Mr Norris Changes Trains: Christopher Isherwood (Vintage classics)

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The name of the narrator, William Bradshaw, is drawn from Isherwood's full name, Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood. In subsequent novels Isherwood changed the narrator's name to "Christopher Isherwood", having come to regard "William Bradshaw" as a "foolish evasion". Isherwood did not explicitly claim that he was William Bradshaw although the novel describes Isherwood's own experiences. He sought to make the narrator as unobtrusive as possible so as to keep readers focused on Norris. Although Isherwood was living more or less openly as a homosexual, he balked at making Bradshaw homosexual as well. In part this was to help the average reader identify with the narrator by minimising the differences between the narrator and the reader. Not to do so meant that "The Narrator would have become so odd, so interesting, that his presence would have thrown the novel out of perspective. ... The Narrator would have kept upstaging Norris's performance as the star." Isherwood's decision had a more pragmatic reason as well; he had no desire to cause a scandal and feared that should he cause one his uncle, who was financially supporting him, would cut him off. Yet Isherwood had no interest in making Bradshaw heterosexual either, so the Narrator has no scenes of a sexual nature. [9] There is so much subtext behind the extremely polite veneer put forth by the anti-hero Mr. Norris. While the actual plot line was quite thin, I found myself wanting to start the next chapter. This was not the moving experience I had reading A Single Man. I honestly don't know what to make of the fact that the story was farcical yet the historical setting and circumstances were rather grave. Yes, Bayer and the communists are painted in favorable hues, but to insist, no work is perfect and therefore this is something to limit the ecstatic pleasure of reading about Norris and the rest, and deny that their profiles could be so damn [positive in reality…come to think of it, Christopher Isherwood himself does not embrace the red propaganda, after all, he would choose to live in…California, and not somewhere in the glorious tundra of the Siberian paradise – by the way, they have recorded a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius last year, the highest ever within the Arctic circle for those Trump deplorables that believe this is a hoax and their Chosen one will have solutions for this and any other ailment, such as the already proven cure for the Covid virus, drinking disinfectant and/or taking medicine for…horses When Christopher Isherwood left London for Germany in 1929, he was leaving the stifling moral environment of England for the freewheeling, decadent streets of Berlin where he could live more freely as not only a gay man but a young writer. Over the next several years he lived and wrote in Berlin, exploring the city's underground culture and keeping notes on the interactions he had with the city and its inhabitants; these notes he planned to transform into a massive, sprawling novel that would be called THE LOST. He was unable to do it. Instead, he carved those diaries into two separate short novels, THE LAST OF MR. NORRIS (originally titled MR. NORRIS CHANGES TRAINS) and GOODBYE TO BERLIN. These two books are often bundled together as one under the title of THE BERLIN STORIES.

Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood

When I read Goodbye to Berlin, I innocently thought that the anti-semitism in it belonged to the characters. Now, reading Mr Norris Changes Trains, I see that isn’t so. The anti-semitic comments are gratuitously those of the author. Still, I wondered. If he were living in Germany, was it that he felt it made him safe throwing in just a few words in a few places to prove his credentials? Further amusement came in the form of Bradshaw’s bitchy description of a writer he encounters while attempting to assist Norris in one of his secret plots. M. Janin is the celebrated author of sensational erotic fiction. In 1938, Isherwood sailed with Auden to China to write Journey to a War (1939), about the Sino-Japanese conflict. They returned to England and Isherwood went on to Hollywood to look for movie-writing work. He also became a disciple of the Ramakrishna monk, Swami Prabhavananda, head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California. He decided not to take monastic vows, but he remained a Hindu for the rest of his life, serving, praying, and lecturing in the temple every week and writing a biography, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (1965).Fryer, Jonathan (1977). Isherwood: A Biography. Garden City, NY, Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-12608-5. Recently, I have had some interesting reading experiences with book choices for one of my Goodreads groups, Reading the 20th Century. A recent read was Dorothy Whipple’s, “Someone at a Distance,” which I initially thought would be boring, but found that I loved. Meanwhile, on paper, “The Berlin Novels,” looked like the type of book which would appeal to me. After all, despite the fact that I have watched virtually no films all the way through, I have seen, and enjoyed, “Cabaret,” which was taken from Isherwood’s novellas. Indeed, pre-war Berlin is a delightful, literary place to spend time. The sort of place where you can imagine Bernie Gunther propping up the bar at the Adlon, his eye on a pretty blonde and a nice, cool drink in his hand. Therefore, it is doubly disappointing that I really didn’t warm to this at all. So pleased to see your project is still underway. I no longer the collections of hers that I once had,… William meets Mr Norris on the train to Berlin, and they become good friends. Mr Norris introduces William to a group of people who engage in drunken, sexual partying. He also involves William with the Communist party leaders in Berlin. This was a difficult economic time in Germany. The Nazis were gaining power with their efficient brutal organization. The political scene is viewed through the eyes of the young, politically naive William.

MR NORRIS CHANGES TRAINS MR NORRIS CHANGES TRAINS

William and Mr Norris succeed in crossing the frontier. Afterward, Mr Norris invites William to dinner and the two become friends. In Berlin they see each other frequently (including eating ham and eggs at the first class restaurant of Berlin Friedrichstraße railway station). Several oddities of Mr Norris's personal life are revealed, one of which is that he is a masochist. Another is that he is a communist, which is dangerous in Hitler-era Germany. Other aspects of Mr Norris's personal life remain mysterious. He seems to run a business with an assistant Schmidt, who tyrannises him. Norris gets into more and more straitened circumstances and has to leave Berlin. The closeness to the communist party is probably the only shortcoming of a novel that is otherwise Perfect, for the under signed has lived for twenty five years under the Ceausescu regime (no less, though he is more than proud to say that he took part in the 1989 revolution and he is mentioned in Newsweek for the bravado…this and the fact that I have invented the lotus on the head position while doing abdomens might be my greatest, and sadly only, achievements and if you know how to monetize this, we could partner on it) and there is ‘no love lost there’ and when a personage shows this kind of affinity, well…he, she, they (we have to use they now, for the transgender, nongender and others I hear) lose my sympathy…I think,’ he continued at length, ‘I may safely claim that in the course of my whole career I have very seldom, if ever, done anything which I knew to be contrary to the law….On the other hand, I do and always shall maintain that it is the privilege of the richer but less mentally endowed members of the community to contribute to the upkeep of people like myself. I hope you’re with me there?’ (pg. 48) Coincidentally Gerald Hamilton also appeared in another book I recently enjoyed, the stunning Rendezvous at the Russian Tea Rooms: The Spyhunter, the Fashion Designer & the Man From Moscow by Paul Willetts which is also well worth reading. Glad you enjoyed this too, Grant. I have a copy of The Inseparables on my kindle (courtesy of one of… Secondo me Mr Norris Changes Train, come recita il titolo originale, potrebbe essere considerato uno dei primi casi di “instant book”: racconta una storia ambientata a Berlino all’inizio degli anni Trenta - i protagonisti, il Mr Norris del titolo e l’io narrante William Bradshaw (nel quale qualcuno vuole vedere lo stesso Isherwood che ha vissuto a Berlino proprio in quegli anni mantenendosi con lezioni d’inglese proprio come il suo protagonista) lasciano la capitale tedesca quando capiscono che i nazisti non sono più contenibili (nel 1933 dopo aver vinto le elezioni Hitler diventa cancelliere del Reich) – il romanzo è pubblicato nel 1935 (sia in UK che in US). Cotto e mangiato, per così dire. William ha lasciato l’Inghilterra per allontanarsi dalla famiglia e vivere l’avventura. Si può dire che la trova: locali notturni, teatro e cabaret, il nazismo che dilaga inquietante, cene al ristorante bevendo champagne, ma anche birrerie, una misteriosa dame francese (Margot), complotti e ricatti, aristocratici omosessuali, pedinamenti, retate, omicidi, e dopo l’incendio del Reichstag, meglio tornare a casa.