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The Novels of Christopher Isherwood

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The Novels of Christopher Isherwood • - '1 .' 1 THE NOVELS OF CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD " .r -----------------------~------ ---------- ( ~ .... 'o( , • 1 • , \ J .. .. .J., .. ~ 'i':;., t , • ) .. \ " NARCISSUS OBSERVED AND OBSERVING: THE NOVELS OF C~RISTOPHER 1SI'lERWOOD " By Wiltiam Aitken , / Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For a Master of Arts Degree . Department of'English ~J • ~1cG i 11 Uni ve~s i ty '. , 2 August 1974 .'J . f .' '. li ' . .~ ~ 4-' '\ .. • .( 1 , 1975 ABSTRACT \ • 1, • "Narcissis Obser,\ed and,Observing: The Novels of ~hristoPhe'r Isherwood" deals with narcissi~... --both limitless and limited--as a constant theme running through the novels of Christopher Isher'(fOod. Narcissism is examined in its mythical and psychoanalytlcal contexts, with special emphasis given to the writings of Freud and Marcuse. Par­ ticular attention is paid~to the author's homosexuality and his various works that deal with homosexuality: an attempt is made to show how » nârcissism may function as a vital and invaluable creative asset for the homosexual author. RESUME "Narc1sse observé et observant: Les Roman~de Christopher r - Isherwood. 11 Cet ouvrage démontre que le narcissisme (à la fois limité et sans limites) est, un thème constant des romans ~e Christopher Ishe~­ wood. le phénomêne du narci~sisme est analysé dans ses contextes mythiques et psychanalytiques avec une insistance particuli~re sur les oeuvres de Freud et de Marcuse. L'étude porte un~ attentlon sp€ciale" "à llhomos~xualité de l'auteur et à ses oeuvres diverses et essaie de montrer comment le narcissisme peut être une source d'lnspiration ( v~ta1e et inestimable pour l'écrivain homasexuel . • • PREFACE 1 wish to thank Professor Donald Rùbin for his h~lp a~d suggestions concerning Isherwood's works and pertinent backgr~nd t mate~ia11 a1so, Professor Bruce Garside for his guidance concerning narcissism and psychoanalytic theory. Two previously published books on Isherwood--Carolyn Heil­ brun's Christopher IshenlOod (Columbia University Press, 1970) and Alan Wi1de's Christopher Isherwood (Twayne Publ;shers, Inc., 1971) --provid~ ex~ellent overv;ews of the author's works and point up 1 pervas;ye themes in his nove1s. To my knowledge, narc;ss;sl11 as a theme in the works of Christopher Isherwood has not been dealt ~ith previously. ) Wi11iRm Aitken ;' August, 1974 ' ' ... ~ ... ' ' ... 1 .. i i ; • • • . '..., • , l­ I TABLE OF CONTENTS Page - ! PREFACE .... ! . ~ . • i i i - PUBLISHED WRITINGS . ",,: . iv CHRONOLOGY .. ,. vi;; INTRODUCTION l Chapter '1. LEAV ING 1ME . 17 1 1. BERL! N .1/. • 18 l ' II I. ADRIFT 66 IV. A SINGLE' ~lAN 85 ! 1 f 1 1 ------------~ .,:-. t • . ' • 1 V '.- • ," ~--""'-"""-'A lr~ • PUBl:ISHEO WRITINGS Principal Works A11 the Conspirators. London, Jonathan Cape, 1928. The Memorial. London, Hogarth Press, 1932. --~-~~ ~1r ~ Changes Trains. London, Hogarth Press, 1935. (Published.-in ./ the United States as ~ Last Qi. Hr Norris, 1935.) ~ BO\'11 es. London, Hogarth Press, 1937. Lions and Shadows. London, Hogarth Press, 1938. -.---.-- - Goodbye ta Berlin. London, Hogarth Press,~939. Prater Violet. New York, Random House. 1945. The Berl:,n Stones (The Last of Mr Norris, Sally Bal-Iles, Goodbye.!2. Berlhn). Ne\'1 York, Nevi Directions, 1963. ! The vJorld l!:!. tho/Evemng. New York, Random House, 1954. Down There On ~ ViSlt. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1962. - . ~ Single Man. New York. Simon 8- Schuster, 1964. Ex~umations. Ne\'i YOrk"Si~on & Schuster. ~ (1eeting~ï the River. New York, Simon & Schusj-er, 1967. Kathleen and Frank. Nel'i York, Curtis Books, 1971. Works I~ritten Il1til l·f.H. Auden Journey to ~ I-Jar. London, Faber & Faber Ltd., 1939. On the Front, er. Nel'i York, Random Hous~, 1938. Two Great ~ Qy ~ Auden and ChI'; stopher Is'~envood. Nel" York t Random House, n.d. (The.Q.Q.9. Beneath ~he ~. The Ascent of ~ §.). v / l 1 a '. Works Rel~tlng to Vedanta An Approach to Vedanta. Hollxwood, Vedanta Press, 1963. - IIQiscovering Vedanta," The Twentieth Century, CLXX (Autumn, 1961),64-71. Essentials of Vedanta. Hollywood,. Vedanta Press, 1969. 'Haw to Know Gad: The Yoga Aphorisms of PatanJa1i. Trans1ated with Swam; Prabhavananda. Hollywood, V~danta Press, 1962. IIIntroduction,"'Vihat Religion 12l!:!. the Words of Sv/ami Vivekinanda. John \ Yale (ed.). London, Phoenix House Ltd., 1962. Ramakrishna and H1S Disciples. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1965. Shankara's Crest-Jewel of Discrimination. Translated with Prabhavananda. Hollywood, Vedanta Press, 1946. The Song of God: .Bhagavad-Gita. Trans 1a ted wi th Prabhavananda. New York t Mentor Dooks, 1960. Vedanta, for r10dern t1an. Christopher Ishen'lOod (cd.). New York, Collier Books, 1962. "What' Vedanta '·leans to Me;" ~Jhat V'edanta Means ta Me. John Yale (ed.). London, Ri der & Co., 1961:1Jp. 38-49. - -- ÎMiscellaneous and Uncollected Works "Aldous Huxley," Aldous Huxley, 1894-1963. J.u1ian Huxley (ed.). Ne\~ York, Harper & Row, 1966. PP. 154-g2. - "The Goy At Lù Verne," The Penguin ~Writing, XIV (July-September:, 1 942). l 2 - 14. IIFon/ard," "The Ra i h/ay Accident," by A11 en Cha lmers (Edward Upward), Ne\'1 Directions ~ Prose and Poetry, XI. flew York, rlew Directions, 1949. Pp. 184-85. "Gennan Literature in England," The New Republlc, LXXXXVII (Apnl 5, 1939), 254-55. -- , Great English Short Staries. Christopher Is~en~ood (ed.). New York: - UellPu1J1 i shi n9 Co. {Laurel Editton}~,~1-Y9~57f-:.=------ • vi .' <. , • "High Valley Theatre," Theatre Arts, XXXI (June, 1947),64-66. The Intimate Journals of Gharles 8aude~aire. Translated by Christopher - Isherwood. Hol1y\oJoOd, Narcel Rodd-, 1947. "Just a Gigolo," The Saturday Review, XXXV (April 12,1952),38.) "'\ l "Notes On a Trip to Mexico," Harper's Bazaar, LXXXI (June, 1947), 80-81 t 134-36. "Souvenir de~Vacances," Oxford Poetry. W.H. Auden, C. Day Lewis (eds.). Oxford, lfasil Black\o/ell, 1927. P. 48. Threepenny Nov.el by Bertolt B"recht. Verses translat~ by Christopher Isherwood. rle\oJ York, Grave Press, 1956. "The Youth ~'ovement in the New Germany,1t Action, l (December 10, 1931), 18. v.; i • CHRONOLOGY 1904 Born 26 August. 1914-18 Attends St. Edmund's School, meets Auden. Father ki11ed in action, 1915. 1919-22 Attends Repton School, meets Edward Upward (Allen Chalmers). 1923-25, Corpus Christi Col1ege, Cambridge on scholarship. Bégins Lions and ShadO\'Js, 1923. 1925 Seçretary ta Mangeot family. 1926-27 Private tutor, London. Poem IISouvenir des Vacances" published (ano~ymous1y) in Oxford Poetry, edited by Auden and C. Day Lewis. 1928-29 ~ledical student at King's College. Al1 the Conspirators published, 19Z8. Leaves for ner1in,~29. 1930 Translation of Baudelaire's Journaux Intlmes published. 1930-33 Tea'ches 'Engllsh in Berlin. The Memorial publlshed, 1932. Lea.ves Berlin, 1933. ,.-- 1933-34 Works on screenp1ay Little Friend for Berthold V;erte~ T934-36 Travels, reviews for The Listener. Mr Morris Changes Trains and The Ascent of [6 published, 1935. , 1938 Lions and Shadows published. 1939 Ll:aves \'nth I\uden for America. ~Ieets Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley; they introduce him to Swami Prabhavananda. He becomes a pacifist. Journey to !Har and Goodby~ ta Berlin published. 1940 Works ln HOllywood\for MGM. 1941-42 ' Serves as conscientious objector at American Friends Service Commi ttee in Pennsylvania. Returns to Holly\vôod, translates Bhagavld-Gita with Prabhavananda. 1943-45 Edlts Vedantist magazine, Vedanta and the l,lest. 1945 Prater Violet published . '*. • Vll1 / • '.Y INTRODUCTION When the meal was over, we left. As my two friends were wa l king togetner, Wil de took me as ide. b "You liste,n with your eyes," he said ta me rather abruptly. "That's why l'm going to tell you this story: When Narc;ssus died, the flowers of the field asked the river for sorne drops of vlater to--we-ep--for hirn. 'Oh!' answered the river, 'If a11 my drops of water were tears, 1 should not have enough to weep for Narcissus myself. 1 loved him!' 'Oh!' replied the flowers of the field, 'How eould you not have loved Narcissus? Hc was beautiful.', 'Was he beautiful?' said the river. 'And who could know better than you? Eaeh day, leaning over your bank, he beheld his beauty in your water ... '" Wi lde paused for a moment ... "'If l loved him,' replied the river, 'It was because, when '<l. he leaned over rny water, 1 saw the reflection of my waters in hi s eyes. "' Then Wilde, swelling up with a strange burst of laughter, added, "That's called The Disciple." --Andre Gide 1 -- \ Çhristopher Isherwood, in 1974, does not eut an overly 1 impressive f.igure in the 1 Herary world" A g09d number of his books are out of prlnt in North America, and those that are ln print are not in great demand. To the general reading public he is a minor British Cor is olt American?) novelist who wrote tne book (books?) on which the film Cabaret was based. In acadernic circles he is men- tioned, usually in passing, as Auden's "friend." Even considered on his own merits, that is on his eleven novels, assorted plays, poems and travel literature, Isherwood, one feels almost automatically, ;s a wr;ter 1. ( , 1 1 1 1 '., , ': " 1 .. • / who is tao easy, too"aceessible ta actually Aecessitate any thorough- ,90in9 study--he suffers from the IIfatàl readabi1ity ll Cyril Connol1y on ce rema rked upon. 2 ... In attempting ta deal with this par'adoxical flaw of fI'. accessib.jlity, one vèrges on wanting ta argue the opposite, ta .' prove that Isherwood's writings are filled with inobvious rreanings and arIDiguous intent: below this writer of surfaces lies a sensibility intriguingly comp1ex and difficult. And, a1though this last is sorœtimes true--certainly Isherwood has been t~ken at face value too often {the famous "I am a camera" tagline is still sometimes ,'... -..1 treated as a bald statement of fact rat~er than as an at least partially ironie pose)--it would be a disservice to him and to~is craft to cloud up his remarkable surfaces while trying ta 'plumb murky depths that are not there.
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