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All the Conspirators, Christopher Isherwood's debut novel, is a compelling exploration of rebellion, identity, and societal expectations in 1920s England. The story centers on Philip Lindsay, a young man caught between his desires for independence and his oppressive family, especially his overbearing mother, who insists on molding him into a conventional, respectable life he does not want. Philip dreams of escaping the stifling expectations placed upon him and longs to pursue an artistic path, but his inner struggle and lack of support drive him into isolation and despair. His sister, Joan, also grapples with the social constraints on women, further highlighting the pressures of tradition and conformity. Together, they represent the disillusionment of a younger generation questioning the values of a rigid society that stifles self-expression and authenticity. Isherwood's writing reveals the frustrations, anxieties, and subtle rebellions of individuals seeking meaning within a repressive social order. Through vivid prose and insightful character studies, All the Conspirators offers a portrait of a generation confronting modernity and the desire for personal freedom amidst rigid societal structures. This novel is a testament to Isherwood's keen psychological insight and skill in examining themes that would become central to his later works. A classic of early 20th-century literature, All the Conspirators provides an incisive view into the lives of those striving to find their place in a rapidly changing world, making it a timeless reflection on the human quest for individuality.

All the Conspirators by Christopher Isherwood is a compelling exploration of youth, rebellion, and the struggle for personal freedom set against the backdrop of post-World War I England. Published in 1928, this debut novel introduces readers to the unconventional Prentice family, whose members are caught in a web of conflicting desires and societal expectations. The story primarily revolves around Philip Prentice, a young man who grapples with the oppressive influence of his domineering mother and his longing for independence. As Philip navigates his ambitions and the stifling constraints of his family, Isherwood poignantly captures the psychological and emotional turmoil that accompanies the quest for self-identity. Isherwood's narrative is marked by its introspective depth and rich character development, offering a nuanced portrayal of the complexities of familial relationships and the generational divide. The novel's modernist style, characterized by its fragmented structure and stream-of-consciousness technique, reflects the inner conflicts of its characters and the broader existential uncertainties of the time.

Nel marzo del 1929 il ventiquattrenne Christopher Isherwood lascia l'Inghilterra per Berlino, dove intende raggiungere l'amico W.H. Auden ma soprattutto «scatenare i suoi desideri e sbattere ragione e buonsenso in prigione». Nonostante l'ascesa del partito nazista, che finirà per toccarlo anche negli affetti più cari, la città gli appare un «misterioso tempio dell'iniziazione», e l'atmosfera libertina che vi regna lo risarcisce della plumbea ipocrisia sofferta in patria. Per Isherwood è insomma un colpo di fulmine. Torna a Berlino durante l'estate, poi di nuovo in novembre, e stavolta senza un biglietto di ritorno, convinto com'è di aver trovato «il crogiolo ribollente della storia nel suo divenire». Ci rimarrà dieci anni, che si riveleranno fondamentali per la sua formazione e forniranno spunti, personaggi e ambientazioni ai suoi romanzi più famosi. «Io sono una macchina fotografica con l'obiettivo aperto, completamente passiva, che registra e non pensa... Un giorno tutto questo andrà sviluppato, stampato con cura, fissato» si legge nell'incipit di «Addio a Berlino». Solo nel 1976, tuttavia, l'impegno verrà onorato: grazie a questo libro, dove, dismessa la prudente maschera della fiction, Isherwood punta finalmente la macchina fotografica su di sé, senza alcun filtro, regalandoci un toccante autoritratto.

In this novel by the author of The Berlin Stories, a listless pair of siblings in post-WWI London battle the constraints of society and their mother. It's the 1920s—the wake of the Great War—and Britain is undergoing a transformation. The middle class is struggling, and the younger generation, feeling constrained by the values that once fueled the empire, is yearning to break free... A new war is brewing in the slums of Kensington, London. The members of one family are plotting daily against each other and themselves. Philip Lindsay has quit his office job and dreams of becoming an artist. His sister,Joan, is in love. To get what they want, they must first get away from their overbearing mother... Originally published in 1928, All the Conspirators was Christopher Isherwood's first novel. He later went on to write such works as The Berlin Stories, A Single Man, and Goodbye to Berlin.

«Io sono una macchina fotografica con l'obiettivo aperto» dichiara l'alter ego di Christopher Isherwood arrivando nell'autunno del 1930 a Berlino. Un obiettivo – si può aggiungere – inesorabile, attraverso il quale partecipiamo come dal vivo ai suoi incontri nel cuore pulsante di una Repubblica di Weimar che si avvia al suo fosco tramonto: da un'eccentrica, anziana affittacamere alla sensuale Sally Bowles, aspirante attrice un po'svampita, a Otto, ombroso proletario diciassettenne, a Natalia Landauer, rampolla di una colta famiglia ebrea dell'alta società. Tra cabaret e caffè, tra case signorili e squallide pensioni, tra il puzzo delle cucine e quello delle latrine, tra file per il pane e le manifestazioni di piazza, tra crisi economica e cupa euforia, Isherwood mette in scena «la prova generale di una catastrofe» e ci fa assistere alla resistibile ascesa del nazismo.

