We Are All Berliners

The 31st book on our list is Christopher Isherwoods The Berlin Stories. The book was placed at number 31 because it was published in 1946; however, The Berlin Stories is made up of two books: The Last of Mr. Norris, published in 1935, and Goodbye to Berlin, published in 1939. Both books take place in Berlin in the first few years of the 1930s, during which time there was a power struggle in Germany between communists and fascists, and the end of which resulted in Hitler's rise to power. This political backdrop makes for a fascinating stage on which Isherwood tells his stories.

The Berlin Stories is probably most famous today as the source for the Bob Fosse film Cabaret and Liza Minelli's portrayal of Sally Bowles. I have not had the good fortune to see the film, but I did have the pleasure of looking at reviews of it. Even better still, I saw comparative reviews of it and the 1955 adaptation of The Berlin Stories called I am a Camera. Presumably the reviewers had not read Isherwood's book because they spoke of Julie Harris's Sally Bowles as not being energetic enough and Laurence Harvey's Isherwood of not being gay enough.

But the Isherwood of The Berlin Stories (known as William Bradshaw in The Last of Mr. Norris) is not openly gay. His desires and cravings do not enter into the stories at all. He is a narrator that provides actions and reactions to the characters he meets, because in spite of the political backdrop, the novel is first and foremost a character study. And Isherwood's sense of character is what makes the book so enjoyable.

From Mr. Norris to Frl. Shroeder to Otto, Herr Schmidt, the Baron, Sally Bowles, to the most minor or characters, Isherwood brings them all to life. And who they are comes to us through their interactions with the narrator, who while remaining constant himself, means something different to each of them. Isherwood makes this relationship clear by having each character call him something different. To Frl. Schroeder, he is Herr Issyvoo, to Fritz and Sally he is Chris, to Otto and his family, he is Christoph, etc. I love the way Isherwood allows his narrator to have a life of his own and simultaneously allow other characters to pour themselves into him. There is a genuine love that Isherwood feels for all the characters he invents (or recreates from the real people he encountered in his time in Germany), and that love makes them all vibrant, fragile, lovable, and as close to alive as paper people become.

Much has been said already about who Isherwood creates, namely those people living on the fringes of society: the poor, prostitutes, con artists, bartenders, gay men and woman. This choice of characters no doubt reflects his own tendernesses, but it also aligns with the political environment in which he sets his novel. The main power struggle in both novels that make up The Berlin Stories takes place between the Nazis and the Communists. This conflict is more apparent in The Last of Mr. Norris, in which Norris and the narrator both join the Communist group for their own reasons. The leader of the Communists, Ludwig, is an incredibly charming man who seems to always be smiling and always know more than anyone else in the room. We learn near the end of his story, that he knew Mr. Norris was selling information about the Communist party, but he doesn't care about the betrayal. To him, the Communist party has room for everyone, even traitors. I kept waiting for something ugly to be revealed about Ludwig, but nothing ever was. Ludwig, and the communist party in turn, were the opposite of the Nazi's in Isherwood's novel. The Nazis are clearing house, attacking everyone who is not like them, while the Communists have open arms, and no matter who you are you have a place and a purpose; not matter who you are, you are welcome.

By 1939, when Isherwood published Goodbye to Berlin, the extent of the Nazi's hatred had revealed itself and the problems with Communism were also more apparent, so the second story is even darker in its political portrait. This political setting is, I think, what allows this collection of character stories to be so successful. There is not much of a plot in each of the stories, but there is a consistent and solid world that ties them all together, and the political happenings help give each story its own movement. Even though I never knew where a story was heading, I always felt like it was going somewhere, and the ride was always a good one because the world and the characters were so captivating.

This is not a roller-coaster of a ride kind of novel. This is not what they call a page-turner. But it is a novel that moves, that has a pace, and that provides a wonderful experience to the reader. If you are a reader who prizes character over action (but one who still demands a story in which those can exist) then you should plunge right into The Berlin Stories!