Lost Years: A Memoir 1945-1951
by Isherwood, Christopher
- Used
- first
- Condition
- Fine in fine dust jacket, in mylar cover.
- Seller
-
Denver, Colorado, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
HarperCollins, 2000. First edition, first printing. Fine in fine dust jacket, in mylar cover..
Synopsis
The English writer Christopher Isherwood settled in California in 1939 and spent the war years working in Hollywood film studios, teaching English to European refugees, and converting to Hinduism. By the time the war ended, he realized he was not cut out to be a monk. With his self-imposed wartime vigil behind him, he careened into a life of frantic socializing, increasing dissipation, anxiety, and, eventually, despair.For nearly a half decade he all but ceased to write fiction and even abandoned his lifelong habit of keeping a diary.This is Isherwood's own account, reconstructed from datebooks, letters, and memory nearly thirty years later, of his experience during those missing years: his activities in Santa Monica, and also in New York and London, just after the war.Begun in 1971, in a postsixties atmosphere of liberation, Lost Years includes explicit details of his romantic and sexual relationships during the 1940s and unveils a hidden and sometimes shocking way of life shared with friends and acquaintances--many of whom were well-known artists, actors, and film-makers. Not until the 1951 Broadway success of I Am a Camera, adapted from his Berlin stories, did Isherwood begin to reclaim control of his talents and of his future.Isherwood never prepared Lost years for publication because he rapidly became caught up in writing the book that established him as a hero of gay liberation, Christopher and His Kind.With unpolished directness, and with insight and wit, Lost Years shows how Isherwood developed his private recollections into the unique mixture of personal mythology and social history that characterizes much of his best work. This surprising and important memoir also highlights his determination to track down even the most elusive and unappealing aspects of his past in order to understand and honestly portray himself, both as a writer and as a human being.
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Details
- Bookseller
- The Hermitage Bookshop
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 179521
- Title
- Lost Years: A Memoir 1945-1951
- Author
- Isherwood, Christopher
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine in fine dust jacket, in mylar cover.
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition, first printing
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Date Published
- 2000
Terms of Sale
The Hermitage Bookshop
All books returnable for any reason within ten days of receipt. Shipping on all heavy or oversize books will be quoted upon inquiry. We do not ship surface overseas.
About the Seller
The Hermitage Bookshop
Biblio member since 2006
Denver, Colorado
About The Hermitage Bookshop
The Hermitage Bookshop was established in 1973 and has been under one owner since its inception. We are a full service rare and used bookshop and our stock is limited to hardbacks in excellent condition. We have been a member of both the ABAA and ILAB since 1980.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
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