Originally published: London : Picador, 2004.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 731-737) and index.

"Here is the definitive biography of one of the most exciting, influential, and elusive authors of the twentieth century. Christopher Isherwood's novels and short stories, including those that inspired the musical Cabaret, have always been assumed to be largely autobiographical. Based in part on Isherwood's private papers - unavailable until now - this book presents the real story of his life, a life that saw a relatively conventional boy become an acclaimed writer, mystic, and "grand old man" of the gay liberation movement. In the end, Isherwood: A Life Revealed portrays someone who misled as much as he divulged." "Born in England in 1904, the heir to a large country estate where his grandfather was squire, Isherwood had a youth filled with both privilege and loss. His father's death in World War I devastated his mother and created a "hero-father" image that would haunt both Christopher and his unstable brother for the rest of their lives. Isherwood began to acknowledge his homosexuality at boarding school and subsequently formed a definition of "self" based on subterfuge, performance, and escape. With his lifelong friends W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender, he emerged as one of the leading literary figures of the 1930s." "In addition to using Isherwood's correspondence, unpublished diaries, and other previously unavailable sources in painting this clear and definitive portrait, Peter Parker has also unearthed the author's telling early works, including parodies, school memoirs, and even part of a crucial lost novel. Isherwood: A Life captures the fugitive reality of a man who has become a favorite artist and important symbol of an entire era in our life of letters. Published in the centennial of his birth, it will be read as long as Isherwood himself is."--Jacket.

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