Mr Norris Changes Trains: Christopher Isherwood (Vintage classics)

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Although the Goodbye to Berlin is only semi autobiographic it gives a fine picture of Berlin between wars.

Mr Norris Changes Trains - Penguin Books Australia Mr Norris Changes Trains - Penguin Books Australia

In between the class struggle is "Herr Christoph", a foreigner, an upcoming writer, teaching English to spoiled upper class kids for a penny and once in a while free riding in high society.

Finger-nails and all?’ I’d noticed Natalia’s eyes returning to them again and again, in fascinated horror. Norris is a Communist, and also a masochist. His character is brilliantly drawn by Isherwood, with his classic wit and sly humour, but he is also veiled in mystery, which the progression of the novel slowly unravels. It isn’t quite as enjoyable or illuminated as Goodbye to Berlin, but still a brilliant read. Isherwood began work on a much larger work he called The Lost before paring down its story and characters to focus on Norris. The book was critically and popularly acclaimed but years after its publication Isherwood denounced it as shallow and dishonest.

Mr Norris Changes Trains - Christopher Isherwood - Google Books Mr Norris Changes Trains - Christopher Isherwood - Google Books

Mr Norris is a man who lives well, despite his soon obvious lifestyle of debts, despair and dodgy dealings. The novel is set in 1930’s Berlin and so it is impossible to ignore the political situation unfolding there. Mr Norris is keen to shine at the local Communist Party meetings, but these activities also lead to him being questioned by the authorities. His glance, now vacant for a moment, was clouded again. An unpleasant thought seemed to tease him like a wasp; he moved his head slightly to avoid it." How does the author's use of introspection versus action contribute to the overall tone and message of the novel? The closeness to the communist party is probably the only shortcoming of a novel that is otherwise Perfect, for the under signed has lived for twenty five years under the Ceausescu regime (no less, though he is more than proud to say that he took part in the 1989 revolution and he is mentioned in Newsweek for the bravado…this and the fact that I have invented the lotus on the head position while doing abdomens might be my greatest, and sadly only, achievements and if you know how to monetize this, we could partner on it) and there is ‘no love lost there’ and when a personage shows this kind of affinity, well…he, she, they (we have to use they now, for the transgender, nongender and others I hear) lose my sympathy… Towards the novel's conclusion, politics dominates the story as the plot strands cleverly come together. Just as William Bradshaw realises that he has been duped, so the German people are also being taken in by their Nazi leader. Unlike Hitler in the 1930s, Norris's own plans never seem to quite work out and, as the tragic ending presages the horrors that were to follow, so it also signals hasty departures from Berlin for both Arthur Norris and William Bradshaw.

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This made me ponder the history of New York, and in particular the Lower East Side, which I learned on my tour of The Tenement Museum was the area of NYC where German, Prussian and Bohemian immigrants made their home in the 19th century. It made me wonder whether NYC’s Germanic past was a reason for the present day culture having similarities to that of interwar Berlin. I found the ending of the "The Nowaks" moving. The images of the patients standing around the bus as it readies for departure are indelibly etched in my mind. Otto really became quite annoying; it’s a wonder he lived passed puberty. I think I could have lived in that house for about an hour. I believe at one point this novel was going to be called Miserable Mopey English Sod has Absolutely No Fun in Berlin which would have left the reader in no doubt. I first read Mr Norris Changes Trains in 1984. God knows what I made of it then. I wanted to read some Isherwood after reading Eric Larson’s book about Berlin in the 1930s. I wanted to see what a fictional representation of this era looked like. It’s a strange and slight novel. The narrator presents as being gullible and naïve. The Mr Norris of the title is entirely untrustworthy. In a way, these three qualities echo some key elements of the times but despite this overlay, the author doesn’t do much with the narrative. The novel was still titled The Lost when Isherwood mailed the manuscript to Hogarth Press for publication, but the title was eventually changed to Mr Norris Changes Trains. Isherwood meant to evoke with that title not only Norris's continual moves from country to country to avoid his enemies and creditors, but also his constantly shifting political alliances and interests. [7] Isherwood's friend Stephen Spender preferred the original title, saying of the new one that "It gives one the sense of earrings." [10] An employee at William Morrow and Company, Isherwood's American publisher, told Isherwood that no one in the United States would understand the term "changes trains" and so Isherwood supplied the alternate title The Last of Mr Norris. [11] "He thereby created the false impression that these are two different novels, one the sequel to the other. Which ... led to much wearisome correspondence with readers, setting the record straight." [12] Isherwood's reevaluation [ edit ]