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The Sixties: Diaries 1960–1969
“An intimate portrait of the life of a beautiful if neurotic mind… streaked with gossip, flinty observations, great good humor and—despite Isherwood’s fundamental discretion—plenty of frank talk.” — Dwight Garner, New York Times
“These diaries are, in their core, a love story…thanks to [them], we bear witness to it all—and are all the richer for it.” — New York Journal of Books
“A good writer…intensely self-aware…a fascinating companion…THE SIXTIES [is] accessible to everyone…a true piece of social history.” — Edmund White, New York Times Book Review
“The diary entries in The Sixties are a mix of quotidian detail, social observation, moody reverie, gossip and self-rebuke.” — Wall Street Journal
“Gossipy, funny, wide-ranging, and revealing…[Isherwood] comes across as approachable, aware, and passionately interested.” — Publishers Weekly
“These diaries are, in their core, a love story…thanks to [them], we bear witness to it all—and are all the richer for it.” — New York Journal of Books
“A good writer…intensely self-aware…a fascinating companion…THE SIXTIES [is] accessible to everyone…a true piece of social history.” — Edmund White, New York Times Book Review
“The diary entries in The Sixties are a mix of quotidian detail, social observation, moody reverie, gossip and self-rebuke.” — Wall Street Journal
“Gossipy, funny, wide-ranging, and revealing…[Isherwood] comes across as approachable, aware, and passionately interested.” — Publishers Weekly
805 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2010
34 people are currently reading
361 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Isherwood
174 books1,523 followersEnglish-born American writer Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood portrayed Berlin in the early 1930s in his best known works, such as
Goodbye to Berlin
(1939), the basis for the musical
Cabaret
(1966). Isherwood was a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist.
With W.H. Auden he wrote three plays— The Dog Beneath the Skin (1932), The Ascent of F6 (1936), and On the Frontier (1938). Isherwood tells the story in his first autobiography, Lions and Shadows .
After Isherwood wrote joke answers on his second-year exams, Cambridge University in 1925 asked him to leave. He briefly attended medical school and progressed with his first two novels, All the Conspirators (1928) and The Memorial (1932). In 1930, he moved to Berlin, where he taught English, dabbled in Communism, and enthusiastically explored his homosexuality. His experiences provided the material for Mister Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1938), still his most famous book.
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.
In 1938, Isherwood sailed with Auden to China to write Journey to a War (1939), about the Sino-Japanese conflict. They returned to England and Isherwood went on to Hollywood to look for movie-writing work. He also became a disciple of the Ramakrishna monk, Swami Prabhavananda, head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California. He decided not to take monastic vows, but he remained a Hindu for the rest of his life, serving, praying, and lecturing in the temple every week and writing a biography, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (1965).
In 1945, Isherwood published Prater Violet, fictionalizing his first movie writing job in London in 1933-1934. In Hollywood, he spent the start of the 1950s fighting his way free of a destructive five-year affair with an attractive and undisciplined American photographer, William Caskey. Caskey took the photographs for Isherwood’s travel book about South America, The Condor and The Cows (1947). Isherwood’s sixth novel, The World in the Evening (1954), written mostly during this period, was less successful than earlier ones.
In 1953, he fell in love with Don Bachardy, an eighteen-year-old college student born and raised in Los Angeles. They were to remain together until Isherwood’s death. In 1961, Isherwood and completed the final revisions to his new novel Down There on a Visit (1962). Their relationship nearly ended in 1963, and Isherwood moved out of their Santa Monica house. This dark period underpins Isherwood’s masterpiece A Single Man (1964).
Isherwood wrote another novel, A Meeting by the River (1967), about two brothers, but he gave up writing fiction and turned entirely to autobiography. In Kathleen and Frank (1971), he drew on the letters and diaries of his parents. In Christopher and His Kind (1976), he returned to the 1930s to tell, as a publicly avowed homosexual, the real story of his life in Berlin and his wanderings with Heinz Neddermeyer. The book made him a hero of gay liberation and a national celebrity all over again but now in his true, political and personal identity.
With W.H. Auden he wrote three plays— The Dog Beneath the Skin (1932), The Ascent of F6 (1936), and On the Frontier (1938). Isherwood tells the story in his first autobiography, Lions and Shadows .
After Isherwood wrote joke answers on his second-year exams, Cambridge University in 1925 asked him to leave. He briefly attended medical school and progressed with his first two novels, All the Conspirators (1928) and The Memorial (1932). In 1930, he moved to Berlin, where he taught English, dabbled in Communism, and enthusiastically explored his homosexuality. His experiences provided the material for Mister Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1938), still his most famous book.
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.
In 1938, Isherwood sailed with Auden to China to write Journey to a War (1939), about the Sino-Japanese conflict. They returned to England and Isherwood went on to Hollywood to look for movie-writing work. He also became a disciple of the Ramakrishna monk, Swami Prabhavananda, head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California. He decided not to take monastic vows, but he remained a Hindu for the rest of his life, serving, praying, and lecturing in the temple every week and writing a biography, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (1965).
In 1945, Isherwood published Prater Violet, fictionalizing his first movie writing job in London in 1933-1934. In Hollywood, he spent the start of the 1950s fighting his way free of a destructive five-year affair with an attractive and undisciplined American photographer, William Caskey. Caskey took the photographs for Isherwood’s travel book about South America, The Condor and The Cows (1947). Isherwood’s sixth novel, The World in the Evening (1954), written mostly during this period, was less successful than earlier ones.
In 1953, he fell in love with Don Bachardy, an eighteen-year-old college student born and raised in Los Angeles. They were to remain together until Isherwood’s death. In 1961, Isherwood and completed the final revisions to his new novel Down There on a Visit (1962). Their relationship nearly ended in 1963, and Isherwood moved out of their Santa Monica house. This dark period underpins Isherwood’s masterpiece A Single Man (1964).
Isherwood wrote another novel, A Meeting by the River (1967), about two brothers, but he gave up writing fiction and turned entirely to autobiography. In Kathleen and Frank (1971), he drew on the letters and diaries of his parents. In Christopher and His Kind (1976), he returned to the 1930s to tell, as a publicly avowed homosexual, the real story of his life in Berlin and his wanderings with Heinz Neddermeyer. The book made him a hero of gay liberation and a national celebrity all over again but now in his true, political and personal identity.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 12, 2016
As I said with regard to the letters exchanged between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell in their Words in Air, a writer’s diaries, likewise, allow the reader to be a voyeur in a manner that is socially acceptable. I probably enjoyed this volume even more than Isherwood’s first one because here he’s writing between his mid-fifties and mid-sixties. His writing ethic is almost as good as it is in his earlier tome, but because of certain physical ailments (real and imagined, he admits), he gets sidetracked. And also he loses entire days to the previous evening’s drunkenness: he simply doesn’t feel like writing with a hangover. He really doesn’t like to socialize as much as he has in the past, and yet he must because he also writes for the film industry and must hobnob with those people. Ah, the pain.
He has formed a loving relationship, though stormy at times, with a man thirty years his junior, artist Don Bachardy. He must, at times, also be a patient father figure, and willing brother, bold example to Don. When Bachardy is out of town, Isherwood mourns their loss of time together. He often doesn’t work or doesn’t get as much done. He must draw on this mournful situation when he pens A Single Man, to understand the pathos of a man who has lost his lover to death. And yet Isherwood also forms lifelong friendships with a wide range of people in the arts and religion: Igor and Vera Stravinsky, Aldous and Laura Huxley, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, as well as many writers, directors, and producers in the theatre and cinema. These are people who nourish his artistic and personal life.
As I did with Volume One, I’m now reading the works of fiction and nonfiction that he composes during this decade: A Single Man, Down There on a Visit, A Meeting by the River, and others. My third reading of A Single Man will now be different, colored by knowing the agony of how he approaches it, how he weathers the mixed critical reviews he receives for what he thinks is his very best book. Below I’ve listed a variety of citations typical of his journal writing. Now onto the 1970s and 1980s!
Nuggets:
Friend and writer E. M. Forster once offers Isherwood some advice which he echoes through this diary a number of times: “Get on with your own work; behave as if you were immortal.” I believe Isherwood takes heed.
He has formed a loving relationship, though stormy at times, with a man thirty years his junior, artist Don Bachardy. He must, at times, also be a patient father figure, and willing brother, bold example to Don. When Bachardy is out of town, Isherwood mourns their loss of time together. He often doesn’t work or doesn’t get as much done. He must draw on this mournful situation when he pens A Single Man, to understand the pathos of a man who has lost his lover to death. And yet Isherwood also forms lifelong friendships with a wide range of people in the arts and religion: Igor and Vera Stravinsky, Aldous and Laura Huxley, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, as well as many writers, directors, and producers in the theatre and cinema. These are people who nourish his artistic and personal life.
