7.8 /10 1 Votes
3.7/5 Barnes & Noble Publication date 1945 Originally published 1945 Publisher New Directions Publishing OCLC 2709284 | 4/5 Goodreads Language English ISBN 0-8112-1804-X Country United Kingdom Genres Novel, Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Similar Christopher Isherwood books, Novels, Classical Studies books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Berlin Stories is a book consisting of two novellas by Christopher Isherwood: Goodbye to Berlin and Mr Norris Changes Trains. It was published in 1945.
The Berlin Stories was chosen as one of the Time 100 Best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Plot
The two novellas are set in Berlin between 1930 and 1933, just as Adolf Hitler was moving into power. Berlin is portrayed by Isherwood during this transition period of cafes and quaint avenues, grotesque nightlife and dreamers, and powerful mobs and millionaires.
The Berlin Stories was the starting point for the John Van Druten play I Am a Camera, which in turn went on to inspire the film I Am a Camera as well as the stage musical and film versions of Cabaret.
The character Sally Bowles is probably the best-known character from The Berlin Stories because of her later starring role in the Cabaret musical and film, although in The Berlin Stories, she is only the main character of one short story in Goodbye to Berlin.