Memoir of Hungary, 1944-1948
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • What is at the Still Center of the Whirlwind of Contemporary Events?
  • We need more of Maria's books translated
  • Buy,beg,borrow or steal but read this book !
  • Fine account of the Red Army occupation of Budapest
  • Marai's book is a moving memoir of live under Soviet occupat
Memoir of Hungary, 1944-1948
Marai Sandor
Manufacturer: Central European University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
HungaryHungary | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Military | History | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
  1. Casanova in Bolzano Casanova in Bolzano
  2. Embers Embers
  3. The Rebels The Rebels
  4. A Guest in My Own Country: A Hungarian Life A Guest in My Own Country: A Hungarian Life
  5. Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

ASIN: 9639241105

Book Description

This scathing, humorous, and insightful memoir by exiled Hungarian novelist Sandor Marai provides one of the most poignant and humanly alive portraits of life in Hungary between the German occupation and the solidification of communist power.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars What is at the Still Center of the Whirlwind of Contemporary Events?.......2007-06-26

The "Memoir" covers a four year period out of some forty years during which Marai, the prominent and praiseworthy Hungarian novelist, kept a journal. At present it is the only portion of this long-running commentary which has been published in English. The translation by Albert Tezla is an excellent one which captures the author's spirit and style. The four years in question are those which proved to be a major historical turning point for Hungary and a bitter and deeply personal turning point for the author.

What happened during those four years? In brief: the final tergiversations and collapse of Horthy's Regency government; its replacement by a desperate Nazi-backed Arrow Cross regime which was determined to go down in flames and take as many victims as it could with it in a final Wagnerian gesture of hatred; an uneasy period of "liberation" by the Soviet army (where liberation equaled successful military operations against the Germans plus looting and other depredations); the machinations of political parties and leaders who were making their moves in a shrinking circle of authority and responsibility, since all knew or suspected that their fate would be decided in Moscow; the return of exiled Communist factotums who had been winnowed and educated by Stalin's system in its period of purges, men who lived in fear and ruled by fear; the springing up of fellow-travelers and shape-shifters of every description, each fleeing guilt while feathering his own nest; the period of land-redistribution followed by nationalizations of industry and commerce, then the creation of collective farms; the debasements of the period of currency hyperinflation; and, what breaks the author's heart the most, the "treason of the clerks" (that portion of the middle class and its literary and artistic spokesmen who abandoned their humanistic ideals and threw themselves into collaboration with the new, all-powerful Party apparatus).

For Marai personally this was a period when he began to take serious stock of his career hitherto as a successful bourgeois author and came to the sad conclusion that both he and his work might have been nothing but caricatures of a dying way of life. And, in 1947-48, it is a time when he turns this reckoning, along with his truly depressing picture of Hungary's total spiritual compromise and abasement under both its previous and its new systems of rule, into a decision to leave his homeland forever.

In his judgments of failure of intellect and behavior, he is as hard on the Hungarian and the broader European middle class as he is on the Communists. After a year or so when he feels he must commit himself to a "neutral" evaluation of the Red Army and its political masters, he comes to truly detest Communism. He hates it for the anti-humanism of its official philosophy (which he characterizes as an outdated and culturally dead and deadening theory which might have been appropriate in Marx's day but was irrelevant to the problems Europe faced in 1945). He hates it for the phoniness of its leaders' attempts to convince his countrymen that they are "building socialism" while in fact they are knowingly establishing a Russian colonial satrapy which will prove to be as indifferent to the needs of workers and farmers as it is to the death of the middle class and the old Hungarian aristocracy - both the real one and the faux-aristocracy of the Regency. And he hates it because he sees its leadership and middle-men as untrained, incompetent bunglers and looters whose real purpose is mere political survival at any cost. Marai does not regret the fate of the old land-owning class, whom he feels was as indifferent to the hardships of life of the vast majority of his countrymen as the new masters will prove to be. But the decay and destruction of the middle class truly disturbs him, since he believes that the educated, politically liberal bourgeoisie was the only group which had a chance of representing cultural humanism and political democracy in a way that might have withstood fascism and communism. More painfully, he acknowledges that this decay and destruction was brought on by a lack of vigilance and vigor by the middle class itself, which was losing confidence in the older accepted rationales for its existence and way of life. He indicts this middle class for sacrificing its principles on the altars of political expediency and self-interest.

All of this leads him to a period in which his own mind moves slowly and inexorably toward the decision to break with his past and his country. Most disturbing to him is the notion that if he stays - whether as a practitioner of "internal emigration" or as an occasional "fellow traveler" and regime booster who will be allowed to publish his work in return for such compromises - he will lose his "Self", because it is the capture of the core of his identity that is the objective of the new system. He is more afraid of that system's intolerance of the silence of a member of the intelligentsia than he is of its crass desire to manipulate writers and other artists into the practices of "socialist realism". He has to leave in order to save his relationship with his own language and to protect that Self. (His reflections on this give rise to the title of my review.)

But this memoir is more than a series of gloomy meditations on social and political affairs and trends. It is also a sort of love-letter to the beauties of the Hungarian language (which is Marai's declared "homeland") as they were developed over several generations by belletristic writers. There are recollections of the careers of his fellow writers and a portrait of the atmosphere of literary ferment and creativity that permeated the cafes, bars, and news-rooms of periodicals and daily papers for whom many of these writers worked in order to keep themselves alive while they also produced poetry, short-stories and novels for a loyal cohort of sophisticated readers. There are generous comments made about the many talented writers of his own generation and the two generations that preceded it. There is a paean to the minor Hungarian writers (the "second set") whom he feels were every bit as talented and worthy as the major and more successful ones (he spends his final year in locating and reading increasingly rare copies of the works of these minor writers, since he thinks they will become inaccessible to him after he goes into exile; this knowledge and experience is the only thing he wishes to take with him as he leaves his land and culture behind). And there is the recurring lament of the Hungarian writer who looks to world literature for both influence and approval: "We are alone with our unique language that is surrounded by a sea of powerful and mutually supporting Indo-European tongues that constitute this world-literature in Europe. Who will appreciate our efforts and take the time and trouble to learn the great beauties of own painfully created literary tradition and to see where it belongs in this broader sea of humanistic achievement?" (The foregoing is the reviewer's weak paraphrase of a longing expressed powerfully by Marai.)

The book opens with highly particular observations of the situation in Hungary in March of 1944, and it closes with more general ruminations about the psychological, ethical and cultural state of Europe in 1948. The author is pessimistic, but he will not yield an inch on the overarching importance of a humanistic culture which he feels may be moribund, but without which he sees Europe and the modern world as bereft of rational ideals and purpose. It might be better to read two or three of Marai's novels which are now available in good English translations before turning to this memoir - in this way the reader will be exposed to sophisticated and moving literary portrayals of the world whose loss he laments here. The Corvina Books Ltd. edition of the Memoirs has a brief, cogent Introduction by the translator, who has also compiled very informative end-notes on Hungarian personalities and events alluded to by Marais. This book is highly recommended to anyone who wishes to learn what this historical period looked and felt like "from the inside".

4 out of 5 stars We need more of Maria's books translated.......2006-06-12

This is a first-rate book and that's all that needs to be said. The customer reviews on Amazon provide a rich discussion of its content and of Marai himself. The most important aspect of the book -- and the reviews -- is to draw attention to a major and prolific novelist whose work disappeared for fifty years as a result of the political purging of the communist regime. Embers, the first of the rescued novels, is simply superb -- and such a surprise; you will not have read anything like it. Conversations is more complex and takes a while to get into but it, too, is the work of a unique mind and style.
So, this is a good introduction to Marai and an excellent historical memoir but it is the novels that matter most. There will be more -- the search is on to find the original Hungarian books. Embers should be on your bookshelf and Christmas/Fathers Day/Whatever gift list

5 out of 5 stars Buy,beg,borrow or steal but read this book !.......2005-04-20

This is a wonderful memoir set in Hungary covering the last days of World War II and the gradual take over of power by the communists.The memoir ends in 1948 when Marai left his homeland for good.
As anyone who has read Embers will know Marai is a very gifted writer and this memoir is an absolute delight to read.It is full of brilliant insights and perhaps gives the reader a better idea of what life was like in an East European city in the post war era compared to historical studies.I particulary enjoyed the sections in the book where he recounts his dealings with the Russian soldiers who "liberated" Hungary.
There is only one sadness attached to this book and that is that Marai has only the 3 books available in English.He was a prolific author and if Embers,Converstaions in Bolzano and this memoir are anything to go by he is a writer of great quality and I would gladly read anything he has written.So come on publishers show a bit of initiative and get more of this great twentieth century Hungarian writer into translation.

5 out of 5 stars Fine account of the Red Army occupation of Budapest.......2004-04-10

I cannot improve on the review below, but I can try to help by summarizing a few important points about this book. The reason why it gets five stars is the author's fascinating personal account of the Soviet Army's occupation of Budapest in 1944-1945 and of the cultural clash between Soviet soldiers and the Hungarian bourgeois. This makes up the first third of the book (113 pages). The other two-thirds of the book cover the aftermath of the destruction of Budapest, and the increasing Communist stranglehold on society ending in Marai's flight to Switzerland. These latter parts are not bad, but not as good; they sometimes drag a bit, with Marai tending to entwine himself in navel-gazing intellectual discourse from which a better editor might have rescued him.

5 out of 5 stars Marai's book is a moving memoir of live under Soviet occupat.......1999-01-01

Reviewed by Johanna Granville, Clemson University, Clemson, SC USA. Sandor Marai's Memoir of Hungary (1944-1948) provides an interesting glimpse of post World War II Hungary under Soviet occupation. Like other memoirs by Hungarian writers and statesmen, it was first published in the West, because it could not be published in the Hungary of the post-1956 Kadar era.[1]Marai authored forty-six books, mostly novels, and was considered one of Hungary's most influential representatives of middle class literature between the two world wars by literary critics. He sought his true identity both in his profession and through a geographic attachment: first to Hungary, then to Europe, and finally to the West. He decided to leave his homeland in September 1948. The English version of the memoir was published posthumously; Marai took his own life in 1989, the same year that he was awarded the prestigious Kossuth Prize, Hungary's highest award for literature.[2] Whether or not Marai intended it, this memoir makes the reader wonder what influenced Marai to commit suicide, despite his literary success. Was it due to the bleak environment of Soviet-occupied Hungary, emigration from his homeland, or the inner dreams of a sensitive and expressive man? Written in the first person, this book has certain strengths that are absent from secondary works. Marai gives the reader a keen sense of the humiliation Hungarians felt in living under Nazi and then Soviet domination. Marai also entertains as a diarist, and later generalizes about his experiences in a way that endears him to his readers. Like a good playwright, he engages the audience on several levels, but none better than the homesick artist who, ironically, had grown sick of home. These strengths make the volume an excellent choice for undergraduate and graduate courses on the history of the central European region. On the other hand, Marai's memoir does not provide a dispassionate, critical defense of a central argument with supporting evidence and dissenting opinions. Precisely because it is a diary, the book lacks a single thesis, containing several competing themes instead. One gets the impression that Marai is writing more out of an inner need to articulate his thoughts for himself, rather than to persuade or impress an audience. Thus it would be inappropriate to evaluate this work as one would a scholarly argument. Development of thesis and selection of sources are irrelevant here. Marai's ideas are original and spring from his own experiences. While he cleverly incorporates quotations from great writers and poets, both Hungarians and foreigners, these are simply tools for expressing his own thoughts. In addition, the title of this memoir is a bit of a misnomer, since the book does not discuss in much detail Hungarian politics in the 1944-1948 period. Marai never mentions such public figures as Horthy, Rakosi, or Revai. Only in a couple of places does he refer to the "returned Hungarian communists," the Muscovites. As a subjective diary, it often digresses. One whole section provides details about the daily habits of his wife Lola's grandmother; no larger interpretation accompanies the section. As traumatic as wartime Hungary must have been, Marai found it in some ways preferable to living there after 1945. According to Marai, World War II fostered a sense of human collectivity. People felt closer to each other during the siege because their lives were threatened. After the war, however, people focused on the retrieval of their material possessions, and the spirit of cooperation and unity disappeared. Marai and his wife had been forced to flee their home in Budapest for a small house in a village. There he lacked everything a writer needed: good lighting, quiet, and privacy. There was no electricity, and candles were scarce. Marai lived there with escapees and refugees from the war. After the Soviet occupation in September 1944, random groups of Russian soldiers stopped by Marai's village house, often in the middle of the night, without knocking. They stole scarce food and supplies. Others stayed for longer periods of time. Once a group of Russian soldiers set up a repair shop in his house. Noise was continuous; tools banged and a record of Ukrainian children's choir played around the clock. Marai had to sleep in one room with the others in the household. He also had to witness atrocities. Once a group of Russian soldiers shot the husband of a woman they were abusing. Marai's opinion of the Russians did not improve with this close contact, to say the least. He writes: "We lived for weeks with the thirty men like animals in a cage, slept on the same straw, did their laundry, cooked their meals and helped them with their work" (p. 85). At the same time, it would be incorrect to say that Marai despised the Russians. Instead he was curious about them, and he often pitied them. Despite these intimate living arrangements, Marai continued to find the Russians very strange. The Russians, he writes, "brought Cyrillic letters and all that 'difference,' that mysterious strangeness which Western man never understands and which even this compulsory and very intimate living together could not dispel" (p. 85). While he admired the Soviet military for defeating the Nazis at Stalingrad ("turning around the wagon shaft of world history"), he also knew that the source of Soviet military power was its inexhaustible reserves, not its organizational and technical skills (p. 36). "This Eastern army," he writes in almost Churchillian fashion, "gave the impression of some instinctive biological power--human variants of ants or termites--that had assumed a military shape" (p. 80). Unlike many Hungarians at the time, Marai knew these Russian were not liberators; they could not bring freedom because they lacked it themselves. They merely continued the thieving and murdering that the Nazis had begun. Indeed, this memoir bears similarities to the memoirs of Jewish writers persecuted by the Nazis, in particular to the recently published diary of Victor Klemperer, a Jewish professor of Romance languages in Dresden during World War II.[3] Both writers use their journals partly to substitute for their emotions, partly to maintain their sanity. Both know that if their journals are found by the wrong people, it could mean imprisonment or death. But both also sense in their Nazi or Soviet oppressors a concealed awe of writers. The dangers of journal-keeping are brought home to the reader when Marai tells the story of his friend Poldi Krausz, who in 1944 suddenly showed up outside Marai's door (in Budapest), asking Marai to safeguard his personal album. Krausz knew the Nazis would soon arrest him. Marai advised his friend to ask someone else, because his house would not be any safer than Krausz's. Indeed, literally the next day, Marai and his wife were forced to abandon their house. When they returned years later, after the siege, the house lay in ruins. Marai realizes that the Soviet military was no less ruthless than the Nazi military. Like the Soviet political system as a whole, it was not a meritocracy. Outstanding performance was not rewarded. Instead, Marai writes, "what always counted in the Soviet system was whether it could use a human being, the raw material, today, Thursday, at 4:30 p.m." (p. 83). The system subsisted primarily on forced labor. Moreover, Marai is struck by the Russians' frenzied looting, which he views as the manifestation of "some blind, biological instinct." He noted that the Soviet soldiers "pounced" on a village, a house, a family, and destroyed everything they needed or did not need. Thus "for years and years on barges, trucks, and trains, they hauled away from these rich lands the wheat, iron, coal, oil, and lard, and also human resources, German technicians and Baltic workers" (p. 69). In response, the Hungarian peasants--"just as in the time of the Turks"--took the cows into the woods, buried the potatoes in pits, and hid the women. This looting also explained Soviet military power, Marai claims, since "without the domestic and kidnaped scientists, spies, forced labor of an entire Russian generation," and American aid, "Soviet industry could not have built ballistic missiles, new airplanes, the atom bomb, and a navy" (p. 81). Indeed, Marai concludes that Soviet soldiers plundered so zealously, including property they did not need, because of the abject poverty they had endured for decades. Poverty--not ideology--motivated them, since they robbed both the proletariat and the bourgeoisie indiscriminately. Poverty also engendered corruption. Marai saw how Russians would sell a healthy horse for just one liter of brandy. For Marai the factors he notes in individual Russians' behavior--the lack of freedom, submission to compulsory labor, indiscriminate looting--help to explain Soviet behavior in world politics. For example, the Soviet leaders relied on compulsory solutions
MEMOIR OF HUNGARY 1944-1948
Average customer rating: Not rated
    MEMOIR OF HUNGARY 1944-1948
    Sandor Marai
    Manufacturer: Corvina Budapest
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback
    ASIN: B000IWRSWI

    Sacred Buffalo: The Lakota Way For A New Beginning
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • Sacred Buffalo Live
    • The Sacred Buffalo: The Lakota Way for a New Beginning
    • A Spirit Quest Fullfilled
    Sacred Buffalo: The Lakota Way For A New Beginning
    James G. Durham , and Virginia Thomas
    Manufacturer: SYCAMORE ISLAND BOOKS
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

    GeneralGeneral | Native American | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
    United StatesUnited States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books | 19th Century | 20th Century | 21st Century | African Americans | Civil War | Colonial Period | General | Revolution & Founding | State & Local
    GeneralGeneral | World | History | Subjects | Books
    CulturalCultural | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
    Native AmericanNative American | Earth-Based Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
    GeneralGeneral | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
    jp-unknown2jp-unknown2 | Specialty Stores | Books
    ASIN: 0873648684

    Book Description

    This is the compelling story of the seven-year quest that inspired a monumental work of Native American art - the carving of an entire buffalo skeleton with the seven sacred rites of the Lakota Sioux. At the heart of this story lie the history & traditon of a proud and deeply spiritual people, the Lakota, and a message of hope for people of all origins.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Sacred Buffalo Live.......2001-11-17

    Mr. Durham's book gives an excellent look at some of the beliefs of the Lakota, without being overly romantic. His love for both the Buffalo and Sundance are evident as he shows how walking a sacred path is a full time job, not for the weekend warriors. I have already recomended this books several times, and read my copy twice so far.

    5 out of 5 stars The Sacred Buffalo: The Lakota Way for a New Beginning.......2001-05-28

    I have read this book and found it wonderful. It is very spiritual and gives insight into the Native American spirit and ways. We could all take a lesson from this book. I also had the privilage of seeing the Sacred Buffalo Skeleton in person. Very inspiring!!.

    5 out of 5 stars A Spirit Quest Fullfilled.......2000-08-25

    This book is an amazing journey about what went into the creation of a sacred object. It takes you through the mechanics of how it was done, as well as what the people involved put into it spiritually and emotionally. Their dedication to this project was very inspiring. Having been lucky enough to actually see this beautiful piece of art, I felt the book further enhanced that experience.

    Marion Butler and American Populism
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Marion Butler and American Populism
      James L. Hunt
      Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

      GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
      PoliticalPolitical | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
      Roosevelt, TheodoreRoosevelt, Theodore | ( R ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
      Congresses, Senates, & Legislative BodiesCongresses, Senates, & Legislative Bodies | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
      State & Local GovernmentState & Local Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
      IdeologiesIdeologies | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books | Communism & Socialism | Radical Thought
      LeadershipLeadership | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
      Political PartiesPolitical Parties | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
      Local GovernmentLocal Government | Levels of Government | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
      Leaders & LeadershipLeaders & Leadership | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
      North CarolinaNorth Carolina | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
      All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
      ASIN: 0807827703
      Release Date: 2007-01-17

      Book Description

      Exploring the life and leadership of Populist Marion Butler (1863-1938), James Hunt offers new insight into the challenges of American reform politics.

      The son of North Carolina farmers and a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Butler displayed an early proclivity for agrarian reform. By age twenty-eight he led the Farmers' Alliance of North Carolina; two years later he was elected president of the national Alliance. Butler served in the U.S. Senate as a Populist from 1895 to 1901 and was chairman of the national Populist Party during the critical presidential elections of 1896 and 1900. In 1896 he helped engineer the remarkable collaboration in which Populist Tom Watson ran for vice president alongside Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan.

      Departing from earlier portrayals of Butler as a political opportunist, Hunt shows him to be a genuine reformer who upheld Populist tenets in the face of enormous opposition from Democrats, Republicans, and even members of his own party. A dynamic individual with enormous capacity to mobilize and motivate, Butler sought throughout his career to convert his reform ideals, through politics, into law. His long and, ultimately, losing efforts illuminate the limitations of Populism as an ideology and as a political movement.
      Marion Butler and American Populism.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Marion Butler and American Populism.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History
        James M. Beeby
        Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Digital
        ASIN: B00082Z3O8
        Release Date: 2005-08-01

        Book Description

        This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on August 1, 2004. The length of the article is 645 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

        Citation Details
        Title: Marion Butler and American Populism.(Book Review)
        Author: James M. Beeby
        Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
        Date: August 1, 2004
        Publisher: Southern Historical Association
        Volume: 70 Issue: 3 Page: 703(2)

        Article Type: Book Review

        Distributed by Thomson Gale

        Christopher and His Kind
        Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
        • Classic Literary Memoir
        • How kind of Isherwood
        • One of a Kind
        • Interesting Read- rewarding for the patient
        • Isherwood discovers Berlin and boys
        Christopher and His Kind
        Christopher Isherwood
        Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

        AuthorsAuthors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
        GayGay | Biographies & Memoirs | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books
        GayGay | Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books
        20th Century20th Century | British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
        ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
        History & CriticismHistory & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | African | Asian | Canadian | Caribbean & Latin American | Criticism & Theory | European | General | Movements & Periods | United States
        BritishBritish | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
        Isherwood, ChristopherIsherwood, Christopher | ( I ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
        Similar Items:
        1. The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr. Norris and  Goodbye to Berlin (New Directions Book) The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin (New Directions Book)
        2. A Single Man A Single Man
        3. Down There on a Visit Down There on a Visit
        4. Prater Violet Prater Violet
        5. Lost Years: A Memoir 1945 - 1951 Lost Years: A Memoir 1945 - 1951

        ASIN: 0816638632

        Book Description

        Originally published in 1976, Christopher and His Kind covers the most memorable ten years in the writer's life-from 1929, when Isherwood left England to spend a week in Berlin and decided to stay there indefinitely, to 1939, when he arrived in America. His friends and colleagues during this time included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and E. M. Forster, as well as colorful figures he met in Germany and later fictionalized in his two Berlin novels-who appeared again, fictionalized to an even greater degree, in I Am a Camera and Cabaret.

        What most impressed the first readers of this memoir, however, was the candor with which he describes his life in gay Berlin of the 1930s and his struggles to save his companion, a German man named Heinz, from the Nazis. An engrossing and dramatic story and a fascinating glimpse into a little-known world, Christopher and His Kind remains one of Isherwood's greatest achievements.

        A major figure in twentieth-century fiction and the gay rights movement, Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) is the author of Down There on a Visit, Lions and Shadows, A Meeting by the River, The Memorial, Prater Violet, A Single Man, and The World in the Evening, all available from the University of Minnesota Press.

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars Classic Literary Memoir.......2006-12-05

        I've just finished reading Christopher Isherwood's beautiful little memoir of the years 1929 to 1939, Christopher and His Kind. The personalities that Isherwood surrounded himself with, both little and well-known, provide much of the book's content. Isherwood, with wonderful candor, discusses his meetings and relationships with such luminaries as E.M. Forster, Stephen Spender, W.H. Auden and Rosamond Lehmann. The lesser-known figures, such as the dazzling aesthete Brian Howard, and Gerald Hamilton, a sort of shady internationalist and editor, are just as fascinating. Possessing a gift for anecdote and a deeply sympathetic personality, Isherwood's renderings of his contemporaries are a joy to read and always ring true. The book has occasionally dark themes, especially those surrounding the political milieu of the time and the rising tensions in Europe. As we relive Isherwood's life during these years, we share his sense of impending doom. Isherwood's lover, Heinz, is actually arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo and was later forced to fight on the Russian front (an experience which he miraculously survived). Isherwood's treatment of homosexuality is matter-of-fact; he never seems to have felt guilt or pain over it, but rather early on in his life felt that it was sort of a personal game for he and his friends. During the course of the book, however, he is forced to develop an increasing consciousness of being a member of an unwieldy 'tribe' of gays that extends far beyond his small personal world. At first, it seems like Isherwood is going to write in the third person, but he continually lapses back and forth between the first and the third, an effect which is slightly bewildering but doesn't really effect the book negatively. Christopher and His Kind provides a near perfect picture of literary and gay life of the Europe of the thirties.

        5 out of 5 stars How kind of Isherwood.......2005-04-08

        To reveal a more candid portrait of his life between 1929 and 1939.

        Christopher and His Kind explores the real story behind his travels back and forth from England to Germany, and the people and events that influenced his life during this decade of time.

        Having first read 'Down there on a Visit', which draws experiences and people from this time in his life as it's foundation, it was amusing to read the 'real' story behind certain characters and situations described in the former novel.

        Isherwood is far more frank about his homosexuality, and his encounters with other males, in this book, which can also be attributed to the time period in which this was written, being the 1970's, which definitely saw a more liberal attitude emerging than in the 50's, and 60's. But at the same time, he never seems 'graphic' or overindulgent in his descriptiveness. A sense of propriety and discretion carries throughout.

        The only off-putting aspect of this novel to me, which lists many of Isherwoods contemporaries and friends, including Wystan Auden, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, and more, is that Isherwood in many, many instances refers to himself in the third person, as Christopher, and then immediately switches to first person, 'me'....which is a bit confusing. It reminded me of another book by an 'autobiographical' author, Edmund White (The Married Man) in which White switches from his usual first-person narrative to a third person narrative, leaving me with the impression that he found himself unable to record the events described as anything but an outsider, or observer. I wonder if perhaps the same is true with Isherwood?

        Regardless, this book delves deep into his travels, and interactions with his friends and family. Also described are his days with a long-term love and travel companion, and the lengths Isherwood went to for this young man. The book hints at much more to come with the ending words, which is by far my favorite 'line' out of the four Isherwood works I have read...knowing what he is refering to....but I won't give it away.

        An excellent read, and entertaining to any fan of this gifted author, to know more about his life and times.

        5 out of 5 stars One of a Kind.......2003-05-06

        This book is one of a kind....brilliant, great, adventurous, a classic. Words do not describe it. Isherwood lays evertything on the table. He shows all his cards. This is one of the most exciting books I've ever read. I'm a college student and I skipped all of the ten thousand other books I have to read in order to read this one. It was not a waste of time. Once you get into this book it's a blast. The best part is following Isherwood across Europe. If you want the definitive feeling about the Modern Era read this book. You will get to know such characters as EM Forster, W.H. Auden, and Virginia Woolfe.....Gee, ever heard of them? This is the last great classic Isherwood wrote. I was so entranced by the words that I stayed up all night to finnish it. It's defintiely on my all time favorite list.

        3 out of 5 stars Interesting Read- rewarding for the patient.......2001-12-13

        I will admit to being slightly put off by the text when I first started reading it. However, once past the unique construction of grammar and syntax, it was an enjoyable experience. I found the filter of the English class system, homosexuality and 1920's mores an interesting perspective. I would recommend reading some of Isherwood's other texts before undertaking this one as many of the stories and characters are freely referenced and revealed in a truer light. The descriptions of Germany are unique to his age and thoroughly fascinating. The story of the man he tries to save from the Nazi's is interesting, but I particularly liked the end of the novel where he broaches the future and seeking love, and true companionship. Overall I fine read.

        5 out of 5 stars Isherwood discovers Berlin and boys.......1997-02-11

        Christopher Isherwood makes it clear in his introduction that this book will be candid about his homosexuality. It begins with his move to Berlin and covers the time up to his move to America. There are fascinating anecdotes: the character of Sally Bowles (later made famous by "Cabaret") was named after the then unknown but handsome American Paul Bowles. Isherwood read E.M. Forster's "Maurice" in manuscript, decades before it was published. These are just a few. And note: his "Diaries: Volume 1" begins just *after* this book (the earlier diaries were destroyed)
        Christopher & His Kind 1929-1939
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Christopher & His Kind 1929-1939
          Christopher Isherwood
          Manufacturer: Magnum Books
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback
          ASIN: B000KKEA0G
          Christopher & His Kind 1ST Edition
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Christopher & His Kind 1ST Edition
            C Isherwood
            Manufacturer: FARRAR STRAUS & * GIROUX
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover
            ASIN: B000PYLDQG
            Christopher And His Kind
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              Christopher And His Kind
              Christopher Isherwood
              Manufacturer: Methuen
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Hardcover
              ASIN: B000UIQ2GI
              Christopher and His Kind
              Average customer rating: Not rated
                Christopher and His Kind
                Christopher Isherwood
                Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus, 1976
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Hardcover
                ASIN: B000H5M47U
                Christopher and His Kind
                Average customer rating: Not rated
                  Christopher and His Kind
                  Christopher Isherwood
                  Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Hardcover
                  ASIN: B000NULEXO
                  Christopher and His Kind 1929-1939
                  Average customer rating: Not rated
                    Christopher and His Kind 1929-1939
                    Christopher Isherwood
                    Manufacturer: FARRAR STRAUS AND GIROUX
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Hardcover
                    ASIN: B000OKUQKA
                    Christopher and His Kind: 1929-1939
                    Average customer rating: Not rated
                      Christopher and His Kind: 1929-1939

                      Manufacturer: Farrar Straus & Giroux
                      ProductGroup: Book
                      Binding: Paperback
                      ASIN: 0380017954
                      Christopher and His Kind: 1929-1939.
                      Average customer rating: Not rated
                        Christopher and His Kind: 1929-1939.

                        Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus
                        ProductGroup: Book
                        Binding: Hardcover
                        ASIN: B000I8252K
                        Christopher and His Kind  1929-1939
                        Average customer rating: Not rated
                          Christopher and His Kind 1929-1939
                          Christopher Isherwood
                          Manufacturer: Farrar Straus
                          ProductGroup: Book
                          Binding: Hardcover
                          ASIN: B000O642CM

                          Books:

                          1. Nakajima Ki.43 Hayabusa I-III: In Japanese Army Air Force-RTAF-CAF-IPSF service (Arco-Aircam aviation series)
                          2. Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers
                          3. No Mean Soldier: The Story of the Ultimate Professional Soldier in the SAS and Other Forces
                          4. Optimal Control and Estimation (Dover Books on Advanced Mathematics)
                          5. Preventing and Reducing Juvenile Delinquency: A Comprehensive Framework
                          6. Public Administration: Understanding Management, Politics, and Law in the Public Sector
                          7. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory
                          8. Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies
                          9. Singled Out: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After
                          10. Social Work Practice with Children and Adolescents

                          Books Index

                          Books Home

                          Recommended Books

                          1. Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills
                          2. I Am Legend
                          3. Creating Radiant Flowers in Colored Pencil
                          4. Cork and Fuzz: Short and Tall
                          5. He Chose the Nails
                          6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
                          7. Head First PMP: A Brain-Friendly Guide to Passing the Project Management Professional Exam
                          8. The Georgia Conservancy's Guide to the North Georgia Mountains
                          9. GEORGE AND ELIZABETH: A ROYAL MARRIAGE
                          10. Starvation In Bacteria