As I did with Volume One, I’m now reading the works of fiction and nonfiction that he composes during this decade: A Single Man, Down There on a Visit, A Meeting by the River, and others. My third reading of A Single Man will now be different, colored by knowing the agony of how he approaches it, how he weathers the mixed critical reviews he receives for what he thinks is his very best book. Below I’ve listed a variety of citations typical of his journal writing. Now onto the 1970s and 1980s!
Nuggets:
“[Don] seems to be having constant attacks of my age-old complaint, spasm of the vagus nerve—at least I hope that’s all it is” (24). [health]
“On the 29th, I finished revising ‘Waldemar’ and sent it off right away to Edward [Upward]. It isn’t perfectly all right yet, but it’s as good as I can get it until I have the whole book and can go through it relating all the parts to each other” (30). [writing]
“Well, I can’t help that. It [Down There on a Visit] certainly has its faults. Parts of it—particularly ‘Paul’—are still sloppily written and I must tighten them up before they go to press. But I feel confident that the whole thing does add up to something, and that it has an authenticity of direct experience and is altogether superior to the slickness and know-how and inner falsity of World in the Evening. If people don’t like it, I am sincerely sorry; but already I feel in my bones that I shall never repudiate it or have to apologize for it. So we’ll see” (66). [writing]
“Then Chester Kallman will be coming and we finally approach the talks about the Berlin musical [Cabaret]. I have a feeling these will end badly. Especially as I don’t really like Chester, and as I feel the terms they are proposing are not fair to me: they want us to split three ways, while I feel that I should have something extra as the original author” (72). [writing]
“A story told me by Michael Barrie: Jesus and the Blessed Virgin go out to play golf. The Blessed Virgin is at the top of her form, drives and lands on the green. Jesus slices and lands in the bushes. A squirrel picks up the ball and runs off with it. A dog grab the squirrel, which still holds the ball in its mouth. An eagle swoops down, picks up the dog, squirrel and ball, and soars into the air. Out of a clear sky, lightning strikes the eagle, which drops the dog which drops the squirrel which drops the ball, right into the hole. The Blessed Virgin throws down her driver and exclaims indignantly, ‘Look, are you going to play golf or just fuck around?’” [joke]
“ . . . and a description of how the ‘reassuring’ type of writer takes you by the hand and leads you step by step from a familiar into an unfamiliar situation. (Cf. Hemingway, leading you into a game hunt or a battle; and, if he’s in a place you don’t know, he tries to persuade you that you do know it—‘You know how it there early in the morning in Havana, etc.)’” (181). [writing]
“Sure, I am prejudiced, but I feel always more strongly how ignoble marriage usually is. How it drags down and shackles and degrades a young man like Henri, who is really sweet and bright and full of quiet but powerful passion. The squalid little shop, the little business premises, you have to open, and the deadly social pattern which is then imposed on you—of dragging some dowdy little frump of a woman all around with you, wherever you go, for the next forty years. Not to mention the kids. It is a miserable compromise for the man, and he is apt to punish the woman for having blackmailed him into it” (188). [marriage]
Have just finished Mrs. Dalloway. It is a marvellous book[.] Woolf’s use of the reverie is quite different from Joyce’s stream of consciousness. Beside her, Joyce seems tricky and vulgar and cheap, as she herself thought. Woolf’s kind of reverie is less ‘realistic’ but far more convincing and moving. It can convey tremendous and varied emotion. Joyce’s emotional range is very small” (219). [literature]
“Yesterday I reread my novel, the fifty-six pages I’ve written so far. I am discouraged; very little seems to be emerging. Maybe I really have to sit down and plot a bit before I go on. I do not have a plot and I don’t even know what I want to write a novel about . . . . No, that’s not quite true. I want to write about middle age, and being an alien. And about the Young. And about this woman. The trouble is, I really cannot write entirely by ear; I must do some thinking” (221). [preliminary discussion of his writing of A Single Man, which originally featured a woman]
“Since it was no good my sitting with Charles, I had time on my hands and so I drove up to the Griffith Park Observatory to watch the sun set. Astonishing, how empty and wild the hills still seem. As I stood there I felt, as I have felt so often, why don’t I spend more time in awareness, instead of stewing in this daze? How precious these last years ought to be to me, and how I ought to spend them alone—alone inside myself, no matter who is around” (238). [philosophy]
“The Stravinskys came to supper on Monday evening, along with the Huxleys. Bob Craft told us that Igor and Vera were quite transformed while in Russia. They were so happy to be speaking the language in which they were really fluent. All their pride in Russia emerged—especially, of course, Igor’s. Igor, like Picasso, is still really a tolerated exception in the arts; the authorities still don’t approve of what either of them stands for. Igor was chiefly pursued by young people, to whom he is an avant-garde champion. But more of all this, I hope, tomorrow night, when we have supper with them, at their house” (250) [friendship]
“David Roth has a friend who, when he was being examined by the psychologist at the draft board, was asked, ‘Could you kill a man?’ and answered, ‘Yes, but it would take years’” (389). [humorous anecdote]
“Don and I parted discreetly at the car door. As for Gigi, I politely kissed her goodbye on the cheek. Danny took out ten dollars’ worth of life insurance (which pays off three hundred thousand, I think he said). Danny spread his between his children and Gigi, I guess. So I took out the same amount in favor of Don—just to show Danny that we animals are very bit as valuable as humans” (411). [relationship with Don]
“Well, the Cabaret film is on. We stand to win at least ten thousand dollars, for a treatment; then, if that’s accept, ninety thousand for the screenplay; then, if the picture is made, a bonus of twenty-five thousand if we’re the sole credited authors and of ten thousand if we share the credit!” (556). [finance]
“Don said at breakfast this morning that he is so happy with me and with our life together now. I feel the same way, but it is so important to remember that what is alive and flexible is also subject to change—change is a sign of emotional health. Therefore all statements and facts of this kind are merely to be recorded as one records the weather. Which doesn’t make it any the less marvelous when the feather is fine!” (459). [relationship with Don]
Friend and writer E. M. Forster once offers Isherwood some advice which he echoes through this diary a number of times: “Get on with your own work; behave as if you were immortal.” I believe Isherwood takes heed.
May 28, 2025
Another engrossing collection of diaries. I love the style of Isherwood and his anecdotes of his life during this turbulent decade remain intriguing - encounters with other famous names, trips abroad (including Australia for the first time). But, my word, what a hypochondriac he was also!!
April 17, 2012
Growing up as a gay kid in the rural MidWest during the late 70's and early 80's, the novels of Christopher Isherwood were almost as important for their sheer existence as much as for what the stories had to say about the approaching struggles of youth and adulthood that were going to set me apart from my family and peers.
Now, as a middle-aged guy in a relationship approaching its twentieth year, I find myself learning from him again in much the same way. Not only the ups and downs of sharing a life with another man, but the impact of age on self-image and prospects for the future.
The diaries cover such a rich period of time in terms of popular culture, spirituality, gay history, Isherwood's own career and that of his partner Don Bachardy, that they can be read cover to cover as books in their own right, or thematically, thanks to a very thorough index, as historical sources full of insight and intimate detail.
At a time when the demand for gay marriage has become so prominent in national politics, these diaries offer a very challenging read that forces us to seriously examine current ideas about gay relationships in the context of this very real attempt by two gay artists to share their lives as naturally as possible. Some of this reading can be unpleasant at times, but that discomfort is essential to understanding the project at hand.
P.S. Concerning the elephant in the room, Isherwood does seem to be extremely sensitive to the presence of Jews in his life. Is this anti-semitism? Umm, sometimes one has to wonder; however, I do think there is more to it. Isherwood seems to be working through what it would mean for gay people to exist as a recognized minority group in society. He is not a political theorist, so it's a bumpy ride.
Now, as a middle-aged guy in a relationship approaching its twentieth year, I find myself learning from him again in much the same way. Not only the ups and downs of sharing a life with another man, but the impact of age on self-image and prospects for the future.
The diaries cover such a rich period of time in terms of popular culture, spirituality, gay history, Isherwood's own career and that of his partner Don Bachardy, that they can be read cover to cover as books in their own right, or thematically, thanks to a very thorough index, as historical sources full of insight and intimate detail.
At a time when the demand for gay marriage has become so prominent in national politics, these diaries offer a very challenging read that forces us to seriously examine current ideas about gay relationships in the context of this very real attempt by two gay artists to share their lives as naturally as possible. Some of this reading can be unpleasant at times, but that discomfort is essential to understanding the project at hand.
P.S. Concerning the elephant in the room, Isherwood does seem to be extremely sensitive to the presence of Jews in his life. Is this anti-semitism? Umm, sometimes one has to wonder; however, I do think there is more to it. Isherwood seems to be working through what it would mean for gay people to exist as a recognized minority group in society. He is not a political theorist, so it's a bumpy ride.
