The Animals by Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood was a celebrated English writer when he met the Californian teenager Don Bachardy on a Santa Monica beach in 1952. They spent their first night together on Valentine's Day 1953. Defying the conventions, the two men began living as an openly gay couple in an otherwise closeted Hollywood. This book tells their story.It is a fascinating sociological document while, like most exchanges between two people wrapped up in the tantalizing subject of themselves and each other, lacking very much real interest in the wider world -- DJ Taylor * Spectator *
Thanks to The Animals, Isherwood’s devotion lives on -- Mark Simpson * Independent *
[Isherwood and Bachardy's] letters to each other must be the silliest in modern literature and none the less entertaining for that -- Andrew O'Hagan * London Review of Books *
Isherwood completists will pounce on The Animals -- Richard Canning * Literary Review *
Christopher Isherwood (1904–1986) was one of the most celebrated writers of his generation. Born in Cheshire, England, he left Cambridge without graduating, and went to Berlin (‘Berlin meant Boys’) where he wrote Goodbye to Berlin on which the musical Cabaret was based. He emigrated to America with W.H. Auden in 1939; whilst Wystan stayed in New York, Chris struck out for California and became a US citizen in 1946. He became involved with Don Bachardy on Valentine’s Day 1953 and their life together is chronicled in Isherwood’s later Diaries. Bachardy (b.1934, Los Angeles) pursued a successful career as a portrait artist and Isherwood went on to write another five novels including A Single Man (which was made into a movie directed by Tom Ford in 2009). In the 1960s and ‘70s he turned to autobiographical works including Kathleen and Frank and Christopher and His Kind. Don continues to live in the house which he shared with Chris for 33 years, overlooking Santa Monica Canyon.
Katherine Bucknell is editor of all four volumes of Christopher Isherwood's Diaries and of W.H.Auden's Juvenilia: Poems 1922-1928. She is co-editor of Auden Studies and a founder of the W.H.Auden Society. She is also the author of four novels and is currently working on a major new biography of Christopher Isherwood. www.katherinebucknell.com
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781784700829 |
| ISBN 10 | 1784700827 |
| Title | The Animals |
| Author | Christopher Isherwood |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2014-09-04 |
| Number of pages | 528 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |