Abstract
The boundaries between autobiography and fiction in Isherwood’s work are so blurred that a complete chapter of this book has been devoted to that topic. The autobiographical factors in any study of his writing involve principally his revolt against the values of his wealthy, well-established Cheshire family, his homosexuality and his firm religious beliefs. All of these figure prominently in his major novels and in all of his diverse writings. Apart from his fiction, Isherwood wrote plays (in collaboration with W. H. Auden), travel books, essays and translations. Most of these have some relevance to his novels but they will be dealt with only briefly in this introduction to his work.
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Notes
Isherwood, Kathleen and Frank (London: Methuen, 1971), p. 267.
Isherwood, Lions and Shadows (London: Hogarth Press, 1938), p. 46.
Samuel Hynes, The Auden Generation (London: Faber, 1976), p. 21.
Stephen Spender, World within World (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1951), p. 9.
Isherwood, Christopher and his Kind (London: Methuen, 1977), p. 10.
Otto Friedrich, Before the Deluge (London: Michael Joseph, 1972), pp. 7–8.
Peter Vansittart, Paths from a White Horse (London: Quartet, 1985), p. 117.
In Lehmann’s book, Christopher Isherwood: A Personal Memoir (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987), there are several previously unpublished letters which reveal how little he felt needed explanation. Lehmann came to reason and understand Isherwood’s motives well.
John Lehmann, New Writing in Europe (London: Penguin, 1940), p. 47.
H. Gustav Klaus, The Literature of Labour (London: Harvester, 1985), p. 162.
Quentin Crisp, The Naked Civil Servant (London: Jonathan Cape, 1968), p. 8.
Louis MacNiece, The Strings are False (London: Faber, 1965), p. 172.
T. C. Worsley writes about this very vividly in his novel Fellow Travellers (London: London Magazine Editions, 1971), pp. 15–16.
Isherwood, My Guru and His Disciple (London: Methuen, 1980), p. 41.
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© 1991 Stephen Wade
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Wade, S. (1991). Isherwood’s Life and Work. In: Christopher Isherwood. Macmillan Modern Novelists. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21877-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21877-6_1
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