From Publishers Weekly
Isherwood's mercurial, impressionable style, as reflected in this omnibus of his fiction, essays and memoirs, was a perfect vehicle for capturing a generation's loss of innocence and the impact of historical traumas on personal consciousness. Included are two complete novelettes. One, Prater Violet (1945), features witty, expansive Viennese film director Friedrich Bergmann, given to dark, apocalyptic broodings; the other, A Single Man (1964), recounting one day in the life of an unhinged Los Angeles college teacher, combines brutal introspection and precise observations of Americans' "symbolic" lifestyles. In perceptive essays, Isherwood calls Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island a "superpotboiler" and refutes the notion that Katherine Mansfield was a "feminine" writer. Also here are reminiscences of his father, killed in WW I; an account of his friendship with W. H. Auden; and encounters with Swami Prabhavananda, his California guru. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Best known for The Berlin Stories-the inspiration for the Tony and Academy Award-winning musical Cabaret-Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) was a major figure in twentieth-century fiction and the gay rights movement. This collection presents two complete novels, Prater Violet (1945) and A Single Man (1964); episodes from three other novels, Goodbye to Berlin (1939), Down There on a Visit (1962), and Lions and Shadows (1938); and excerpts from his nonfiction works, Exhumations (1966), Kathleen and Frank (1971), and My Guru and His Disciple (1980). "The late Christopher Isherwood was a writer with exceptional powers of observation. . . . An excellent anthology." -Los Angeles Times Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) is also the author of A Single Man, Down There on a Visit, Lions and Shadows, The Memorial, The World in the Evening, and A Meeting by the River, all available in paperback editions from the University of Minnesota Press. Don Bachardy, Isherwood's longtime partner, is a painter and writer living in Santa Monica, California. His books include Last Drawings of Christopher Isherwood (1991) and Stars in My Eyes (2000). James P. White is a novelist who directs the creative writing program at the University of South Alabama.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This collection presents two complete novels, Pruter Violet (1945) and A Single Man (1964); episodes from three other novels, Goodbye to Berlin (1939), Down There on a Visit (1962), and Lions and Shadows (1938); and excerpts from his nonfiction works, Exhumations (1966), Kathleen and Frank (1971), and My Guru and His Disciple (1980).

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly