Katherine Bucknell Pořadí knih (chronologicky)

The major new biography of one of the great writers of the twentieth century, and the first to take advantage of a wealth of previously unseen documents and photographs. From the longtime editor of Isherwood's Diaries and letters, Katherine Bucknell.

This second volume of Christopher Isherwood's remarkable diaries begins on his fifty-sixth birthday, capturing the transition from the fifties to a decade of social and sexual revolution. Isherwood takes readers through the bohemian landscape of Southern California, the liberated atmosphere of London, the vibrant cosmopolitanism of New York, and the rugged Australian outback. He chronicles his spiritual quest guided by his Hindu guru and shares the emotional complexities of his relationship with American painter Don Bachardy, who is thirty years his junior and navigating his own artistic path. The diaries are filled with sharp gossip and psychological insights about cultural icons of the era, including Francis Bacon, Richard Burton, and Mick Jagger. However, they are most revealing about Isherwood himself—his literary works, film writing, college teaching, and romantic entanglements. He seamlessly connects diverse topics, from Beckett to Brando and the opening of "Cabaret" to a detailed analysis of Gide. The backdrop includes significant political and historical events: the Cold War anxieties, Gagarin's spaceflight, the Vietnam War, and the Summer of Love. Isherwood, known for his prophetic portrayals of a morally bankrupt Europe before World War II, offers an unparalleled chronicle of the decade that profoundly influences contemporary life.