Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include ''
Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical novel which inspired the musical ''
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
''; ''
A Single Man
''A Single Man'' is a 2009 American period romantic drama film based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. The directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, the film stars Colin Firth, who was nominated for the Academy ...
'' (1964), adapted as
a film by
Tom Ford
Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and direct ...
in 2009; and ''
Christopher and His Kind'' (1976), a memoir which "carried him into the heart of the
Gay Liberation
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii ...
movement".
Biography
Early life and work
Isherwood was born in 1904 on his family's estate in
Cheshire near
Stockport in the north-west of England. He was the elder son of Francis Edward Bradshaw Isherwood (1869–1915), known as Frank, a professional soldier in the
York and Lancaster Regiment
The York and Lancaster Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was created in the Childers Reforms of 1881 by the amalgamation of the 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment ...
, and Kathleen Bradshaw Isherwood, nee Machell Smith (1868–1960), the only daughter of a successful wine merchant. He was the grandson of John Henry Isherwood, squire of Marple Hall and
Wyberslegh Hall
Wyberslegh Hall (sometimes spelled Wybersley Hall) is a large house dating from the 16th century, on the edge of the village of High Lane in Greater Manchester, England. Now in private ownership, Wyberslegh Hall was formerly the home of eldest s ...
, Cheshire, and he included among his ancestors the Puritan judge
John Bradshaw, who signed the death warrant of
King Charles I and served for two years as Lord President of the Council, effectively President of the English Republic. Isherwood's father Frank was educated at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
and
Sandhurst Military Academy
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town o ...
, fought in the
Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
, and was killed in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Isherwood's mother, Kathleen, was, through her own mother, a member of the wealthy Greene brewing family of
Greene King
Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019.
H ...
, and Isherwood was a cousin of the novelist
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
, who was also related to the brewing family. Frank and Kathleen christened their first son Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood, which Isherwood simplified on becoming a
United States citizen
Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...
in 1946.
At
Repton
Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...
, his boarding school in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
, Isherwood met his lifelong friend
Edward Upward
Edward Falaise Upward, FRSL (9 September 1903 – 13 February 2009) was a British novelist and short story writer who, prior to his death, was believed to be the UK's oldest living author. Initially gaining recognition amongst the Auden Group as ...
, with whom he invented an imaginary English village called Mortmere, as related in his fictional autobiography, ''Lions and Shadows'' (1938). He went up to
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, as a history scholar, wrote jokes and limericks on his second year
Tripos
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
and was asked to leave without a degree in 1925.
At Christmas 1925, he was reintroduced to a prep school friend,
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
. Through Auden, Isherwood met the younger poet,
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by th ...
, who printed Auden's first collection, ''Poems'' (1928). Upward, Isherwood, Auden, and Spender were identified as the most exciting new literary group in England in the 1930s. Auden dubbed Isherwood the novelist in what came to be known as the
Auden Group
The Auden Group or the Auden Generation is a group of British and Irish writers active in the 1930s that included W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, Cecil Day-Lewis, Stephen Spender, Christopher Isherwood, and sometimes Edward Upward and Rex Warner. ...
or Auden Generation. With
Cecil Day-Lewis and
Louis MacNeice, Auden and Spender later attracted the name the MacSpaunday Poets, with which Isherwood is also associated.
After leaving Cambridge, Isherwood worked as a private tutor and later as secretary to a string quartet led by the violinist
André Mangeot
André Louis Mangeot (25 August 1883 – 11 September 1970) was a French-born violinist and impresario who later became naturalised in England. André's father was the piano-maker Edouard Mangeot.
Life
Born in Paris, Mangeot studied at the Conse ...
while he completed his first novel. This was ''All the Conspirators'', published in 1928, about the struggle for self-determination between children and their parents. In October 1928, Isherwood enrolled as a medical student at
King's College London, but he left after six months.
In March 1929, Isherwood joined Auden in Berlin, where Auden was spending a post-graduate year. The ten-day visit changed Isherwood's life. He began an affair with a German boy met at a cellar bar called The Cosy Corner, and he was "brought face to face with his tribe" at
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist.
Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
's
Institute for Sexual Science. He visited Berlin again in July, and moved there in November.
