Isherwood on Writing

by Isherwood, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780816646937
• ISBN10: 0816646937
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-28
• Publisher: Univ of Minnesota Pr

Summary

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 Writingbrings these public addresses together to reveal a distinctly-and surprisingly-American Isherwood. Given at a critical time in Isherwoodrs"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 Writinguncovers an important and often-misunderstood time in Isherwoodrs"s life in America. The lectures present, in James J. Bergrs"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 (19041986) is the author of many books, includingA Single ManandDown 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, ofThe Isherwood Century: Essays on the Life and Work of Christopher Isherwood(winner of the Lambda Award) andConversations with Christopher Isherwood. Claude Summers is professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, Dearborn and author of many works, includingGay Fictions: Wilde to Stonewall.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Editor's Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction: The American Isherwood	p. 1
A Writer and His World, 1960	p. 35
Influences	p. 42
Why Write at All?	p. 52
What Is the Nerve of Interest in the Novel?	p. 64
What Is the Nerve of Interest in the Novel? (continued)	p. 73
A Writer and the Theater	p. 84
A Writer and the Films	p. 99
A Writer and Religion	p. 114
A Last Lecture	p. 130
The Autobiography of My Books, 1963-65	p. 143
All the Conspirators, The Memorial	p. 149
The Berlin Stories	p. 161
The Dog Beneath the Skin, The Ascent of F6, On the Frontier	p. 173
Prater Violet	p. 184
The World in the Evening	p. 199
Down There on a Visit	p. 213
Lecture Notes	p. 217
A Writer and His World	p. 223
Influences	p. 223
Why Write at All?	p. 227
What Is the Nerve of Interest in the Novel?	p. 229
What Is the Nerve of Interest in the Novel? (continued)	p. 230
A Writer and the Theater	p. 231
A Writer and the Films	p. 232
A Writer and Religion	p. 234
A Last Lecture	p. 235
Writers of the Thirties	p. 239
The Novel As Experience	p. 241
A Personal Statement	p. 243
Voices of Novelists and Dramatists: Modern	p. 245
What Is a Novel?	p. 247
The Novel and the Novelist	p. 250
Editor's Notes	p. 253
Index	p. 267
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