Mr Norris Changes Trains: Christopher Isherwood (Vintage classics)

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Ho ritrovato temi e umori, atmosfera e situazioni del romanzo di Isherwood perfettamente riportate nella bella serie TV tedesca Babylon Berlin, che però ha tutt’altra fonte d’ispirazione (i romanzi di Volker Kutscher). Ma guardarla era un po’ come ritornare nelle Storie Berlinesi di Isherwood, il nome collettivo col quale si includono sia questo romanzo che l’altro Addio a Berlino (dal quale è invece liberamente tratto il musical e il film Cabaret).

Mr. Norris changes trains : Isherwood, Christopher, 1904-1986 Mr. Norris changes trains : Isherwood, Christopher, 1904-1986

It is the privilege of the richer but less mentally endowed members of the community to contribute to the upkeep of people like myself’ says the immoral, unrepentant Arthur Norris, who wears a wig (he has three, and they cost around four hundred marks) spends a lot of time in front of the mirror (again a nuance of gayness may be distinguished here, or am I wrong) using powders, creams, make up, from bottles that are more numerous than in the boudoirs of women, though in terms of sexual preferences, he has some awkward tastes, only not the ones expected from his lifestyle, he likes to be dominated, beaten and humiliated by Anni (whose beauty is only ‘sin-deep’, which is one of the many jokes that the protagonist likes to make regularly) a woman he pays, he polishes her boots and Otto is her protector and pimp probably. William receives a message from Arthur that may just sum up the whole novel. ”Tell me, William, his last letter concluded, what have I done to deserve all this?”And Goodbye to Berlin is an account of fellow tenants and all kinds of wretches abiding in Berlin. The most picturesque piece of it is Sally Bowles which pleasantly reminded me of Breakfast at Tiffany’s… the semiautobiographical work consists of Mr. Norris Changes Trains (1935; U.S. title, The Last of Mr. Norris) and Goodbye to Berlin (1939). Read More In Berlin in 1932, he also began an important relationship with Heinz Neddermeyer, a young German with whom he fled the Nazis in 1933. England refused entry to Neddermeyer on his second visit in 1934, and the pair moved restlessly about Europe until the Gestapo arrested Neddermeyer in May 1937 and then finally separated them. The novel follows the movements of William Bradshaw, its narrator, who meets a nervous-looking man named Arthur Norris on a train going from the Netherlands to Germany. As they approach the frontier William strikes up a conversation with Mr Norris, who wears an ill-fitting wig and carries a suspect passport.

Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood | Goodreads

There is so much subtext behind the extremely polite veneer put forth by the anti-hero Mr. Norris. While the actual plot line was quite thin, I found myself wanting to start the next chapter. This was not the moving experience I had reading A Single Man. I honestly don't know what to make of the fact that the story was farcical yet the historical setting and circumstances were rather grave. Eventually, Isherwood makes his disdain for the Nazis, and for the sleepwalking Germans who chose not to oppose them, a little more obvious. He waxes regretfully poetic about the violence of the SA, and the way the whispers about that violence were drowned out by the propaganda machine. He also writes effectively about the unspoken fear. Isherwood even has the oblivious Norris deliver a moment of ironic awareness of the situation in Germany. And what did they use to give you on Sundays?’ he was asking as I came in. ‘We got pea-soup with a sausage in it. Not so bad.’ After a chance encounter on a train the English teacher William Bradshaw starts a close friendship with the mildly sinister Arthur Norris. Norris is a man of contradictions; lavish but heavily in debt, excessively polite but sexually deviant. First published in 1933 Mr Norris Changes Trains piquantly evokes the atmosphere of Berlin during the rise of the Nazis. Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood – eBook DetailsAnd that Berlin was caught between the carefree hedonism of its cabarets (heirloom of the 1920s) and an economic and political crisis which quite helped the Nazis to kidnap Germany and throw it to the dogs. there is one ridiculous Baron whose proclivity for young boys is aided by his reading list in one particular genre: it is the Boy's-Castaway-Island scenario that fascinates him. Whenever we encounter the Baron, he's likely to be asking if a current escort reminds the narrator of one of his desert-island idylls. Grown men. Some wearing monocles. Boy castaways. Berlin. Nazis. Isherwood makes it impossible not to laugh, and yet...) Isherwood evokes the Berlin of the early 1930s as the Nazis are on the rise but are opposed by others, particularly the Communists. He clearly does not have a great deal of faith in the Communists, who are almost as much schemers as the Nazis. However, his portrait of Norris is superb. Here is a man, oily, dishonest, deceitful, of not particularly pleasant appearance, always out to make some money, even if at the expense of others, including his friends, yet we cannot help but have a soft spot for him. This is partially because there are those worse than him (the Nazis and Schmidt) and partially because we see him through Bradshaw’s eyes who, despite Norris’ behaviour, clearly also has a soft spot for him. Publishing history Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-05-20 08:05:55 Boxid IA40118214 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier