CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD AND HIS KINDChristopher, William, Bradshaw, Isherwood was born 26th of August 1904 at Wybersleigh Hall in England.
His father had been a professional soldier who had a seat in Cheshire, they could trace their family origins way back into the sixteenth century. Christopher was the heir to a substantial estate as his family were from the landowning classes and resided in Marple Hall in Cheshire. Born into the landed gentry Christopher was to become a leading writer of the 1930s generation, a war reporter, a travel writer as well as a monk and part of the gay liberation movement. Isherwood attended Cambridge university in the early 1920s after leaving he published his first book in 1928 known as “All the conspirators”.In 1929 he moved over to Berlin, a homosexual Christopher had many lovers in Germany one lover Walter Wolff a heterosexual yet was aroused by Christopher’s attraction to him, he portrayed Walter in his film “Goodbye Berlin” as the character Otto Novak. Christopher became really good friends with Magnus Hirschfeld and his lover Karl Giese who was the institute of sexual wissentscahfts secretary, who lived with Magnus. Christopher practically lived in the institute having his own rooms then in 1933 Christopher left Berlin and returned to England with his friend Auden as hitler had came to power. Christopher wandered through Europe in places such as Greece and france always remaining one step ahead of the Nazi authorities, he later emigrated to America in 1939 working in the film industry with Hollywood and London, some of his works from the 1930s are listed below: All the conspirators Christopher and his kind 1929 to 1939 Diaries from 1939 to 1960 Down There On a Visit Exhumations Frankenstein The True Story Goodbye to Berlin Jacobs hands Journey to war There are many more works by Christopher Isherwood and a film about his life is being made as we speak, sadly he died in 1986 at his home in Southern California at the age of 84. He remains one of the first writers to openly write about homosexuality in his works and was a pioneer writer of the 1930s. |