The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood (1935 and 1939)

I think I first heard of Christopher Isherwood (1904 to 1986, born in England, died in Santa Monica, California) about forty years ago when I read in "Notes on Camp" by Susan Sontag that Isherwood was the first writer to use the word "camp" to describe a sensibility.  His works about Weimer Germany inspired the famous movie Cabaret.  His fiction focuses on outsider sexual cultures, prostitution, gay life styles, bondage and domination.  His characters are on the edge and look at straight society through layers of irony.  He is strongly identified world wide as an iconic gay writer.

Berlin Stories is actually two novellas marketed together.  In this format it was first is published in 1963.  The two works are Mr Norris Changes Trains (first published in 1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (first published in 1939).  Both are set largely in Berlin in the  early 1930s, from just before the Nazi's took over to their initial domination. 

Mr Norris Changes Trains begins in a rooming house in Berlin.  The story did make me think of the works in Katherine Mansfield's collection In A German Pension.  Mr Norris is English and I think the narrator is an American.  Mr. Norris is a bit of a mystery.  Sometimes he seems to have a great fortune in reserve somewhere and sometimes he seems dead broke.  He has no job but always claims to be on the verge of closing a big venture.  For a while he is a communist, very big in Germany at the time.  He is friends with and seems to patronize female sex workers and sadists.  Maybe he has gay relationships also, it is not laid out explicitly.  The narrator gets drawn more and more into the mysterious life of Mr. Norris.  There are lots of conversations about what Germany needs to pull out of a terrible slump.  As time passes, the Nazis begin to take over.  Mr Norris Changes Trains kept me interested, the characters were intriguing and I enjoyed the ground eye view of Weimer Germany.

Goodbye to Berlin is the source for Cabaret.  Sally Bowles plays a big part in the story.  This story also is partially set in a boarding house in Berlin.  The stories have common characters but were first published separately.  It focuses a lot on demi-monde Berlin.  Sally and other prostitues live in the same rooming house as the narrator.  The Nazis are now in power.  There is a lot of sadness in hearing ordinary Germans talk about how Hitler is what Germany needs.

I acquired  this book when I was notified that the Kindle a Edition was on sale for one day for $1.95.

I am glad read Berlin Stories but probably won't buy more of his work.

Mel u