Sojourn in Berlin
In Berlin, Isherwood completed his second novel, ''The Memorial'' (1932), about the impact of the First World War on his family and his generation. He also continued his habit of keeping a diary. In his diary, he gathered raw material for ''Mr. Norris Changes Trains'' (1935), inspired by his real-life friendship with
Gerald Hamilton, and for ''Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), his portrait of the city in which
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
was rising to power—enabled by poverty, unemployment, increasing attacks on Jews and Communists, and ignored by the defiant hedonism of night life in the cafés, bars, and brothels. ''Goodbye to Berlin'' included stories published in the leftist magazine, ''New Writing'', and it included Isherwood's 1937 novella ''Sally Bowles'', in which he created his most famous character, based on a young Englishwoman,
Jean Ross
Jean Iris Ross Cockburn ( ; 7 May 1911 – 27 April 1973) was a British writer, political activist, and film critic. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), she was a war correspondent for the '' Daily Express'' and is thought to have been ...
, with whom he briefly shared a flat.
In America, the Berlin novels were published together as ''
The Berlin Stories
''The Berlin Stories'' is a 1945 anthology by Anglo-American writer Christopher Isherwood consisting of two novels: ''Mr Norris Changes Trains'' (1935) and ''Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939). The two novels are set in Jazz Age Berlin between 1930 and ...
'' in 1945. In 1951, ''Goodbye to Berlin'' was adapted for the New York stage by
John van Druten
John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observation ...
using the title ''
I Am a Camera
''I Am a Camera'' is a 1951 Broadway play by John Van Druten adapted from Christopher Isherwood's 1939 novel ''Goodbye to Berlin'', which is part of '' The Berlin Stories''. The title is a quotation taken from the novel's first page: "I am a cam ...
'', taken from Isherwood's opening paragraphs. The play inspired the hit Broadway musical ''
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
'' (1966), later adapted to film as ''
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
'' in 1972.
In 1932, Isherwood started a relationship with a young German, Heinz Neddermeyer. They fled
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
together in May 1933, traveling initially to Greece. Neddermeyer was refused entry to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in January 1934, launching an odyssey in search of a country where they could settle together. They lived in the
Canary Islands,
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, and
Sintra, Portugal, while trying to obtain a new nationality and passport for Neddermeyer. In May 1937, Neddermeyer was arrested by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
for
draft evasion
Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft e ...
and reciprocal
onanism
Onan ''Aunan'' was a figure detailed in the Book of Genesis chapter 38, as the second son of Judah and Shuah, and the brother of Er and Shelah. After being commanded by Judah to procreate with the late Er's wife Tamar, he instead "spilled his ...
.
During this period, Isherwood returned often to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
where he took his first movie-writing job, working with
Viennese Viennese may refer to:
* Vienna, the capital of Austria
* Viennese people, List of people from Vienna
* Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna
* Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city
* Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance
* V ...
director
Berthold Viertel
Berthold Viertel (28 June 1885 – 24 September 1953) was an Austrian screenwriter and film director, known for his work in Germany, the UK and the US.
Early career
Viertel was born in Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but later ...
on the film ''
Little Friend'' (1934). He collaborated with Auden on three plays – ''
The Dog Beneath the Skin'' (1935), ''
The Ascent of F6
''The Ascent of F6: A Tragedy in Two Acts'', by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the second and most successful play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1936. It was a major contribution to English poetic drama in ...
'' (1936), and ''
On the Frontier'' (1938) – all produced by
Robert Medley and
Rupert Doone's
Group Theatre. He also worked on ''Lions and Shadows'' (1938), a fictionalized autobiography of his education — both in and out of school — in the 1920s.
In January 1938, Isherwood and Auden traveled to China to write ''
Journey to a War'' (1939) about the
Sino-Japanese conflict. They returned to England the following summer via the United States and decided to emigrate there in January 1939.
Life in the United States
While living in Hollywood, California, Isherwood befriended
Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
, an up-and-coming young writer who would be influenced by Isherwood's ''Berlin Stories'', most specifically in the traces of the story "Sally Bowles" that surface in Capote's famed novella ''
Breakfast at Tiffany's''.
Isherwood also befriended
Dodie Smith
Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith (3 May 1896 – 24 November 1990) was an English novelist and playwright. She is best known for writing ''I Capture the Castle'' (1948) and the children's novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1956). Other works ...
, a British novelist and playwright who had also moved to California, and who became one of the few people to whom Isherwood showed his work in progress.
["Smith [married name Beesley], Dorothy Gladys [Dodie] (1896–1990)"](_blank)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''. Retrieved 3 March 2014
Isherwood considered becoming an American citizen in 1945 but balked at taking an oath that included the statement that he would defend the country. The next year he applied for citizenship and answered questions honestly, saying he would accept non-combatant duties like loading ships with food. The fact that he had volunteered for service with the Medical Corps also helped. At the naturalisation ceremony, he found he was required to swear to defend the nation and decided to take the oath since he had already stated his objections and reservations. He became an American citizen on 8 November 1946.
He began living with the photographer William "Bill" Caskey. In 1947, the two traveled to South America. Isherwood wrote the prose and Caskey took the photographs for a 1949 book about their journey entitled ''The Condor and the Cows''.
On
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...
1953, at the age of 48, he met the teenager
Don Bachardy
Donald Jess Bachardy (born May 18, 1934) is an American portrait artist. He resides in Santa Monica, California. Bachardy was the partner of Christopher Isherwood for over 30 years.
Early life
Born in Los Angeles, California, Bachardy studi ...
among a group of friends on the beach at
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...
. Reports of Bachardy's age at the time vary, but Bachardy later said, "At the time I was probably 16." In fact, he was 18. Despite the age difference, this meeting began a partnership that, though interrupted by affairs and separations, continued until the end of Isherwood's life.
During the early months of their affair, Isherwood finished—and Bachardy typed—the novel on which he had worked for some years, ''The World in the Evening'' (1954). Isherwood also taught a course on modern English literature at Los Angeles State College (now
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...
) for several years during the 1950s and early 1960s.
The 30-year
age difference between Isherwood and Bachardy raised eyebrows at the time, with Bachardy, in his own words, "regarded as a sort of
child prostitute
Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent.
In most jurisdictions, child ...
", but the two became a well-known and well-established couple in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
n society with many Hollywood friends.
''Down There on a Visit'', a novel published in 1962, comprised four related stories that overlap the period covered in his Berlin stories. In the opinion of many reviewers, Isherwood's finest achievement was his 1964 novel ''A Single Man'', that depicted a day in the life of George, a middle-aged, gay Englishman who is a professor at a Los Angeles university. The novel was adapted into a film of the same name in 2009. During 1964 Isherwood collaborated with
American writer
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry
...
Terry Southern
Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to ...
on the screenplay for the
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones''.
Early ...
film adaptation of ''
The Loved One
''The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy'' (1948) is a short satirical novel by British novelist Evelyn Waugh about the funeral business in Los Angeles, the British expatriate community in Hollywood, and the film industry.
Conception
''The ...
'',
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...
's caustic satire on the American funeral industry.
Isherwood and Bachardy lived together in
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...
for the rest of Isherwood's life. Isherwood was diagnosed with
prostate cancer in 1981, and died of the disease on 4 January 1986 at his Santa Monica home, aged 81. His body was donated to medical science at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, and his ashes were later scattered at sea. Bachardy became a successful artist with an independent reputation, and his portraits of the dying Isherwood became well known after Isherwood's death.
Association with Vedanta
Gerald Heard
Henry FitzGerald Heard (6 October 1889 – 14 August 1971), commonly called Gerald Heard, was a British-born American historian, science writer, public lecturer, educator, and philosopher. He wrote many articles and over 35 books.
Heard was a g ...
had introduced British writer
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxle ...
to
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
(Hindu-centered philosophy) and meditation. After migrating to America in 1937, Heard and Huxley became Vedantists attending functions at the
Vedanta Society of Southern California
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
, under the guidance of founder
Swami Prabhavananda
Swami Prabhavananda (December 26, 1893 – July 4, 1976) was an Indian philosopher, monk of the Ramakrishna Order, and religious teacher. He moved to America in 1923 to take up the role of assistant minister in the San Francisco Vedanta Society. ...
, a monk of the
Ramakrishna Order
The Ramakrishna Order (Bengali: রামকৃষ্ণ সংঘ) is the monastic lineage that was founded by Sri Ramakrishna, when he gave the ochre cloth of renunciation to twelve of his close disciples, in January 1886 at the Cossipore Hous ...
of India. Both were initiated by the Swami. Heard and Huxley introduced Isherwood to the Swami's Vedanta Society. Over time, Isherwood developed a close friendship with Huxley, with whom he sometimes collaborated. Isherwood became a dedicated Vedantist himself and was initiated by Prabhavananda, his guru.
[''My Guru and His Disciple'', Isherwood]
The process of conversion to Vedanta was so intense that Isherwood was unable to write another novel between the years 1939–1945, while he immersed himself in study of the Vedanta Scriptures, even becoming a monk for a time at the Society.
For the next 35 years Isherwood collaborated with the Swami on translations of various Vedanta scriptures, including the ''
Bhagavad Gita'', writing articles for the Society's journal, and occasionally lecturing at the Hollywood and Santa Barbara temples. For many years he would come to the Hollywood temple on Wednesday nights to read the ''
Gospel of Ramakrishna
''The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'' is an English translation of the Bengali religious text ''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita'' by Swami Nikhilananda. The text records conversations of Ramakrishna with his disciples, devotees and visitors, recorded ...
'' for a half an hour, then the Swami would take questions from the devotees.
From 1950 to 1978, Isherwood gave 53 lectures at the Hollywood and Santa Barbara Vedanta Temples. He mentions in his diaries and the book, ''My Guru and His Disciple'', that he feels unqualified to preach, so most of his lectures were readings of papers written by others, primarily Swami
Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intr ...
. There were a few original lectures including, ''Who Is Ramakrishna'', ''The Writer and Vedanta'', and a lecture on
Girish Chandra Ghosh
Girish Chandra Ghosh (28 February 1844 – 8 February 1912) was a Bengali actor, director, and writer. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre.Kundu, Pranay K. ''Development of Stage and Theatre Music in Bengal.'' Publ ...
, a householder disciple of Ramakrishna.
Isherwood was also very involved in the production of the bi-monthly journal of the Vedanta Society of Southern California, ''Vedanta and the West''. From 1943 to 1945 he was Managing Editor, from 1951 to 1962 he was an Editorial Advisor together with
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxle ...
,
Gerald Heard
Henry FitzGerald Heard (6 October 1889 – 14 August 1971), commonly called Gerald Heard, was a British-born American historian, science writer, public lecturer, educator, and philosopher. He wrote many articles and over 35 books.
Heard was a g ...
, and additionally with
John van Druten
John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observation ...
from 1951 to 1958. From 1949 to 1969 he wrote 40 articles for the journal.
Legacy and recognition
* The house in the district of Berlin where Isherwood lived bears a
memorial plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...
to mark his stay there between 1929 and 1933.
* Isherwood is mentioned in
Susan Sontag's ''
Notes on "Camp"'' (1964): "Apart from a lazy two-page sketch in Christopher Isherwood's novel ''
The World in the Evening
''The World in the Evening'' by Christopher Isherwood is a quasi-fictional account of love, loss, and regret. As in many Isherwood novels, the main character is caught in a contest between his personal egoism and the needs of friends and lovers ...
'' (1954),
amp #REDIRECT Amp
{{Redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
has hardly broken into print."
* The 2008 film ''
Chris & Don: A Love Story'' chronicled Isherwood and Bachardy's lifelong relationship.
* ''
A Single Man
''A Single Man'' is a 2009 American period romantic drama film based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. The directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, the film stars Colin Firth, who was nominated for the Academy ...
'' was adapted into a film, ''
A Single Man
''A Single Man'' is a 2009 American period romantic drama film based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. The directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, the film stars Colin Firth, who was nominated for the Academy ...
'', in 2009.
* In 2010 Isherwood's autobiography, ''
Christopher and His Kind'', was adapted into
a television film by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. It was broadcast in France and Germany on the
'' in 2016.
'' (1935; U.S. edition titled ''The Last of Mr Norris'')
* ''
'' (1937, with W. H. Auden)
* ''
'' (1938, with W. H. Auden)
* ''Lions and Shadows'' (1938, autobiographical fiction). Reissued: Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000
* ''
'' (1939, with W. H. Auden)
* ''Bhagavad Gita, The Song of God'' (1944, with Prabhavananda)
* ''Vedanta for the Western World'' (1945, Marcel Rodd Co.; published in England by George Allen & Unwin, 1948; ed. and introduction, plus several contributions)
* ''
''; reissued as ''The Berlin of Sally Bowles'', 1975)
* ''The Condor and the Cows'' (1949, South-American travel diary)
* ''Vedanta for Modern Man'' (1951, Harper & Brothers; published in England by George Allen & Unwin, 1952; ed. and contributor)
* ''What Vedanta Means to Me'' (1951, pamphlet)
* ''
'' (1964)
* ''Ramakrishna and His Disciples'' (1965)
* ''Exhumations'' (1966; journalism and stories)
* ''A Meeting by the River'' (1967)
* ''Essentials of Vedanta'' (1969)
* ''Kathleen and Frank'' (1971, about Isherwood's parents)
* ''
* ''My Guru and His Disciple'' (1980)
* ''October'' (1980, with Don Bachardy)
* ''The Mortmere Stories'' (with
) (1994)
* ''Where Joy Resides: An Isherwood Reader'' (1989; Don Bachardy and James P. White, eds.)
* ''Diaries: 1939–1960'',
, ed. (1996)
* ''
, ed. (2000)
* ''Kathleen and Christopher'', Lisa Colletta, ed. (Letters to his mother, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005)
* ''Isherwood on Writing'' (University of Minnesota Press, 2007)
* ''The Sixties: Diaries:1960–1969''
, ed. 2010
* ''Liberation: Diaries:1970–1983''
, ed. 2012
* ''The Animals: Love Letters Between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy'', Edited by Katherine Bucknell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014)
* , ''Intimate Journals'' (1930; revised edition 1947)
* ''The Song of God: Bhagavad-Gita'' (with Swami Prabhavananda, 1944)
* ''Shankara's Crest-Jewel of Discrimination'' (with Swami Prabhavananda, 1947)
* ''How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali'' (with Swami Prabhavananda, 1953)
''Vedanta and the West'' (originally titled ''Voice of India'' from 1938–1940) was the official publication of the
. It offered essays by many of the leading intellectuals of the time and had contributions from
, and many others.
Isherwood wrote the following articles that appeared in ''Vedanta and the West'':
*
– 1943
* On Translating the Gita – 1944
* Hypothesis and Belief – 1944
* The Gita and War – 1944
* What is Vedanta? – 1944
*
and Vivekananda – 1945
* The Problem of the Religious Novel – 1946
* Religion Without Prayers – 1946
* Foreword to a Man of Boys – 1950
* An Introduction – 1951
* What Vedanta Means to Me – 1951
* Who Is Ramakrishna? – 1957
* Ramakrishna and the Future – 1958
* The Home of Ramakrishna – 1958
* Ramakrishna: A First Chapter – 1959
* The Birth of Ramakrishna – 1959
* The Boyhood of Ramakrishna – 1959
* How Ramakrishna Came to Dakshineswar – 1959
* Early Days at Dakshineswar – 1959
* The Vision of Kali – 1960
* The Marriage of Ramakrishna – 1960
* The Coming of the Bhariravi – 1960
* Some Visitors to Dakshineswar – 1960
* Tota Puri – 1960
* The Writer and Vedanta – 1961
* Mathur – 1961
* Sarada and Chandra – 1962
* Keshab Sen – 1962
* The Coming of the Disciples – 1962
* Introduction to Vivekananda – 1962
* Naren – 1963
* The Training of Naren – 1963
* An Approach to Vedanta – 1963
* The Young Monks – 1963
* Some Great Devotees – 1963
* The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna – 1963
* The Last Year – 1964
* The Story Continues – 1964
* Letters of Swami Vivekananda – 1968
* Essentials of Vedanta – 1969
In 1945 sixty-eight articles from ''Vedanta and the West'' were collected in book form as ''Vedanta for the Western World''. Isherwood edited the selection and provided an introduction and three articles ("Hypothesis and Belief", "
", "The Gita and War"). Other contributors included
.
(2004) ''Isherwood: A Life,'' Picador.
*Fryer, Jonathan (1977), ''Isherwood: A Biography'', Garden City, NY, Doubleday & Company. .
* Berg, James J. and Freeman, Chris eds, ''Isherwood in Transit'' (2020)
* Berg, James J. and Freeman, Chris eds, ''Conversations with Christopher Isherwood'' (2001)
* Berg, James J. and Freeman, Chris eds. ''The Isherwood century: essays on the life and work of Christopher Isherwood'' (2000)
* Finney, Brian. ''Christopher Isherwood: A Critical Biography'' (1979)
* Marsh, Victor. ''Mr Isherwood Changes Trains: Christopher Isherwood and the search for the 'home self'' (2010) Clouds of Magellen
* Page, Norman. ''Auden and Isherwood: The Berlin Years'' (2000)
* Prosser, Lee. ''Isherwood, Bowles, Vedanta, Wicca, and Me'' (2001)
* Prosser, Lee. ''Night Tigers'' (2002)
*
*
*