Affascinante, straricco, amato senza remo­re dalle donne – e dagli uomini – della sua vita, eppure ignaro dell'effetto che provo­ca sugli altri, Stephen Monk si trova a riavvolgere il nastro della propria esistenza, de­vastata dalla crisi del suo ultimo matrimonio. Mentre il mondo precipita a velocità ver­tiginosa verso il baratro della seconda guer­ra mondiale, Monk torna dopo oltre tren­t'anni alla casa della sua infanzia, in una piccola comunità quacchera della Pennsyl­vania, nuovamente circondato dalle cure della «zia» che l'ha cresciuto con indefetti­bile abnegazione. E, costretto all'immobilità da un incidente forse non del tutto ca­suale, decide di mettere ordine fra le lette­re della prima moglie, Elizabeth, una scrit­trice di successo scomparsa da pochi anni. Sarà lei, indirettamente, a gettare una luce nella sua confusione, aiutandolo a disfarsi del passato – «Mettilo in una teca di vetro e ammiralo come fosse un tesoro, se vuoi» –, a riflettere sulle leggi imperscrutabili che governano l'attrazione, ad accettare la stra­nezza del matrimonio, di tutti i matrimo­ni, almeno quelli che durano. E sarà sem­pre lei, che in un certo senso ha «inventa­to» Monk e ne ha fatto «il più realistico» dei suoi personaggi, a fornirgli la chiave per comprendere e «perdonare» se stesso. Co­sì, nel desiderio espresso da Elizabeth: «Ah, come mi piacerebbe, come mi piacerebbe saper buttare giù a decine di quei vasti, infor­mi romanzi impulsivi, pieni di opinioni contraddittorie e di calore, di energia, di stupidità e di “vita”», si può leggere in filigrana quello che è mirabilmente riuscito a Isherwood in queste pagine.

Isherwoods letztes und persönlichstes Buch: Am Vorabend des Zweiten Weltkriegs reist der überzeugte Pazifist Isherwood nach Kalifornien, um die überkommenen linksintellektuellen Überzeugungen, die die Welt an den Rand des Abgrunds geführt haben, hinter sich zu lassen und ein neues Mindset zu finden. Er trifft auf Swami Prabhavananda, einen hinduistischen Mönch, der von nun an sein spiritueller Begleiter sein wird. Es folgt ein Leben zwischen den Extremen: Nächtliche Trinkgelage, freie Liebe und Hollywoods Glamour-Welt wechseln sich ab mit Meditation und Abstinenz – ein beständiges Ringen von Weltlichkeit und Religiosität, von dem Mein Guru und sein Schüler virtuos erzählt.

Isherwood's lectures on writing and writers, now all available for the first time In the 1960s, Christopher Isherwood gave an unprecedented series of lectures at California universities about his life and work. During this time Isherwood, who would liberate the memoir and become the founding father of modern gay writing, spoke openly for the first time about his craft—on writing for film, theater, and novels—and spirituality. Isherwood on Writing brings these free-flowing, wide-ranging public addresses together to reveal a distinctly American Isherwood at the top of his form.This updated edition contains the long-lost conclusion to the second lecture, published here for the first time, including its discussion of A Single Man, his greatest novel, and A Meeting by the River, his final novel.

Ein großer Roman darüber, was es bedeutet, jemandem ein Bruder zu sein Nach langem Schweigen treffen zwei Londoner Brüder in einem hinduistischen Kloster am Ufer des Ganges wieder aufeinander – und mit ihnen zwei Welten, die nicht vereinbar scheinen. Zwischen den beiden entspinnt sich ein Zwiegespräch, das alte Wunden aufbricht und zu großen Fragen führt. Isherwoods letzter Roman ist eine fein gestrickte Auseinandersetzung mit östlicher Mystik und darüber, was es bedeutet, jemandem Bruder zu sein.

Il cinema ha un suo modo di affrontare i tempi più difficili, che da sempre consiste nel proporre agli spettatori i più facili fra i soggetti possibili. Così nella Londra degli anni dell'ascesa di Hitler, mentre tutti si preparano all'inevitabile, un volitivo produttore, Chatsworth, ritiene sia il momento giusto per mettere in cantiere un'operetta vagamente mitteleuropea, di quelle che vanno parecchio anche a Hollywood nello stesso periodo. Chatsworth è altresì sicuro che «La violetta del Prater» sbancherà il botteghino, ma a due condizioni: che a dirigerlo sia il più talentuoso e paranoide fra i registi di lingua tedesca, Friedrich Bergmann, e che a occuparsi della sceneggiatura sia un giovane, promettente scrittore – Christopher Isherwood. Quanto segue è semplicemente la storia veridica (come il suo doppio narrativo, Isherwood prima della guerra aveva effettivamente lavorato alla Gaumont) e non resistibile (a volte, si sa, i «making of» sono cinema allo stato puro) di come un film nasce e si trasforma, e soprattutto di come giorno per giorno rischia, nei modi spesso più folli e sgangherati, la catastrofe. Per John Boorman, questo piccolo gioiello semidocumentario era il più bel libro in circolazione sul rapporto fra il cinema immaginario e quello reale; per qualsiasi lettore, sarà quantomeno una necessaria e appassionante parafrasi della lapidaria definizione che Bergmann, in un momento di franchezza, largisce a Christopher: «Sa che cos'è un film?... Un film è una macchina infernale».

Il contratto preparato nell'estate del 1937 da Faber and Faber e da Random House riguardava un generico «libro di viaggio sull'Estremo Oriente» e lasciava alla discrezione di Auden e Isherwood la scelta dell'itinerario e il taglio del resoconto. Ma è certo che la decisione, da parte della strana coppia di reporter, di partire per la Cina – allora in guerra col Giappone – non fu delle più ovvie. Di fatto, per quanto in quegli anni l'intelligencija europea frequentasse con una certa assiduità trincee e teatri d'operazioni, nessuno aveva rivolto lo sguardo a quello che – nonostante le dimensioni, la ferocia e le implicazioni che avrebbe avuto per la storia non solo regionale – era un conflitto quasi dimenticato. Che Auden e Isherwood ci fanno invece rivivere nel momento stesso in cui accade, con un'immediatezza, una precisione e un'efficacia tanto più sbalorditive se si considera che del Paese in cui soggiornarono dal gennaio al luglio del 1938 i due, per loro stessa ammissione, sapevano molto poco, e soprattutto che la forma da loro adottata – un ibrido di prosa, versi e fotografie – era, ed è rimasta, un unicum.

«Uno dei romanzi che più ho amato in vita mia... Pubblicandolo nel 1964, anche l'autore avvertì di avere scritto il proprio capolavoro – e aveva alle spalle una meraviglia come “Addio a Berlino” (da cui “Cabaret”). In effetti, si tratta di un testo il cui equilibrio narrativo è praticamente perfetto: perfettamente in bilico tra commozione e distacco – un racconto dove non c'è una virgola di troppo, non una di meno». Mario Fortunato

Corre el año 1933, Hitler ha sido nombrado canciller de Alemania y la situación en Austria es cada vez más inestable. Sin embargo, Chatsworth, productor de cine británico, se dispone a realizar un drama romántico basado en una obra musical vienesa. Está convencido de que la película, titulada'La violeta del Prater', será un éxito comercial si la dirige Friedrich Bergmann—un judío austríaco tan genial como impredecible que ha dejado a su familia en Viena—y escribe el guión Isherwood—una promesa de la literatura inglesa que acaba de regresar a Londres tras vivir en Berlín—. El resultado de este encuentro no es sólo un certero retrato de Londres y Viena en los críticos momentos que precedieron el estallido de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, sino también la apasionante historia, basada en las experiencias del propio Isherwood, de cómo nace y toma forma una película, superando las tensiones, las intrigas y la pugna de egos que a menudo amenazan el proyecto. El mejor prosista en lengua inglesa Gore Vidal

'Isherwoods bester Roman. Ein unwiderstehliches Buch.'New York Times -- Im Hintergrund war immer Berlin. Es rief mich jede Nacht, mit der rauen, verführerischen Stimme einer Grammophonplatte. Berlin hatte mich gepackt wie eine Party, nach deren Ende ich nicht nach Hause wollte. Berlin 1928. Ein junger Engländer namens Christopher Isherwood lässt sich durch das wilde Nachtleben treiben. Eine griechische Insel 1932. Hier lässt sich Christopher mit seinem Berliner Freund Waldemar in einer Kolonie von Freigeistern nieder. Von London aus blicken Waldemar und Christopher 1938 mit großer Sorge auf ihre alte Berliner Heimat. 1940 lebt Christopher in Kalifornien und begibt sich mithilfe eines Gurus auf die Suche nach dem tieferen Sinn. In Isherwoods autobiographischem Roman sind es vor allem die Freunde, die seinem Erzähler Halt und Orientierung geben in einer Welt am Abgrund und einem Leben voller Sehnsucht, Exzess und Rastlosigkeit.

En 1931, a bordo de un tren con destino a Berlín, William Bradshaw conoce a Arthur Norris, un británico de aspecto cómico e intrigante con el cual entabla una amistad que le llevará a descubrir su ambigua personalidad. El señor Norris dirige un turbio negocio de importación y exportación en Berlín; vive atemorizado por sus acreedores y su secretario Schmidt y sometido a su amante, la prostituta Anni; y se define, según la ocasión, como militante comunista, orador político, espía o agente doble. Como'Adiós a Berlín','El señor Norris cambia de tren'está inspirada en las experiencias del propio Isherwood en el Berlín de la República de Weimar, y evoca con incomparable agudeza las luces y las sombras de la ciudad durante el auge del nazismo. Ambas constituyen las'Historias de Berlín', considerado uno de los cien mejores libros en lengua inglesa del siglo XX según la revista'Times'.'Más de ochenta años después las dos obras siguen estando entre las más afinadas crónicas sobre ese mosaico social en descomposición que constituye la República de Weimar'. Carles Gámez, La Vanguardia'Una novela insólita; un personaje fascinante. Genial Isherwood'. Fernando R. Lafuente, ABC'Una novela espléndida, escrita con la fineza con la que Christopher Isherwood hizo todos sus libros. Un escritor maravilloso, para mí imprescindible'. Benjamín Prado, Atención Obras TVE'El músculo vibrante de su prosa—y el hallazgo del personaje de Arthur Norris, mitad caballero, mitad estafador—guiará al lector divertido por esta crónica, aunque el horror latente hiele a menudo la sonrisa'. Héctor J. Porto, La Voz de Galicia'La perspectiva distanciada de Isherwood, que no juzga ni especula ni aclara del todo las dobleces, sugiere el clima moral de una sociedad que en poco tiempo pasaría de la tolerancia a la barbarie unificadora'. Ignacio F. Garmendia, Diario de Sevilla'Las historias Berlín de Isherwood tienen la habilidad excepcional de decirnos cómo eran realmente los alemanes sin que estos perdiesen su misterio; es como experimentar algo desde el otro lado de un cristal pero sentir que estás furiosa e irremediablemente involucrado'. James Fenton'La primera novela literaria que realmente me fascinó'. Chris Pattern, Daily Mail'Inmortalizó Berlín en dos novelas cortas y brillantes publicadas en los años treinta, inventando un nuevo modelo para las futuras generaciones – un reportaje íntimo y estilizado en episodios vagamente conectados'. Daily Express'Uno de los escritores jóvenes más prometedores de su generación'. The Times'Isherwood esboza con delicadeza el último suspiro de la descomposición de aquella sociedad, de los comunistas y los nazis, lidiando con ellos en el borde del abismo'. Sunday Telegraph

Christopher, un joven británico, alquila una habitación en la capital alemana e imparte clases de inglés para ganarse la vida. Este trabajo y su curiosidad de escritor en ciernes le llevarán a conocer a personajes de todo tipo y condición, como la rica heredera judía Natalia Landauer, la familia obrera de los Nowak, Otto y Peter, dos jóvenes homosexuales, o Sally Bowles, una jovencita inglesa de clase alta, seductora y extraviada—que inspiró el personaje de Liza Minelli en la célebre película'Cabaret'—.'Adiós a Berlín'es una crónica reveladora y emotiva del Berlín de la República de Weimar, decadente y atractivo, sobre el que se cierne la creciente brutalidad del nazismo.'Brillantes bocetos de una sociedad en decadencia'. George Orwell'El mejor prosista en lengua inglesa'. Gore Vidal'Deslumbrante. No se me ocurre mejor palabra'. Dorothy Parker'La memoria alegre': artículo de Manuel Hidalgo en El Mundo sobre Adiós a Berlín'Adiós a Berlín conserva intactas la frescura, el entusiasmo y, sobre todo, la intensidad que tantos elogios le valieron tras su aparición en 1939'. Javier Fernández de Castro, El Boomeran(g)'Isherwood describe magistralmente el trágico sonido que emite el animal humano al mudar de pelaje. Toda la narración parece un largo, sentido y hermoso adiós pronunciado con descarnada sinceridad y aflicción desesperada. Un libro de siempre jamás, ciertamente deslumbrante'. Fulgencio Argüelles, El Comercio'Una novela osada y valiente que destrozó etiquetas con su perspicaz reflexión sobre la génesis de un nuevo orden social que asomaba sus orejas de lobo en el horizonte'. Antonio Bordón, La Provincia'La crónica (sobre el joven Christopher) retrata con gran acierto esa mezcla de decadencia, euforia, violencia, cinismo, temor, juerga, frivolidad y desencanto con que los personajes con que se topa siguen tratando de mantenerse a flote, relacionarse -el amor, la amistad, el sexo- y, de alguna manera, quieren fingir que no pasa nada pese a las señales alarmantes que afloraban por doquier'. Héctor J. Porto, La Voz de Galicia'Una de las obras maestras de la literatura inglesa del pasado siglo. Novela de imprescindible lectura. No dejen de leer todo lo que de Isherwood esté a su alcance'. Cayetano Sánchez, Canarias 7'Seis polaroids sutiles sobre el fin de un Berlín fascinante, efímero y trágico'. Abel Grau, Time Out'Una de las mejores evocaciones del Berlín del siglo XX (el prenazi, concretamente). Hay unas cuantas razones para leer hoy a Isherwood, y quizá la más palmaria se funde en que es un neto precursor de la actual boga de la autoficción'. Carles Barba, Qué Leer'No es descabellado afirmar que Adiós a Berlín es un clásico por su prosa limpia y su equilibrio interno, dos virtudes que le permiten urdir personajes humanísimos y reproducir la atmósfera de una ciudad que sirvió de taller y de referencia a las vanguardias históricas'. Rafael Narbona, Revista de Libros

Ein rauschendes Fest im Hollywood der vierziger Jahre: Inmitten von Glanz und Glamour bestätigt sich Stephen Monks Verdacht, dass seine Frau Jane ihn betrügt – er erwischt sie in flagranti. Kurzerhand verlässt er Jane und sein altes Leben und zieht zu seiner Tante nach Pennsylvania. Hier auf dem Land kommt er zur Ruhe und kann seinen Gedanken nachhängen, vor allem an seine Ehe mit Elizabeth, seiner großen Liebe. Zusammen reisten sie quer durch die Welt, bis Elizabeth unerwartet starb. Stephen fasst den Plan, ihre Briefe als ihr Vermächtnis herauszugeben. Doch die Briefe enthüllen unliebsame Wahrheiten über ihre Beziehung und über ihn selbst, den Getriebenen. Erstmals liegt Christopher Isherwoods Werk von 1954, das auch heute noch durch sein offenes Bekenntnis zur Homo- und Bisexualität viel Beachtung findet, in deutscher Übersetzung vor: ein eleganter, schillernder Roman über den Einzelnen in einer Welt mit sich wandelndem Wertekompass, über Schein und Sein, Rausch und Lust, Liebe und Freiheit und nebenbei ein atmosphärisches Panorama Europas und der USA von den Wilden Zwanzigern bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg.

The aphorisms collected in this book, first published in 1953, were composed by Patanjali, a great Indian sage, over 1,500 years ago, and here translated into clear English prose. The accompanying commentary interprets the sayings for the modern world, and in doing so gives a full picture of what yoga is, what its aims are, and how it can be practised.

George —Falconer en la versión cinematográfica de Tom Ford—, un profesor inglés de mediana edad, lucha por sobreponerse a la repentina muerte de su pareja, Jim, en un accidente de coche. Corre el año 1962, y pese a la vida privilegiada que lleva en Los Ángeles, su rutina se ha convertido en un doloroso recordatorio de lo único que le permitía soportar el opresivo'sueño americano': la intimidad amorosa en la que podía comportarse espontáneamente y liberarse de los disfraces que le impone la sociedad. Pero además, la pérdida confronta abruptamente a George con su edad, con el paso del tiempo, con su pasado y, en última instancia, con el horizonte de su propia muerte. Un hombre soltero es una de las novelas más aclamadas de Isherwood, que la consideraba su obra maestra, una elaboración original y extraordinaria del drama de la existencia en el mundo contemporáneo.'Isherwood fue un precursor de la ficción gay en Estados Unidos, un maestro de la observación social que plasmaba con gran acierto, elegancia y una prosa brillante y nada autocomplaciente. Su carrera literaria fue prolífica'. Luis M. Alonso, La Nueva España'Un libro maravilloso y una divina edición'. Inés Martín Rodrigo, ABC-Cultural'Es un hito tenerlo de nuevo entre nosotros'. Jordi Corominas, 24 horas (Radio Nacional Española)'Un hombre soltero despierta una sensación de tristeza, de pérdida, de falta de amor, de abismo bajo los pies de uno, y nos recuerda que en esta vida no hay diferencia entre las personas y que los sentimientos son para todas ellas'. Benjamin Prado, Cadena SER -La Ventana'En pocas oportunidades tiene el lector entre sus manos una novela tan breve pero tan intensa. La acerada crítica social que encierra, siempre en un tono de suave e inteligente ironía, oculta asimismo un tesoro en sus páginas: una realista, sincera, descarnada y desolada, pero a la par, tierna visión de la existencia. Su lectura es apasionante y turbadora'. Luis Agius, Parnaso de las artes'Un testimonio del indudable genio de Isherwood como novelista'. Anthony Burgess'La representación de una vida homosexual cotidiana que inspiró a una generación de escritores homosexuales en Gran Bretaña y Estados Unidos'. Independent'La creación literaria de Christopher Isherwood fue preeminente por su ingenio, humor, estilo y habilidad narrativa… Un hombre soltero podría considerarse como su obra maestra'. John Lehmann, Guardian'Un libro muy triste y, a veces, tremendamente divertido'. The Daily Telegraph'Brillantes bosquejos de una sociedad en decadencia'. George Orwell

England in den 1920er Jahren: Der Erste Weltkrieg ist vorbei, Eric Vernon ist kein Junge mehr, aber auch noch kein Mann. Die Welt um ihn herum verwirrt ihn zutiefst, klare Vorbilder gibt es nicht mehr. Einerseits eifert er seinem Vater nach, dem alles überstrahlenden Helden, der ein ruhiges Leben voller Entbehrungen führte, bis er schließlich im Krieg starb. Andererseits ist er so fasziniert wie abgestoßen vom besten Freund seines Vaters, der den Krieg überlebt hat und nun in der Berliner Schwulenszene Vergnügen und Vergessen sucht. Christopher Isherwood Abgesang auf die maroden Lebensverhältnisse der britischen Upper Middle Class, erstmals in deutscher Übersetzung von Georg Deggerich.

Eine Liebeserklärung an die schwule Liebe - aus der Feder von Paaren! Aktuelle und verflossene Liebschaften, Leidenschaft und Alltag, Langzeitpartnerschaften oder das Prickeln neuer Beziehungen - die tagtägliche Realität der Liebe ist vielfältig. Diese Anthologie erzählt auch von einer Zeit der Verluste, in der viele Männer ihre Partner verloren haben, und davon, wie dies allein durch Entschlossenheit und Lebenswillen erträglich ist. Aber vor allem erzählt sie von etwas Zeitlosem: der Liebe.'I love you', das bewegende, witzige und erotische Dokument schwuler Liebe, erschien erstmals 1998 - jetzt endlich wieder zu haben und nur als eBook bei Bastei Entertainment!

A declaration of love - gay couples talk about their significant other. Current and past liaisons, passion and daily routine, longtime relationships and the tingle of first dates - the day-to-day reality of love is manifold. This anthology also tells about a time of loss, when many men lost their partners - and how hope and the will to live prevail. But most of all, this eBook is about something timeless: Love.'Two Hearts Desire', the touching, erotic, and funny portrayal of gay love, was first published in 1997 - now available in digital format for the first time. Only at Bastei Entertainment!

Zum allerersten Mal auf Deutsch - Christopher Isherwoods Debütroman. Philipp Lindsay steht sich selbst im Weg. Der junge Mann aus gutem Londoner Hause fühlt sich zu Höherem berufen und scheitert doch ständig an seinen eigenen Ansprüchen und den Erwartungen seiner Familie. Unabhängigkeit sucht er erst als Künstler und dann als Geschäftsmann. Nach Afrika will er reisen und kommt doch nicht weiter als bis in die Arbeiterviertel Londons, wo er schließlich einen Zusammenbruch erleidet. In seinem ersten, stark autobiographisch geprägten Roman zeichnet Christopher Isherwood das Porträt einer Jugend zwischen den Weltkriegen. Den Werten der Väter, die sich noch ganz dem alten Empire verpflichtet fühlen, weiß diese Generation nichts abzugewinnen, neue Werte aber sind noch nicht gefunden. Auf ergreifende Weise erzählt'Lauter gute Absichten'vom Niedergang der englischen Middle Class und den verzweifelten Versuchen eines jungen Mannes, den sozialen Konventionen einer untergehenden Welt zu entkommen.

Berlin am Vorabend des Zweiten Weltkriegs: Der junge Engländer William Bradshaw verbringt seine Tage damit, bourgeoisen Damen Englischstunden zu geben, nachts jedoch umgibt er sich mit Gestalten der Halbwelt. Besonderen Eindruck macht die Begegnung mit Arthur Norris auf ihn, einem Lebemann und Kommunisten - im Deutschland jener Tage eine zunehmend riskante Haltung. Und dann steht der Reichstag in Flammen … Mit großer Präzision zeichnet Christopher Isherwood das faszinierende Porträt eines Menschen, dem zuletzt alles genommen wird. Und wie schon in Leb wohl, Berlin fängt er auch hier auf einmalige Weise die Stimmung im Deutschland der Vorkriegszeit ein - aus der Perspektive eines scheinbar unbeteiligten Beobachters.

Es ist das Jahr 1933. Europa steht am Abgrund, und in London laufen die Dreharbeiten für eine Filmschnulze namens'Praterveilchen'. Der ebenso temperamentvolle wie narzisstische Regisseur Friedrich Bergmann, ein österreichischer Jude, hadert mit der Oberflächlichkeit seiner Branche und leidet an den politischen Entwicklungen in seiner Heimat. Doch kaum jemand schenkt Bergmanns Mahnungen Gehör... Eindrucksvoll fängt Christopher Isherwood in diesem Roman - der anknüpft an sein wohl berühmtestes Werk'Leb wohl, Berlin'- die apathische Stimmung im England der frühen Hitlerjahre ein und seziert mit beißender Ironie die amoralischen Tendenzen des Filmgeschäfts.

Jacob Ericson is a quiet, kind and somewhat simple man who works as a ranch hand for crotchety Professor Carter and his crippled daughter, Sharon, in California's Mojave Desert in the 1920s. Jacob is a good man, genuine, honorable, but hardly extraordinary–until he miraculously heals a dying calf with his hands.However, while he is content to cure the town's animals, it isn't long before he is persuaded to use his gift in other ways. When Sharon, whom he adores, begs him to heal her leg, he cannot deny her.His acquiescence causes them both to be exploited. Sharon runs away to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of stardom. Jacob follows her, hopeful that they will meet again. And they do–as miserable performers in a seedy stage show. While they plan their escape from the dreary stage life, Jacob is asked to heal a self–absorbed young millionaire. And with his assent, Jacob's plans and all of his dreams begin to crumble.Written in tight, vivid, and seamlessly crafter prose, this previously unpublished tale by two of the greatest storytellers of the twentieth century shows the dangers a magical gift holds for even the noblest of characters.

A witty, appealing, and often outrageous portrait of some of the twentieth century's most influential and creative mindsSubtitled'An Education in the Twenties,'Lions and Shadows blends autobiography and fiction to describe the inner life of a writer evolving from precocious schoolboy to Cambridge dropout-at-large in London's bohemia. It contains thinly veiled portraits of Christopher Isherwood's contemporaries W. H. Auden, Edward Upward, and Stephen Spender, whose intimate friendships and cult of rebellion shaped the literary identity of England in the 1930s. Witty and outrageous, Isherwood pokes fun at the stars of his generation, above all himself, even as he testifies to their unique early gifts.

A pivotal book in Isherwood's career that reveals as much about him as the parents he set out to portrayKathleen and Frank is the story of Christopher Isherwood's parents—their meeting in 1895, marriage in 1903 after his father had returned from the Boer War, and his father's death in an assault on Ypres in 1915, which left his mother a widow until her own death in 1960. As well as a family memoir, it is a social history of a period of striking change, and a portrait of the world that shaped Isherwood and that he rejected.

Ein melancholischer Abgesang auf eine verlorene Welt: Kosmopolitisch, libertin, glamourös und dekadent - mit fotografischer Präzision erfasst Christopher Isherwood die letzten Tage der Weimarer Republik in Berlin und zeichnet unvergessliche Porträts der Menschen, die seinen Weg kreuzen und unterschiedlicher nicht sein könnten: zwei junge Männer, die in fataler Weise voneinander abhängen, eine vermögende jüdische Familie, die das nahende Unglück nicht wahrhaben will, und zahlreiche Mitglieder der Halbwelt, unter ihnen die hinreißend leichtsinnige Sally Bowles, die in der Literatur ihresgleichen sucht. Im Hintergrund der Szenerie marschieren bereits die Nazis auf. Isherwoods Figuren aber verschließen die Augen vor der drohenden Katastrophe und feiern sich um den Verstand.

The love story between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy—in their own wordsThe English novelist and screenwriter Christopher Isherwood was already famous as the author of Goodbye to Berlin when he met Don Bachardy, a California teenager, on the beach in Santa Monica in 1952. Within a year, they began to live together as an openly gay couple, defying convention in the closeted world of Hollywood. Isherwood was forty-eight; Bachardy was eighteen. The Animals is the testimony in letters to their extraordinary partnership, which lasted until Isherwood's death in 1986—despite the thirty year age gap, affairs and jealousy (on both sides), the pressures of increasing celebrity, and the disdain of twentieth-century America for love between two men. The letters reveal the private world of the Animals: Isherwood was'Dobbin,'a stubborn old workhorse; Bachardy was the rash, playful'Kitty.'Isherwood had a gift for creating a safe and separate domestic milieu, necessary for a gay man in midtwentieth-century America. He drew Bachardy into his semi-secret realm, nourished Bachardy's talent as a painter, and launched him into the artistic career that was first to threaten and eventually to secure their life together. The letters also tell of public achievements—the critical acclaim for A Single Man, the commercial success of Cabaret—and the bohemian whirl of friendships in Los Angeles, London, and New York with such stars as Truman Capote, Julie Harris, David Hockney, Vanessa Redgrave, Gore Vidal, and Tennessee Williams. Bold, transgressive, and playful, The Animals articulates the devotion, in tenderness and in storms, between two uniquely original spirits.

Ein Tag im November 1962. In einem Vorort von Los Angeles lebt George. Seit Jim, sein Freund, ums Leben gekommen ist, ist ihm'das amerikanische Utopia'die Hölle auf Erden. Mühsam schleppt er sich durch den Tag: Er gibt einen Kurs an der Uni, besucht seine beste Freundin, fährt durch die Gegend - vor allem aber seziert er in einem unaufhaltsamen Gedankenstrom seine Umwelt. Auch dieser Tag scheint vorüberzugehen wie all die anderen zuvor, bis George nachts am Strand einem Studenten begegnet... Ein zutiefst berührender Roman, der von bitterer Einsamkeit und der Furcht vor dem Anderssein erzählt, dem Scheitern zwischenmenschlicher Kommunikation und einer Gesellschaft, die vor all dem die Augen verschließt. - 2009 kongenial von Tom Ford verfilmt, mit Colin Firth und Julianne Moore.

An indispensable memoir by one of the most prominent writers of his generationOriginally published in 1976, Christopher and His Kind covers the most memorable ten years in the writer's life—from 1928, when Christopher Isherwood left England to spend a week in Berlin and decided to stay there indefinitely, to 1939, when he arrived in America. His friends and colleagues during this time included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and E. M. Forster, as well as colorful figures he met in Germany and later fictionalized in his two Berlin novels—and who appeared again, fictionalized to an even greater degree, in I Am a Camera and Cabaret.What most impressed the first readers of this memoir, however, was the candor with which he describes his life in gay Berlin of the 1930s and his struggles to save his companion, a German man named Heinz, from the Nazis. An engrossing and dramatic story and a fascinating glimpse into a little-known world, Christopher and His Kind remains one of Isherwood's greatest achievements.

Consisting of four accounts of encounters with four male characters, each of them visited by a different Christopher Isherwood, and each set in a different time and place—Berlin in the 1920s (overlapping the time period of the Berlin Stories), the Greek Isles in the early 1930s, London in the late 1930s and California in 1940—this acclaimed novel explores Isherwood's fundamental concerns with the choice of a way of life, and its implications for love, sex, spirituality and self-fulfillment. Published in 1959, when Isherwood had already become something of a literary rock star, Down There on a Visit is a very funny but also sad and deeply personal book that charts Isherwood's life of carnal indulgence and his first interlude with what would become a serious involvement with Eastern mysticism.

The author of The Berlin Stories and A Single Man chronicles his thirty-year relationship with his spiritual advisor, a Hindu priest.My Guru and His Disciple is a sweetly modest and honest portrait of Isherwood's spiritual instructor, Swami Prabhavananda, the Hindu priest who guided Isherwood for some thirty years. It is also a book about the often amusing and sometimes painful counterpoint between worldliness and holiness in Isherwood's own life. Sexual sprees, all-night drinking bouts, a fast car ride with Greta Garbo, scriptwriting conferences at MGM, intellectual sparring sessions with Berthold Brecht alternated with nights of fasting at the Vedanta Center, a six-month period of celibacy and sobriety, and the pious drudgery of translating (in collaboration with the Swami) the Bhagavad-Gita.Seldom has a single man been owed with such strong drives toward both sensuality and spirituality, abandon and discipline; out of the passionate dialectic between these drives, My Guru and His Disciple has been written.“In some ways, Isherwood's most ambitious book. There is a sense of wholeness and of the joy of spiritual quest. We can believe such a believer.” —The Boston Globe

Isherwood's final work of fiction—an epistolary novel that explores sexual identity and Eastern mysticismAfter a long separation, two English brothers meet in India. Oliver, the idealistic younger brother, prepares to take his final vows as a Hindu monk. Patrick, a successful publisher with a wife and children in London and a male lover in California, has publicly admired his brother's convictions while privately criticizing his choices. First published in 1967, A Meeting by the River delicately depicts the complexity of sibling relationships—the resentment and competitiveness as well as the love and respect. Ultimately, the brothers'exposure to each other's differences deepens their awareness of themselves. In A Meeting by the River, Christopher Isherwood dramatizes the conflict between sexuality and spirituality that inspired his late writings.“The best prose writer in English.” Gore Vidal

Candid and revealing, the final volume of Christopher Isherwood's diaries brings together his thoughts on life, love, and death. Beginning in the period of his life when he wrote Kathleen and Frank, his first intensely personal book, Liberation: Diaries 1970–1983 intimately and wittily records Isherwood's immersion in the 1970s art scene in Los Angeles, New York, and London—a world peopled by the likes of Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and David Hockney, as well as his Broadway writing career, which brought him in touch with John Huston, Merchant and Ivory, John Travolta, John Voight, Elton John, David Bowie, Joan Didion, and Armistead Maupin. With a preface by Edmund White, Liberation is a rich and engaging final memoir by one of the most celebrated writers of his generation.

This second volume of Christopher Isherwood's remarkable diaries opens on his fifty-sixth birthday, as the fifties give way to the decade of social and sexual revolution. Isherwood takes the reader from the bohemian sunshine of Southern California to a London finally swinging free of post-war gloom, to the racy cosmopolitanism of New York and to the raw Australian outback. He charts his ongoing quest for spiritual certainty under the guidance of his Hindu guru, and he reveals in reckless detail the emotional drama of his love for the American painter Don Bachardy, thirty years his junior and struggling to establish his own artistic identity.The diaries are crammed with wicked gossip and probing psychological insights about the cultural icons of the time—Francis Bacon, Richard Burton, Leslie Caron, Marianne Faithfull, David Hockney, Mick Jagger, Hope Lange, W. Somerset Maugham, John Osborne, Vanessa Redgrave, Tony Richardson, David O. Selznick, Igor Stravinsky, Gore Vidal, and many others. But the diaries are most revealing about Isherwood himself—his fiction (including A Single Man and Down There on a Visit), his film writing, his college teaching, and his affairs of the heart. He moves easily from Beckett to Brando, from arthritis to aggression, from Tennessee Williams to foot powder, from the opening of Cabaret on Broadway (which he skipped) to a close analysis of Gide.In the background run references to the political and historical events of the period: the anxieties of the Cold War, Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight, de Gaulle and Algeria, the eruption of violence in America's inner cities, the Vietnam War, the Summer of Love, the moon landing, and the raising and lowering of hemlines. Isherwood is well known for his prophetic portraits of a morally bankrupt Europe on the eve of World War II; in this unparalleled chronicle, The Sixties, he turns his fearless eye on the decade that more than any other has shaped the way we live now.