Isherwood, Christopher ___ 1904-1986 ___ British ___ writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Christopher Isherwood was born in Disley, Cheshire, the son of an army officer, who was was killed in the First World War. Isherwood studied at St. Edmund's preparatory school (where he met W H Auden), Repton School and Corpus Christi Cambridge. However, he did not take his degree. Thereafter, he earned a living as a private tutor. His first novel, 'All the Conspirators', was published in 1928. He spent several years teaching in Germany (1930-1933), a period which provided the material for his best known novels, such as 'Mr Norris Changes Trains' and 'Goodbye to Berlin'. Later these stories inspired the famous film 'Cabaret'. During the 1930s, Isherwood collaborated with Auden in three verse dramas. In 1938, the two of them went to China and jointly published 'Journey to a War'. From 1939, Isherwood settled in California, still working as a teacher but also as a script writer for Hollywood films. The Second World War inspired him to become a pacifist, and during the conflict, he worked at a Quaker hostel with refugees from Europe. He also began to follow the religious philosophy of Vedãnta, and write tracts. Several other novels followed, although Isherwood was never prolific. From 1959 to 1966 he taught at various US universities. By the 1970s, partly because of his autobiographical novels, he had become a leading spokesman for gay rights.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1939-1960 ___ literary political religious self love/sex film people US

WEB TEXT LINKS
about
some quotes
some quotes

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
The Huntington Library

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Diaries: Volume One 1939-1960
 

October 2005, July 2008
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.