"This absorbing biography burrows deeply into each stage of Isherwood’s continuous intellectual and spiritual evolutions . . . Isherwood questioned everything in life, ardently examining himself, and Bucknell’s marvelously knowledgeable portrait reveals the full dimensions of his richly contemplative life." —Raúl Niño, Booklist (starred review)
"Bucknell brings scholarly acumen and bravura storytelling to her stunning biography . . . This is a monumental achievement." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Christopher Isherwood Inside Out is the best biography I’ve ever read. The subject, Christopher Isherwood, was a mindful, moral man, an example for all, and a wonderfully talented writer. The author, Katherine Bucknell, explores every moment of his life—English, German, American—and links them all to the vast ongoing project of his life and work. The book is long but every page is full of surprises." —Edmund White
"This is a first-rate biography of the man, the writer, and the lover. Had he stayed in England, he would have been the squire of Marple Hall in Cheshire, very very different to the Christopher I knew." —David Hockney
"A penetrating exploration of the life and work of the acclaimed novelist, memoirist, and pioneering figure in gay culture. . . . The author renders a sweeping portrait of Isherwood's remarkable life journey . . . An engrossing, rigorously documented study of a 20th-century literary trailblazer." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“This book—profoundly sympathetic to its subject, lucidly and excitingly written—is both a fast-paced story of an extraordinary life and a broadly illuminating history of vast cultural changes across eight decades and four continents. Katherine Bucknell, having edited four volumes of Isherwood’s diaries, has distilled her expertise into the finest literary biography of its century.” —Edward Mendelson, author of Early Auden, Later Auden
"A roller-coaster ride through a genuinely remarkable life. Katherine Bucknell has had full access to all the primary sources—and it shows. Her Isherwood is both fascinating and dangerous, as reckless in his relationships as he was scrupulous in his art. His virtues shine, and his faults are documented with admirable candour." —Neil Bartlett, author of Address Book
"The best biographies make the reader feel they are looking over the subject’s shoulder, watching them grow up and into life. Katherine Bucknell does exactly this, marshalling an enormous range of scholarship with insight, empathy, and humor. Her long immersion in Isherwood’s work and life is lightly worn, she writes beautifully, and whether she is invoking declining English country-house life, Weimar Berlin, mid-century Hollywood, or the alternative cultures of California, one trusts her judgment implicitly. Christopher Isherwood Inside Out matches its subject's narrative skill and psychological insight, and brilliantly illuminates his search for a new way to live." —Roy Foster, author of W. B. Yeats: A Life
"Inside Out is a master work by Katherine Bucknell, skillfully delving into the intricate layers of Christopher Isherwood's mind and spirit. Aptly titled, this book offers an intimate portrayal of Isherwood's essence, with prose that guides readers on an intimate journey into his world, revealing the nuances of his life and artistry." —Tina Mascara, director (with Guideo Santi) of "Chris and Don: A Love Story"
"This is the Isherwood book we’ve been waiting for. While Isherwood is rightly celebrated as a courageous forefather of the gay liberation movement, he should be equally celebrated as a fearless early practitioner and writer on Hinduism (Vedanta), again pulling the rest of the country with him. By telling the truth through his writing and through his life, Isherwood achieved greatness in his art and in his spiritual quest, and that will continue to move us and change us long after we, and all those who knew him, are gone." —Pravrajika Vrajaprana, author of Vedanta: A Simple Introduction
"Open this thick book to almost any page about Christopher Isherwood's important and glamorous life, and you will find a lot about the fascinating people this supreme twentieth-century literary artist often saw. What stars he knew in his magic circle during his many lives, from 1930s Berlin down to postwar Hollywood and after." —James Ivory, author of Solid Ivory: Memoirs
"Katherine Bucknell’s brilliant biography . . . reestablishes Isherwood as one of Anglo-American literature’s most significant literary figures of the 20th century" —Simon Lewis, The Post and Courier
★ 2024-04-30
A penetrating exploration of the life and work of the acclaimed novelist, memoirist, and pioneering figure in gay culture.
While Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) may be best known for Goodbye to Berlin, which drew on his experiences in Weimar-era Berlin and inspired the musical Cabaret, this new biography by Bucknell, director of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, astutely highlights the considerable merits of his other novels and candid autobiographical works. The author renders a sweeping portrait of Isherwood's remarkable life journey, during which he forged indelible connections with many of the era's preeminent literary and artistic figures. Early on, Isherwood moved within an influential circle of writers that included W.H. Auden, E.M. Forster, and Steven Spender. In 1939, he moved to Hollywood and pursued screenwriting, while also initiating a spiritual conversion to Vedanta under the guidance of Indian monk Swami Prabhavananda. Over the ensuing years, his vast circle expanded, bringing in Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and David Hockney, among others. Bucknell dedicates perhaps too many pages to Isherwood's early years, privileged upbringing, Cambridge education, and elements of his complex family dynamics (including his father's death in World War II and his suffocating relationship with his mother), but this detailed exploration lays the foundation for her explorations of her subject’s later writing and the complexities that shaped his intimate relationships, particularly his romances with various men at different stages of his life, most enduringly with artist Don Bachardy. Throughout, Bucknell urgently draws attention to Isherwood’s courageous life as an openly gay man and his vital role in advancing gay liberation through his writing: "He saw from his career's outset that he must make homosexuality attractive to mainstream audiences if he was to change their view of it, and he worked to do this in all his writing in different ways.”
An engrossing, rigorously documented study of a 20th-century literary trailblazer.
