Christopher Isherwood recounts his apprenticeship as a writer during the decade following the First World War. He presents a fictionalized version of his youth, moving from his undergraduate days at Cambridge through his tenure as a medical student and a private tutor. The narrative centers on a circle of friends, based on figures like W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender, who navigate an environment they call The Mortmere. This invented fantasy realm serves as an escape from the stifling conventions of British upper-middle-class life. Isherwood focuses on the psychological struggle to establish a distinct artistic identity while burdened by the guilt of having missed the Great War.
Aspiring novelists and historians of the Interwar period read this book to understand the development of the Auden Generation. It provides a technical look at how a young writer selects material and refines his voice against a backdrop of post-war disillusionment. Readers gain a clear perspective on the specific intellectual anxieties and private mythologies that shaped British modernism. The text functions as an honest study of the gap between a young person’s romanticized self-image and the practical realities of a creative career.
Balanced in tone; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1938
- Language
- EN
