Christopher Isherwood: The Berlin Stories

[Irene Wilde]

I just this moment finished "The Berlin Stories." I whooshed through it all far too fast. So much of it was exactly what I had expected and hoped for -- wonderful descriptions of Mr. Norris, Salley Bowles, Frl. Schroeder, Otto, Peter, Rudi and all the rest of the cast of characters, and the dubious goingsons at various Berlin hotspots, while the Nazis and the communists slug it out, sometimes literally, on the streets. Isherwood's writing is brilliant in its simplicity and elegance, sometimes with sly humor, sometimes with heart-breaking realism. I read through it all fascinated, picturing Isherwood's Berlin as an overlay to the places I visited last summer (how I wish I'd read this first!). But then I read that last diary entry, the real "goodbye" in "Goodbye to Berlin." Of course, history tells us what came next, the end of this story was a known quantity before I read the first page. And yet, I still had chills when I closed the book for the final time. But I wasn't picturing brown shirts and swastikas. I was thinking of Caribou Barbie and those rousing rallies she was holding as summer turned to fall in all those pockets of "real America." Like I said, chilling.

[Eric]

I've never read any Isherwood. How do the stories relate to the film "Cabaret". Is the film based on one story, or on an amalgam of all of them?

[Irene Wilde]

I've never read any Isherwood. How do the stories relate to the film "Cabaret". Is the film based on one story, or on an amalgam of all of them?

I almost want to go home and re-watch "Cabaret" (probably my all-time favorite musical film) just to compare the two with it all fresh in my mind.

The film is "based on" (meaning they've taken the text and done a lot of re-inventing of it) several of the stories. There is no "Kit-Kat Club" in the text, though many places like it. There is no "emcee," and no physical relationship between the Isherwood character (sometimes called "Christopher Isherwood" and sometimes called "William Bradshaw" -- Isherwood's middle names) and Sally Bowles in the text. Much is left out, much is added, but the flavor and essence of "The Berlin Stories" is retained throughout. I would think of them as separate approaches to a similar theme. Reading "The Berlin Stories" never made me think, "oh now I can't enjoy 'Cabaret' because the book is so much better" and "Cabaret" is dissimilar enough that I never felt like I was reading a novelization of the film.

For anyone who is a fan of Anthony Powell, Isherwood's style would be very easy to enjoy.

[Liam]

This is slightly off topic, but the new documentary Chris & Don: A Love Story is getting released in February. Can hardly wait.

[Irene Wilde]

That's not off-topic, that's a reason to celebrate...except I started celebrating an hour ago...oops!

Must stop posting here when my sobriety is questionable at best.

[Jayaprakash]

This would be two books in one, if you've got the same Vintage tpb I do, collecting 'Mr Norris Changes Trains' and 'Goodbye To Berlin'. 'Mr Norris' a brilliant, tragicomic picaresque and 'Goodbye' a collection of memorable, interlocking sketches, rather elegantly skirting around direct reference to the homosexual subculture Isherwood was sporting about with in pre-WW2 Germany. I liked both quite a bit, by no means all there is to Isherwood of course, including some rather intriguing forays into Indian spiritualism.

As for parallels; it may be a little parochial to start drawing them too soon. As far as I can see, there's hardly any place in the world that can't lay claim to feeling a bit like Berlin just before WW2. Maybe it's just this overcrowded planet.

[Irene Wilde]

As for parallels; it may be a little parochial to start drawing them too soon. As far as I can see, there's hardly any place in the world that can't lay claim to feeling a bit like Berlin just before WW2. Maybe it's just this overcrowded planet.

True, but so often I hear people in The States so, "Oh, something like that could never happen here..." It could so easily happen here, or as you indicated, anywhere.

Anyway, interesting point about Isherwood's "skirting" of his narrator's sexual orientation. Apparently, he felt a gay narrator would create too much of a distraction for his audience and they would not focus on his wonderful study of Berliners, but his personal conviction would not allow a character called "Christopher Isherwood" to be fully depicted as straight -- so he kept it vague and non-committal, which worked with his "I am a camera" style for writing "The Berlin Stories."

[Jayaprakash]

Thanks for taking my grumble so well. From outside, it seems as if Americans want their nation to be likened to everything from Babylon to Camelot, so I get a bit wary or perhaps just weary with historical or literary parallels being drawn to US current affairs.

I found Isherwood's not-fully-straight alter-ego(s) rather an interesting comparison to the main characters in Mann's The Magic Mountain and Doktor Faustus, who may or may not be re-interpreted on queer lines as you prefer.

[miercuri]

I got this from the library about a year ago but ended up returning it untouched. I'll look it up again, next time I'm at the library, this topic was a good reminder.

[Max Cairnduff]

It sounds fascinating. Is it fiction or non-fiction or somewhere in between?

Also, is it connected short stories, is that right?

Oh, and how long is it?