Down There on a Visit
Four narrators, all known as 'Christopher Isherwood', in different locations and periods of time, paint portraits of their own private sexual hells
Available Formats
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Paperback$12.95 RRPISBN: 9780099561088Published: 16/01/2013Imprint: Vintage ClassicsExtent: 368 pages
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EBookCHECK RETAILER PRICEISBN: 9781446468906Published: 01/11/2012Imprint: Vintage DigitalExtent: 368 pages
Synopsis
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY PHILIP HENSHER
'Radiant with observation, never wasting a word, funny and sympathetic' Stephen Spender
Berlin, the Greek Islands, London and California. 1928, 1932, 1988 and 1940. Four portraits, four settings, four narrators, all known as 'Christopher Isherwood'; all connected through their own experiences of private sexual hell. Often regarded as the best of his novels, Down There on a Visit tells the vivid stories of Isherwood's life that, together with the Berlin Stories, were to have comprised his great unfinished epic novel.
'May be the best Christopher Isherwood has written. A deeply intelligent and quietly compelling story' New York Times
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Meredith Curnow, the Knopf Vintage Publisher at Random House Australia, revisits some much-loved Vintage Classics novels and her shares her thoughts on the must-reads or rereads for 2013.
PRECIOUS based on the book PUSH by Sapphire, has receieved 6 Oscar nominations. These nominations include Best Picture, Geoffrey Fletcher for Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Sidibe for Actress in a Leading Role, Nique for Actress in a Supporting Role, Lee Daniels for Directing and Jo for Film Editing. Colin Firth has also walked away with the nomination for Actor in a Leading Role for his work...
Editorial Reviews
"In several respects this is probably Isherwood's best novel. It offers the sheer pleasure of writing completely personal and yet completely controlled, radiant with observation, never wasting a word, funny and sympathetic" - Stephen Spender, New Republic
"This excellent novel may be the best Christopher Isherwood has written. A deeply intelligent and quietly compelling story" - New York Times
"Few writers have so unsparingly scrutinized their worlds. Down There on a Visit is outrageous, bitter, bleak, angry, wry, revealing, infuriating, and at times marvellously comic. An offbeat classic" - Saturday Review
"A bemused, sometimes acid portrait of people caught in private sexual hells of their own making. Its four episodes are connected by four narrators. All are called 'Christopher Isherwood, ' but each is a different character inhabiting a new setting: Berlin in 1928, the Greek Isles in 1933, London in 1938, and California in 1940. Down There on a Visit is a major work that shows Isherwood at the height of his literary powers." - Powells.com
"That young man holds the future of the English novel in his hands" - Somerset W. Maugham
