A brief overview of the great Christopher Isherwood and his novel ‘a single man’.

Today is Sunday 27/02/2022, the end of the week in which Putin’s Russia went full throttle in their invasion into Ukraine. The fear and terror propelled from this give the utmost importance to the ideas and history discussed in this post now.

Christopher Isherwood was born and raised in England, but went to Germany in 1929, giving source material to novels such as ‘Goodbye to Berlin’ (later adapted into the music film ‘Cabaret’) and ‘Mr Norris changes trains’, and lived there until 1933. Leaving for seemingly obvious reasons, and his German boy-friend having been refused entry into England, they went to a string of different countries: Greece, Spain (the Canary islands), Belgium (Brussels), Denmark (Copenhagen), The Netherlands (Amsterdam), Portugal (Sintra), France (Paris), Luxembourg, and another half-dozen (as recalled by Isherwood and referenced here) in an effort to obtain a new citizenship for Isherwood’s German partner. Tragically, they were unsuccessful, and in 1937 Neddermeyer was deported back to Germany and arrested by the Gestapo. I will delve further into this story in another post, but, though it pains me to skip over such fascinating stories of his, we now jump to 1946, when Isherwood became a U.S. citizen; at first hesitant at the clause requiring him to swear to defend the nation, but then, after articulating he would do so in a non-combatant capacity, taking the oath and being naturalised.

This brings us to his widely renowned and critically acclaimed novel ‘a single man’, semi-autobiographical in nature, tracing the steps of a very existential day for George, a literature professor at a university in southern California (the same role Isherwood had), a year after the sudden loss of his male partner. Published in 1964, the novel gives us a pair of binoculars and brings us to the landscape of anxiety, not at all unfounded, amidst the threats generated by the bomb-possessing countries of Cuba and Russia to the U.S. The angle at which this is depicted in the novel however is very thought provoking, as it focuses not so much on the situation itself, but rather on the provocation of fear and the average-citizen’s reaction to it in proceeding forward. Take this excerpt for example:

“Fear, after all, is our real enemy. Fear is taking over our world. Fear is being used as a tool of manipulation in our society. Itʼs how politicians peddle policy and how Madison Avenue sells us things that we donʼt need. Think about it. Fear that weʼre going to be attacked, fear that there are communists lurking around every corner, fear that some little Caribbean country that doesnʼt believe in our way of life poses a threat to us. Fear that black culture may take over the world. Fear of Elvis Presleyʼs hips. Well, maybe that one is a real fear. Fear that our bad breath might ruin our friendships… Fear of growing old and being alone.”

An expansion of this point can be seen here, in this scene from the astounding film adaptation directed by Tom Ford, whose fascinated admiration of Isherwood is a tale in and of itself, wherein George’s colleague explains how he is building a bomb shelter, best of the best, because the threat is so imminent, but that he’s doing so with various contractors, to keep news of it hidden from the world, in case people find out how good it is and want to seek refuge in it, justifying this by saying “there will be no time for sentiment when the Russians fire a missile at us”, to which George responds “if it’s going to be a world with no time for sentiment, it’s not a world that I want to live in.”

I think the takeaway here is that things need to be dealt with as they come. Right now there is an invasion by Russia of Ukraine, pertaining to a horror that should not be downplayed. And this could give rise to a Chinese attack on Taiwan, as well as an array of other horrific outcomes, against which attempts at prevention should be taken with practical measures and steps. But to live with anxiety at the possibility of all these tragedies is to give oneself over to insanity. And if the coronavirus remind us of it enough, then this should certainly instill in our minds that there is no day to seize the day like today. Isherwood’s points and point of view, deriving from the very applicable context of his life, carry valuable insight into the best ways to do exactly that.

If you have different thoughts, and would like to leave them in the comments below (anonymous commenting is also possible) then please feel free to do so. With an optimistic outlook, I can say that I will write another post soon. Until then, here are a few more pictures of Isherwood to keep you entertained. Goodbye!