July 3, 2010
The groovy 1960's via the eyes and heart of Christopher Isherwood. This 700 page book is a page-turner, but then again I find any diary by a really good writer interesting. Isherwood and artist Don Barcardy are sort of the iconic couple of Los Angeles 20th Century. Through out the diary Isherwood lists the down and ups of their relationship, but it is not only that, also their social world was really something. Everyone from Jack Larson (TV's Superman's Jimmy Olsen) to Stravinsky swim in their world.
The era was dramatic, but Isherwood reaching old age is full of little dramas as well. Sickness (nothing serious) and aging and watching the world unfold at the time is interesting. The book also goes into his life with his Swami, but not in super great detail. In fact everything gets portioned out like a perfect meal in this book. Gossipy but not bitchy. It is pretty much an essential read for those who want to dwell in the world of 1960's era Gay life as well as the thoughts of a wonderful writer.
The additional plus is his thoughts while writing "A Single Man." The book I read is a galley and won't be released till November, 2010.
The era was dramatic, but Isherwood reaching old age is full of little dramas as well. Sickness (nothing serious) and aging and watching the world unfold at the time is interesting. The book also goes into his life with his Swami, but not in super great detail. In fact everything gets portioned out like a perfect meal in this book. Gossipy but not bitchy. It is pretty much an essential read for those who want to dwell in the world of 1960's era Gay life as well as the thoughts of a wonderful writer.
The additional plus is his thoughts while writing "A Single Man." The book I read is a galley and won't be released till November, 2010.
March 22, 2012
Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy have long been role models, a term both, I suspect, would dislike and disclaim--role models as openly gay partners for over thirty years, as successful artists, and as a May-December relationship. Having read the first volume of Isherwood's Diaries, I read with pleasure the 600 pages of this volume, written during the composition of several of Isherwood's books, most interestingly A Single Man. Diaries, Vol. 2, is a fascinating and intimate look inside the relationship Chris and Don had in the context of their mutual religion, Vedanta, as well as of Hollywood and the art and literary worlds both moved in. I look forward to the next volume.
March 5, 2011
I read this book in installments, and really enjoyed it. Isherwood for one thing writes wonderful sentences; it's amazing how well his diary reads. This was a period during which he was doing some of his best writing, including A Single Man. He was engaged in Vedantic practice, he was a pioneer in gay liberation, and he did a lot of screenwriting in Hollywood. He knew absolutely everyone, and many notable people appear in these pages, including Auden, Stravinsky, Aldous Huxley, and--toward the end--a brief appearance by Mick Jagger. I'm not generally a fan of diaries, but this volume is a major exception. Highly recommended.
November 24, 2022
“A glorious day. I feel absolutely sick with misery.”
“Meanwhile, life being as heartless as it is, I have had a splendid day so far.”
Ah, Isherwood. One day it’s “I have been thinking a lot about death,” the next it’s “I have never been happier!” Advancing into late middle-age his relationship with his much younger companion, Don Bachardy, is all highly happy ups or deeply depressing downs as they try to figure out how or why to keep having a life together. Isherwood’s friends are dying left & right, exacerbating his hypochondria, convincing him that every ache is cancer & the end is nigh. He struggles with his devotion to Vedanta & with writing. Still, “the answer, as always, is Forster’s answer: Get on with your own work, behave as if you were immortal.”
Get on with his work he did, accomplishing a hell of a lot while continually chastising himself for laziness, observing both his own flawed self & one of the most definite decades of the 20th century with sharp insight, honesty, bleakness, joy, grumpiness, generosity, humor, a hatred of most French things, some casual anti-semitism (not a violent hatred, but some derisive remarks about individuals), many drunk nights & hangovers, resolutions to quit drinking, hobnobbing with famous writers & actors, readying himself for death, struggling with happiness while also understanding the path to it more & more.
These diaries are less detailed than the 1939-1960 volume because, Isherwood often just didn't feel like writing in them. He was often busy between various teaching jobs, writing novels (he finished Down There On A Visit which he had struggled to write for years, as well as A Single Man, A Meeting By the River & much work for Kathleen and Frank) & various other writing jobs, but mainly the ups & downs he experienced with Bachardy led to a lot of periods he didn't seem to want to document. Though they remained committed to each other, their relationship was essentially an open one & in this decade Bachardy spent a lot of time with his other romantic interests, something Isherwood struggled with.
Isherwood lived through the sixties with all its great social upheavals & cultural shifts, but he wasn't fully a part of them for various reasons. Despite living in California for many years he was still, in many ways, an Englishman looking at America as an outsider. A lot of the biggest moments of the decade are mentioned (e.g. Kennedy & MLK assassinations, Manson murders, moon landing), but sometimes in passing. It's telling that he calls the moon landing the "moon rape." Though he knew or met many of the decades most famous creative people, from David Hockney to Mick Jagger, there is far less of a gossipy element than in his previous diaries when he was working for movie studios. The excitement of Hollywood & all its potential adventures faded as he focused on coming to terms with his own later life, his domestic situation & his books.
A fascinating, enjoyable reading experience.
“Meanwhile, life being as heartless as it is, I have had a splendid day so far.”
Ah, Isherwood. One day it’s “I have been thinking a lot about death,” the next it’s “I have never been happier!” Advancing into late middle-age his relationship with his much younger companion, Don Bachardy, is all highly happy ups or deeply depressing downs as they try to figure out how or why to keep having a life together. Isherwood’s friends are dying left & right, exacerbating his hypochondria, convincing him that every ache is cancer & the end is nigh. He struggles with his devotion to Vedanta & with writing. Still, “the answer, as always, is Forster’s answer: Get on with your own work, behave as if you were immortal.”
Get on with his work he did, accomplishing a hell of a lot while continually chastising himself for laziness, observing both his own flawed self & one of the most definite decades of the 20th century with sharp insight, honesty, bleakness, joy, grumpiness, generosity, humor, a hatred of most French things, some casual anti-semitism (not a violent hatred, but some derisive remarks about individuals), many drunk nights & hangovers, resolutions to quit drinking, hobnobbing with famous writers & actors, readying himself for death, struggling with happiness while also understanding the path to it more & more.
These diaries are less detailed than the 1939-1960 volume because, Isherwood often just didn't feel like writing in them. He was often busy between various teaching jobs, writing novels (he finished Down There On A Visit which he had struggled to write for years, as well as A Single Man, A Meeting By the River & much work for Kathleen and Frank) & various other writing jobs, but mainly the ups & downs he experienced with Bachardy led to a lot of periods he didn't seem to want to document. Though they remained committed to each other, their relationship was essentially an open one & in this decade Bachardy spent a lot of time with his other romantic interests, something Isherwood struggled with.
Isherwood lived through the sixties with all its great social upheavals & cultural shifts, but he wasn't fully a part of them for various reasons. Despite living in California for many years he was still, in many ways, an Englishman looking at America as an outsider. A lot of the biggest moments of the decade are mentioned (e.g. Kennedy & MLK assassinations, Manson murders, moon landing), but sometimes in passing. It's telling that he calls the moon landing the "moon rape." Though he knew or met many of the decades most famous creative people, from David Hockney to Mick Jagger, there is far less of a gossipy element than in his previous diaries when he was working for movie studios. The excitement of Hollywood & all its potential adventures faded as he focused on coming to terms with his own later life, his domestic situation & his books.
A fascinating, enjoyable reading experience.
January 6, 2025
I read this over the span of around two years if not more and found it perfect to dip in from time to time when feeling in the mood to dive into the vibe of Hollywood/Santa Monica in the 60s, and take a relaxing bath in the atmosphere before computers, smartphones and social media. What a life this man has led! Some people seem to be living mind-bogglingly full lives, and Isherwood seems to have been a prime example of that species.
This volume only covers 10 years of his life and doesn't even contain the most dramatic times of his life, but rather an era of settling down. His extensive social life involving all kinds of creative characters from actors, to directors, screenwriters, writers, painters, you name it, is nothing short of baffling. Especially to a most-of-the-time-hermit like me. A huge chunk of addendum is dedicated to the various people making up his vast circle of acquaintances. It beggars belief that this would leave him enough time to attend to his various writing projects, be it his book projects, work on screenplay, adaptations for the theatre. Not to forget his various stints as a lecturer at university. Of course he also found time to be quite involved with his spiritual community that also profited from his writerly talent. Last but certainly not least, he also had an intense open but at the same time committed relationship (plus occasional flings on the side, which are only hinted at) with a much younger partner, who at times brought his side pieces to stay at their house for a while.
He lived an astonishingly and enviable unconventional life, seemingly without having any worries about how others would perceive him or if he would be judged etc. Surely he was living and operating in a gay and gay friendly/tolerant enclave, but the world at large was nothing of the sort. Yet, there is barely any mention of him experiencing animosity or discrimination or fits of rage concerning the overall climate. Yet if he experienced any rage regarding that matter he doesn't let it show. The only rants he allows himself are on rather everyday matters and pretty much always spiced with wit.
Overall there are no deep dives into dark nights of the soul or political debates, if at all, this is only hinted at. For the very most part Isherwood's chronicles are chatty, conversational and at times gossipy. They shine a unique and personal light on the current events and vibe of the time and this particular locale. His often self-deprecating and dry British humour shines through aplenty and makes this a relatively light hearted read, even though over the years Isherwood loses a lot of friends and acquaintances to all sorts of tragedies, which adds a sombre and melancholy undertone. Also: Isherwood saw a screaming 20-year-old Don Johnson naked onstage starring in a very controversial play set in a prison.
The cherry on the cake would have been the inclusion of some drawings of Don Bachardy, Isherwoods long-time partner, who was/is a talented portraitist - he is still lives in the house in Santa Monica Canyon that he moved into with Isherwood Sixties. Bachardy drew many people that Isherwood wrote about and some of his work is exhibited on his website - and he played a big part in the publication of his diaries.
In short: a colourful and evocative contemporary testimony.
This volume only covers 10 years of his life and doesn't even contain the most dramatic times of his life, but rather an era of settling down. His extensive social life involving all kinds of creative characters from actors, to directors, screenwriters, writers, painters, you name it, is nothing short of baffling. Especially to a most-of-the-time-hermit like me. A huge chunk of addendum is dedicated to the various people making up his vast circle of acquaintances. It beggars belief that this would leave him enough time to attend to his various writing projects, be it his book projects, work on screenplay, adaptations for the theatre. Not to forget his various stints as a lecturer at university. Of course he also found time to be quite involved with his spiritual community that also profited from his writerly talent. Last but certainly not least, he also had an intense open but at the same time committed relationship (plus occasional flings on the side, which are only hinted at) with a much younger partner, who at times brought his side pieces to stay at their house for a while.
He lived an astonishingly and enviable unconventional life, seemingly without having any worries about how others would perceive him or if he would be judged etc. Surely he was living and operating in a gay and gay friendly/tolerant enclave, but the world at large was nothing of the sort. Yet, there is barely any mention of him experiencing animosity or discrimination or fits of rage concerning the overall climate. Yet if he experienced any rage regarding that matter he doesn't let it show. The only rants he allows himself are on rather everyday matters and pretty much always spiced with wit.
Overall there are no deep dives into dark nights of the soul or political debates, if at all, this is only hinted at. For the very most part Isherwood's chronicles are chatty, conversational and at times gossipy. They shine a unique and personal light on the current events and vibe of the time and this particular locale. His often self-deprecating and dry British humour shines through aplenty and makes this a relatively light hearted read, even though over the years Isherwood loses a lot of friends and acquaintances to all sorts of tragedies, which adds a sombre and melancholy undertone. Also: Isherwood saw a screaming 20-year-old Don Johnson naked onstage starring in a very controversial play set in a prison.
The cherry on the cake would have been the inclusion of some drawings of Don Bachardy, Isherwoods long-time partner, who was/is a talented portraitist - he is still lives in the house in Santa Monica Canyon that he moved into with Isherwood Sixties. Bachardy drew many people that Isherwood wrote about and some of his work is exhibited on his website - and he played a big part in the publication of his diaries.
In short: a colourful and evocative contemporary testimony.
November 3, 2018
Oh I love a good diarist. This is good and a very interesting decade to be alive and living in California. Also I find him fascinating. Here is an Englishman in his 60s, talented writer living pretty much out and proud with his partner and embracing the new societal changes. Maybe sometimes with bemusement but he meets Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and many more. I kept thinking when I was reading as he documents his feelings, his challenges with his relationship, his spiritual quests, this is pretty unique for an Englishman born just after the turn of the century. After reading and loving A Single Man it's interesting to read of its genesis and progress here in the diary entries. Very good, raced through some 600 pages.
January 28, 2020
Loses a star for frequency with which he mentions whether a friend is Jewish or not. He's not hatefully anti Semitic but I think faintly so, enough to be disturbing. Makes me respect him as a person less. He should have been more enlightened by the sixties. Otherwise I'd have given this ten stars!
I do skim a few of the religious passages (Ramakrishna).
I do skim a few of the religious passages (Ramakrishna).
December 22, 2020
Excellent, recommend chronological order though.
March 21, 2017
"No work for days, now. I must get back to it.” (Christopher Isherwood Diaries: 1960-1969, Vol. 2, p. 506)
September 2, 2014
Having just watched the dvd of A Single Man starring Colin Firth I wanted to learn about the novel upon which the screenplay was based. What better way than to read Christopher Isherwood's diaries? I found the information I wanted and so much more. I intended to skim the 600 pages but ended up reading every entry. Just a taste from the first entry dated August 27, 1960: "My birthday evening at Hope Lange's was cozy and quite pleasant. Just Hope, Glenn Ford, David Lange and a friend of his, Don [Bachardy]and me. Glenn seems to be around all the time now, but we think, merely in loco parentis. He makes a big show of devotion to Hope ..." The brief entry ends: "Again, Glenn hugged me when we said goodnight - and this, too, didn't altogether convince. You felt it wasn't him. Is it how he thinks Hope's bohemian friends should behave? is he trying to get himself elected an honorary queer?" Already we are immersed in the sixties California of Chris and his life partner Don where the world of literature and fine arts intersects with the world of Hollywood celebrity (Ford and Lange are actors) under the critical eye of an acute observer. The wide circle of friends and acquaintances come from diverse communities (gay, religious - Chris is a devout follower of Vedanta, publishing, film) and from the years spent in England, Germany and California. Also impressive is the span of years: we read of a visit with his friend Morgan (E.M. Forster) who was born in 1879 and died in 1970, and then his encounters with Mick Jagger, Jane Fonda, Michael York and their ilk. The two most significant people in the diaries are the beloved Swami Prabhavananda, his spiritual mentor, and his equally beloved but skittish Kitty (Bachardy) for whom Chris is the old workhorse Dobbin. During this time Kitty freely expresses his resentment that he is seen by others and feels himself as very much the junior partner not only in age, but also in his creative achievement as a portrait artist. Their relationship seems doomed, but a modus vivendi is achieved that allows them to survive as a loving couple until Dobbin's death in 1986. Katherine Bucknell, the editor, is to be commended for her labours, and she has provided an exhaustive glossary with many biographies which enhance our enjoyment of the text. She even has provided a link in the glossary between a first name encountered in the text with the individual's full name which is a real boon to a reader who likely will not remember the identity of Jim, Jo, or Joe.
December 22, 2015
O segundo volume de uma obra exemplar do género diarístico. Isherwood era o autor de diários perfeito: persistente e relapso, atento e distraído, egocêntrico e aberto ao mundo, apaixonado e distante, lúcido e emotivo, doméstico e vivido. Literatura, gossip, religião, Hollywood, filosofia, engate, história, memória, envelhecimento, juventude, sensualidade, e muito muito amor. De tudo isso, e de muito mais, são feitas estas mais seiscentas de entradas por vezes diárias, outras vezes mais esparsas, mas sempre consistentes e truculentas.
September 14, 2012
Reading someone's diaries is a very personal view into their life. Sometimes it can be considered uninteresting, because you are reading what the writer chooses to document. Isherwood's life in the sixties, especially in Los Angeles is a often poignant look at that decade. He certainly lead a full life, even when he said that he didn't, he was always going somewhere and doing something.
I'm looking forward to see what happened in the seventies!
I'm looking forward to see what happened in the seventies!
September 4, 2014
Much less commentary about social upheaval than I expected, considering the decade this book covered. I haven't read the first volume since the library doesn't carry that one. Did enjoy the part about his writing A Single Man since it eventually became an acclaimed movie with Colin Firth & Julianne Moore. Read that book & liked it. It surprises me how many diarists are very aware of their partners or biographers eventually reading the material. (ego much?)
September 18, 2011
Very, very interesting, but much more subtle than the First Volume of Diaries and "The Lost Years" where the diaries were destroyed. It's fascinating, though, to explore the inner thoughts of a writer at work in his later years. He's still one of my favorites.
January 7, 2016
A small struggle to get through if you've just land here in the late middle of his life and had not read his previous diaries. It does describe a period of instability within his relationship, causing an enormous amount of personal turbulence and self-doubt (was he a bit bi-polar?).
May 14, 2014
Like reading letters from a well connected friend.
April 9, 2015
a must read for history buffs
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February 5, 2016I enjoyed it.
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