- Paperback: 128 pages
- Publisher: University of Minnesota Press; Reprint edition (30 May 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0816638616
- ISBN-13: 978-0816638611
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.7 x 0.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,843,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Set in London in the mid-1930s, a novel which explores the relationship between a Viennese film director and the person hired to write the script. Set against the background of the plight of Austria and the rise of fascism. From the author of MR NORRIS CHANGES TRAINS and GOODBYE TO BERLIN.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderful book about the role of the writer in the film industry and is as true today as when it was written. It is a true account of Isherwood's screen writing debut (only the names are changed). I tell all writers and others in film to read it - it is engrossing, funny and will make you know you are not alone!
Format:Paperback
Surely a book for all to read. A true gem of twentieth century prose. Humour mixed with profundity and humanity. We are always in a situation of historical irony. Add to the list of English classics.
4 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read Prater Violet, rather puzzled and perhaps even a little disappointed, I asked myself, 'What could Isherwood have possible meant with this story? What's the message?' Then, resentfully, I criticized myself for my cardinal sin of looking for and even finding so-called meanings from all the weirdest places, for not being able to see the value of a story itself, not being able to read a story simply for its own sake. But even when I tried to look at Prater Violet as a described experience, a recollection of Isherwood's meeting with a film director, I couldn't help asking, 'But why? What for?' Maybe others, those who have read Prater Violet, would answer without hesitating, 'because Mr. Bergmann, the director, is so magnificent, so peculiar that he deserves a potrayal' or 'of course because Isherwood wants to meditate upon the contemporary political situation and his fellow-Englishmen's isolationism' or 'surely it's written in order to catch the magic of the yet so harsh film industry'. I'm sure we all find satisfactory interpretations to please our tastes, and none of them is more right or wrong than the other. So, what is the meaning of Prater Violet to me?
I would like to begin with saying that I'm an ardent admirer of Christopher Isherwood - not so much because of his literary merit but more because of his persona, that image which is reflected to me from his books, photographs and, even more, from the course of his life. That is the Christopher Isherwood I know in my heart and that is the Christopher Isherwood I love. Therefore, I also value Prater Violet mainly as a source to get to know him more. This is the reason why small hints, occational glimpses to the other side of the curtain, are of great importance to me, and this is the same reason why I could be accused for silly curiosity-reading, poking my nose into the prohibited private area. And Isherwood does, indeed, a lot of effort to keep himself in the background and let Bergmann speak (also literally).
Prater Violet isn't a good source of personal material. The best I could get was Mother and Brother Isherwood's fussy attitude towards Christopher and his work, their excitement and pride in his fame, and the monologue in the end of the story (in which, among other things, his lover Heinz is reduced to an androgynous letter 'J'; this upset me greatly). I know, I'm under the curse of biographism and I hate to admit it because I've claimed that it's shameless and often irrelevant - all the more since Isherwood himself insisted his novels should be read as fictional. But they're not fictional, are they? It's just his game, his play with his audience and himself, which eventually led to 'a series of confessions' at a later age.
Nevertheless, I'm certain one can find Prater Violet most interesting and rewarding quite by itself alone, without a single reference to Isherwood's other works and life. It's 1930's and it's Bergmann, both being phenomena worth plunging into.
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