Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Explore the remarkable life, literary career, and enduring wisdom of Christopher Isherwood (1904–1986) — from Berlin to Hollywood, from “I am a camera” to spiritual devotion, and the lessons his life offers us today.

Introduction

Christopher Isherwood remains one of the 20th century’s most insightful and multifaceted writers. His works bridge autobiography, social commentary, and psychological depth, capturing time periods, identities, and inner life with both clarity and compassion. Best known for The Berlin Stories (which inspired Cabaret) and A Single Man, Isherwood’s voice continues to resonate in literature, LGBTQ history, and spiritual circles. His life story — crossing England, Germany, and America — offers a compelling portrait of artistic courage, self-exploration, and transformation.

Early Life and Family

Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was born on August 26, 1904, in High Lane, Cheshire, England. He was the elder son of Francis Edward Bradshaw Isherwood (a professional soldier) and Kathleen Bradshaw Isherwood (née Machell Smith). His father served in the York and Lancaster Regiment but was killed during World War I in 1915, when Christopher was about ten — an event that deeply shaped his emotional and intellectual life. From his mother’s side he had connections to a brewing family (Greene King), and he was distantly related to the novelist Graham Greene.

Growing up in a family with deep social standing but internal tension, Isherwood felt the weight of expectations, loss, and the pull of intellectual rebellion from an early age.

Youth and Education

His early schooling began at St. Edmund’s School, Hindhead (from 1914) — there he met W. H. Auden, who would become a lifelong friend and literary interlocutor. Later, he attended Repton School in Derbyshire, where he befriended Edward Upward and began early experiments in imaginative writing (such as their invented “Mortmere” world). He went up to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge as a history scholar, but his academic life was unsettled; in 1925 he failed to complete his degree, partly due to mischief (writing jokes/fooling in exams) and disinterest. After Cambridge, he worked as a private tutor and also as secretary to a string quartet led by violinist André Mangeot, during which time he began writing his first novel, All the Conspirators (1928). He also briefly enrolled in medical studies at King’s College London in 1928, but left after six months.

These formative years show a tension: the pull of formal structures and the resistance toward them, and an emerging desire to find his own path through writing and observation.

Career and Achievements

Early Literary Work and Berlin

In the late 1920s, influenced by Auden and the growing European avant-garde, Isherwood traveled to Berlin (first in 1929) seeking creative freedom and personal exploration. Berlin offered him both sexual freedom and intellectual stimulation. He became integrated into its vibrant nocturnal life and literary subcultures. Some of his earliest major works emerged from this period: Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1939) draw heavily on his experiences there, capturing the tensions, hypocrisies, and fragility of Weimar-era society. In Goodbye to Berlin, Isherwood coined the famous line:

“I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.” This image encapsulates his observational approach — distancing himself slightly from events, yet deeply engaged in capturing them.

Because of the rise of the Nazi regime and increasing danger in Germany, Isherwood left Berlin in the mid-1930s and eventually emigrated to the United States.

American Life, Memoirs & Adaptations

After moving to America, Isherwood gradually became a U.S. citizen in 1946, formally breaking from his British identification. He continued writing, producing novels, essays, autobiographical works, and diaries. Notable works include A Single Man (1964), which was later adapted into a film directed by Tom Ford. In 1976, Isherwood published Christopher and His Kind, a memoir examining his Berlin years, sexuality, and artistic evolution — this work aligned him more publicly with the emerging gay liberation movement. Another key novel is Down There on a Visit (1962), in which his protagonist reflects themes of alienation, spirituality, pleasure, and discipline.

He was also engaged in translations, especially of Hindu and Vedanta scripture in later years, as his spiritual interests deepened.

In 2007, the documentary Chris & Don: A Love Story explored his long partnership with artist Don Bachardy (who was many years younger).

Final Years

Isherwood was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1981, and he died on January 4, 1986, in his home in Santa Monica, California. He donated his body to medical science and his ashes were scattered at sea. His partner, Don Bachardy, continued to preserve and promote his legacy through art, archives, and exhibitions.

Historical Milestones & Context

• The Berlin Stories, comprising Goodbye to Berlin and Mr Norris Changes Trains, remain landmark texts of the interwar period, documenting everyday life on the brink of catastrophe.

• Goodbye to Berlin was adapted for stage and screen: the play I Am a Camera (1951) and, later, the iconic musical Cabaret.

• His migration to America in 1939–1940 era placed him among a wave of European intellectuals who shaped mid-20th century U.S. literary and cultural life.

• His embrace of Vedanta and Hindu philosophy informed his later life and writing, combining spiritual quest with literary identity.

• A Single Man, though written in 1964, gained renewed acclaim in the 21st century, particularly after its film adaptation, and is seen as a groundbreaking work in queer literature.

Legacy and Influence

Christopher Isherwood’s legacy is both literary and cultural:

• Literary influence: His blend of autobiography, psychological insight, and historical observation influenced writers of memoir, fiction, and LGBTQ literature.

• Queer icon: Through Christopher and His Kind and his openness in later years, he became a bridge between older discreet gay life and more public expressions of identity.

• Archival footprint: His diaries, letters, manuscripts, and photographs (often in collaboration with Bachardy) remain a rich resource for scholars.

• Spiritual dimension: His engagement with Vedanta and spiritual teaching adds a contemplative layer to his public persona—he did not remain purely a literary figure but became a seeker.

• Cultural presence: Through adaptations (Cabaret, I Am a Camera, A Single Man), his works continue reaching wider audiences.

His reputation is that of a writer who witnessed many upheavals (political, personal, social) yet retained an observant eye and a search for deeper meaning.

Personality and Talents

Isherwood was known for his observational acuity, his ability to render settings, moods, and human gestures with clarity and empathy. His literary “camera” metaphor was not about cold distance, but about clarity and restraint. He combined courage with self-doubt — his diaries reveal an ongoing wrestling with identity, fear, and aspiration. He had a restless intellect: drawn to sexuality, politics, mysticism, art, and philosophy — never content to remain within a single realm.
His emotional life was intimately entwined with his art, as seen in his long partnership with Bachardy, and in the ways his love, loss, and longing feed into his prose.
He could be both playful and serious, ironic and earnest. His moral sensibility emerges in his condemnations of injustice, hypocrisy, and the complacencies of society.
In his later years, as he incorporated spiritual practice (Vedanta), one sees a striving for stillness — a contrast to earlier decades of movement, sexual adventure, and self-redefinition.

Famous Quotes of Christopher Isherwood

Here are several memorable quotes that reflect his perceptions of life, art, identity, and moral clarity:

“I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.” “To live sanely in Los Angeles … you have to cultivate the art of staying awake. You must learn to resist (firmly but not tensely) the unceasing hypnotic suggestions … those demon voices … whispering … what you should be.” “What irritates me is the bland way people go around saying, ‘Oh, our attitude has changed. We don't dislike these people any more.’ But … they haven't taken away the injustice; the laws are still on the books.” “California is a tragic country — like Palestine, like every Promised Land… Its short history is a fever-chart of migrations … followed … by counter-migrations of the disappointed and unsuccessful.” “But now isn’t simply now. Now is also a cold reminder: one whole day later than yesterday, one year later than last year … Every now is labeled with its date … until … quite certainly: it will come.” “The past is just something that's over.” “One should never write down or up to people, but out of yourself.” “I'll bet Shakespeare compromised himself a lot; anybody who's in the entertainment industry does to some extent.”

These quotes show his blend of moral awareness, skepticism of comfort, and commitment to integrity in both life and art.

Lessons from Christopher Isherwood

1. Observe deeply yet compassionately.
   His “camera” stance reminds us that distance and engagement can coexist—see the world lucidly without losing empathy.

2. Embrace complexity of identity.
   He lived as a gay man, an immigrant, a spiritual seeker — refusing to flatten himself to comforting categories.

3. Art and life intertwine.
   His life and work feed each other; the writer, the lover, the seeker, all merge in his prose.

4. Stand against injustice, even quietly.
   His critique of superficial “attitude changes” warns us that true change demands structural shifts, not mere declarations.

5. Transition is constant.
   From England → Berlin → America; from sexual exploration to spiritual discipline — his life shows that reinvention is part of the journey.

6. The past is material, but not destiny.
   He wrestled with grief, loss, and memory but refused to let them wholly define him.

Conclusion

Christopher Isherwood’s life was a tapestry of observation, restlessness, and searching. He bore witness to the turbulence of his time—Weimar Germany, migration, war, changing social norms — and turned those observations into enduring literature. His commitment to authenticity, his moral gaze, and his unending curiosity make him more than a historical figure; he’s a companion for anyone seeking to write, to live honestly, and to keep looking for what is unseen.

May his words continue to invite reflection, and may we, like he did, remain alert, faithful, and courageous.