The Berlin Stories
Christopher Isherwood was a diverse writer whose accomplishments included The Mortmere Stories (Edward Upward Series), A Single Manand a translation of The Song of God (Bhagavad Gita). But many critics hailed The Berlin Stories, the reissue of two of his best novels, as his finest. In the book, a man named Christopher Isherwood, who is and is not the author, writes a story of exile, combining the best of Isherwood's real life with the best of the life he imagined.
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2recommend
2mentions
2people
2011–2023years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Christopher Isherwood's Berlin stories (Mr Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin). Not sure why it took me so long to find them as I've long been fascinated by the slightly end of days-type hedonistic atmosphere that late Weimar-era Berlin apparently had. From that perspective they really didn't disappoint.
In a similar vein, although it's been a while since I read it, I'd strongly recommend J G Ballard's semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun - especially the earlier sections set in pre and post invasion Shanghai are also very evocative.
- I'm not sure about "essential reading", but I like most anything besides Science Fiction or Fantasy (probably the opposite of most folks here)
Some of my top choices would be:
Anything by Bulgakov (Heart of a Dog and Master and Margerita are both pretty widely available in English)
Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
Burmese Days by George Orwell
Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham
Color of Summer by Reinaldo Arenas
Williwaw by Gore Vidal
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
