year-old college student born and raised in Los Angeles. They were to remain together until Isherwood’s death. In 1961, Isherwood and completed the final revisions to his new novel Down There on a Visit (1962). Their relationship nearly ended in 1963, and Isherwood moved out of their Santa Monica house. This dark period underpins Isherwood’s masterpiece A Single Man (1964).
Isherwood wrote another novel, A Meeting by the River (1967), about two brothers, but he gave up writing fiction and turned entirely to autobiography. In Kathleen and Frank (1971), he drew on the letters and diaries of his parents. In Christopher and His Kind (1976), he returned to the 1930s to tell, as a publicly avowed homosexual, the real story of his life in Berlin and his wanderings with Heinz Neddermeyer. The book made him a hero of gay liberation and a national celebrity all over again but now in his true, political and personal identity.
With W.H. Auden he wrote three plays— The Dog Beneath the Skin (1932), The Ascent of F6 (1936), and On the Frontier (1938). Isherwood tells the story in his first autobiography, Lions and Shadows .
After Isherwood wrote joke answers on his second-year exams, Cambridge University in 1925 asked him to leave. He briefly attended medical school and progressed with his first two novels, All the Conspirators (1928) and The Memorial (1932). In 1930, he moved to Berlin, where he taught English, dabbled in Communism, and enthusiastically explored his homosexuality. His experiences provided the material for Mister Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1938), still his most famous book.
In Berlin in 1932, he also began an important relationship with Heinz Neddermeyer, a young German with whom he fled the Nazis in 1933. England refused entry to Neddermeyer on his second visit in 1934, and the pair moved restlessly about Europe until the Gestapo arrested Neddermeyer in May 1937 and then finally separated them.
In 1938, Isherwood sailed with Auden to China to write Journey to a War (1939), about the Sino-Japanese conflict. They returned to England and Isherwood went on to Hollywood to look for movie-writing work. He also became a disciple of the Ramakrishna monk, Swami Prabhavananda, head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California. He decided not to take monastic vows, but he remained a Hindu for the rest of his life, serving, praying, and lecturing in the temple every week and writing a biography, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (1965).
In 1945, Isherwood published Prater Violet, fictionalizing his first movie writing job in London in 1933-1934. In Hollywood, he spent the start of the 1950s fighting his way free of a destructive five-year affair with an attractive and undisciplined American photographer, William Caskey. Caskey took the photographs for Isherwood’s travel book about South America, The Condor and The Cows (1947). Isherwood’s sixth novel, The World in the Evening (1954), written mostly during this period, was less successful than earlier ones.
In 1953, he fell in love with Don Bachardy, an eighteen-year-old college student born and raised in Los Angeles. They were to remain together until Isherwood’s death. In 1961, Isherwood and completed the final revisions to his new novel Down There on a Visit (1962). Their relationship nearly ended in 1963, and Isherwood moved out of their Santa Monica house. This dark period underpins Isherwood’s masterpiece A Single Man (1964).
Isherwood wrote another novel, A Meeting by the River (1967), about two brothers, but he gave up writing fiction and turned entirely to autobiography. In Kathleen and Frank (1971), he drew on the letters and diaries of his parents. In Christopher and His Kind (1976), he returned to the 1930s to tell, as a publicly avowed homosexual, the real story of his life in Berlin and his wanderings with Heinz Neddermeyer. The book made him a hero of gay liberation and a national celebrity all over again but now in his true, political and personal identity.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 17, 2012
The best part of this book is the wonderful introduction of Isherwood as a thinker, not as a writer. The insight into his creative process, the way he moved through the world, how he formed the relationships that influenced his texts...it's less about the art of writing in and of itself, and more about the art of living in order to write. If you are not familiar with Isherwood, it's an excellent way to get to know him as a writer.
December 29, 2010
A most excellent series of lectures on writing. Especially good is the discussion of the first-person narrator, which is tricky, to say the least. Also: the difference between theater and film. If you like this, you should let yourself be led to E.M. Forster's "Aspects of the Novel," Isherwood's mentor's thoughts.
April 14, 2016
Excellent presentation of Isherwood's lectures. It was a real treat seeing what he had to say about the larger mechanics of writing, as well as the discrete elements of his particular works. Now, I want to go back and reread all his books!
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If you liked this, make sure to follow me on Goodreads for more reviews!
January 24, 2021
As an aspiring writer, Isherwood has always being a Northern star, but this recollection of lectures has proven to be an incandescent Sun.
Insightful, personal and entertaining, Isherwood demonstrates that greatness is not only achieved on paper but also by sharing his wise words.
Insightful, personal and entertaining, Isherwood demonstrates that greatness is not only achieved on paper but also by sharing his wise words.
March 14, 2023
“I myself am more than usually an outsider. A foreigner by temperament. I like surroundings to have a touch of strangeness – if only to remind me not to take Life for granted.”
Not boring technical advice on writing or “I’m such an awesome writer, listen to my pure genius (also, you must buy one of my books at the door before you can hear me speak)” variety of ego-oration. These lectures are so incredibly engaging. Isherwood, gentle, charming, humorous & insightful is such a delight. Surprisingly humble, the vanity and bitchiness often apparent in his journals is not here, though his kindness, generosity & humor are abundant.
Joy is something Isherwood repeatedly emphasizes about writing, great writing. Not some “cheap optimism,” his joy is “a kind of mad vitality which exists in the universe.” So even if a story is tragic, if it’s grim, there is not indifference, but compassion: “underneath all of this there is a great lift of exhilaration in reading about it,” whatever “it” happens to be. This joy is a contact with life that gives writing vitality.
Isherwood does explore questions like “Why Write at all?” & talk about the mechanistic aspects of writing, but he’s never dull, never rigid in what he says. Like the best advice on writing or any other kind of artistic endeavors, much of what he says can be applied to life in general, to trying to be a person in this world. He reads passages from other authors, such as Auden and Dostoyevsky, as examples of what he thinks is very good or great writing. In the lectures on his own books, you really get a good sense of his evolution not only as a writer, but as a person. His interest in and affiliation with Vedanta becomes more apparent as time goes on and definitely shapes his views.
Isherwood mentions Outsiders often, particularly those who confront society in some way, noting: "My life has been mainly occupied in writing about people who don't fit into the social pattern." He goes on to discuss how valuable the Outsiders are to communities. It’s clear now how much he tiptoes around his homosexuality, even though it was an open secret with everyone he knew. Since open homophobia was still the social norm, that’s not surprising.
The intro is well worth reading as the editor defends the hell out of Isherwood, saying that his writing has been so often excluded & diminished because of the aforementioned homophobia, British literary snobbery which never forgave him for becoming a Californian, American east coast snobbery that doesn’t take California writers seriously, from general American territorialism that always viewed Isherwood as British & from people insistent on classifying him as a writer of the '30s. The arguments for the merit of Isherwood’s work are fiery & strong.
As a side note, these lectures are noted in Isherwood's journals. He wrote about haggling with UC Berkeley over his fee & about wanting to “get in some spiteful digs at the Book of the Month.” He was far more complimentary to certain writers in his lectures than in his journals, e.g. Camus gets shit on in the journals for being “a dreary mind” while in a lecture Isherwood praises Camus for being “daring.” He also says one of the Chancellors of a college was so surprised that Isherwood’s lecture was such a hit, then in the next sentence he talks about how drunk he got at some party, fell over a bbq bowl & hurt his shin.
Not boring technical advice on writing or “I’m such an awesome writer, listen to my pure genius (also, you must buy one of my books at the door before you can hear me speak)” variety of ego-oration. These lectures are so incredibly engaging. Isherwood, gentle, charming, humorous & insightful is such a delight. Surprisingly humble, the vanity and bitchiness often apparent in his journals is not here, though his kindness, generosity & humor are abundant.
Joy is something Isherwood repeatedly emphasizes about writing, great writing. Not some “cheap optimism,” his joy is “a kind of mad vitality which exists in the universe.” So even if a story is tragic, if it’s grim, there is not indifference, but compassion: “underneath all of this there is a great lift of exhilaration in reading about it,” whatever “it” happens to be. This joy is a contact with life that gives writing vitality.
Isherwood does explore questions like “Why Write at all?” & talk about the mechanistic aspects of writing, but he’s never dull, never rigid in what he says. Like the best advice on writing or any other kind of artistic endeavors, much of what he says can be applied to life in general, to trying to be a person in this world. He reads passages from other authors, such as Auden and Dostoyevsky, as examples of what he thinks is very good or great writing. In the lectures on his own books, you really get a good sense of his evolution not only as a writer, but as a person. His interest in and affiliation with Vedanta becomes more apparent as time goes on and definitely shapes his views.
Isherwood mentions Outsiders often, particularly those who confront society in some way, noting: "My life has been mainly occupied in writing about people who don't fit into the social pattern." He goes on to discuss how valuable the Outsiders are to communities. It’s clear now how much he tiptoes around his homosexuality, even though it was an open secret with everyone he knew. Since open homophobia was still the social norm, that’s not surprising.
The intro is well worth reading as the editor defends the hell out of Isherwood, saying that his writing has been so often excluded & diminished because of the aforementioned homophobia, British literary snobbery which never forgave him for becoming a Californian, American east coast snobbery that doesn’t take California writers seriously, from general American territorialism that always viewed Isherwood as British & from people insistent on classifying him as a writer of the '30s. The arguments for the merit of Isherwood’s work are fiery & strong.
As a side note, these lectures are noted in Isherwood's journals. He wrote about haggling with UC Berkeley over his fee & about wanting to “get in some spiteful digs at the Book of the Month.” He was far more complimentary to certain writers in his lectures than in his journals, e.g. Camus gets shit on in the journals for being “a dreary mind” while in a lecture Isherwood praises Camus for being “daring.” He also says one of the Chancellors of a college was so surprised that Isherwood’s lecture was such a hit, then in the next sentence he talks about how drunk he got at some party, fell over a bbq bowl & hurt his shin.
December 27, 2015
Good lectures in parts. The second half of the book is pretty boring. His thoughts on Hinduism are quite apt.
However unsatisfactory overall.
However unsatisfactory overall.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews