Mr Norris Changes Trains

Grifter in the dying days of the Weimar Republic
Review of the Vintage Classics paperback (c.1999) of the 1935 original

The recent TV series of Fosse/Verdon (2019) with its recreation of Bob Fosse's directing work on the film "Cabaret" (1972) made me nostalgic for the early work of Isherwood. His Berlin Stories became the basis of the play I Am a Camera (1951) and then the later Broadway musical (1966) before the multi-Oscar Award winning film crafted by Fosse.

Mr Norris Changes Trains has actually little in common with the plots of the later works which are centred on Sally Bowles except for sharing a few characters in the author's proxy of William Bradshaw and the landlady Fraulein Schroeder. Bradshaw becomes friends with the mysterious show more Mr Norris on a train journey and the book follows their occasional meetings and forays from 1930 to 1933. The ...Changes Trains of the title presumably refers to Norris having to constantly switch businesses and residences to keep ahead of his creditors. Bradshaw discovers that there is much intrigue behind the surface of the somewhat comical wig-wearing businessman who also has a taste for dabbling in spying for the German Communist Party and for S&M. The thug-like tactics of the Nazi Party in its usurpation of power from the dying democracy of the Weimar Republic in 1933 simmers mostly behind the scenes until the end.

I did now discover that Isherwood's inspiration for the Mr Norris character was Gerald Hamilton (1890-1970) who wrote his own book on the subject Mr. Norris and I: An Autobiographical Sketch, so my deep-dive of Isherwood has more to follow up on. show less

I read this one in the space of a day, and I was constantly reminded of one of my favorite authors, Graham Greene - both for aspects of the plot (which certainly recalls both The Third Man and The Quiet American) and for Isherwood's similarly clean, engaging prose style. Unlike Greene, however, Isherwood isn't aiming for a thriller, so the end result feels floppier and slightly less satisfying - more like real life, which isn't so surprising when you consider Isherwood's writing is, at least, "memoir-adjacent." What's perhaps most compelling about the book is how little it says directly. There's a great deal of foppish and glib dialogue, people knowing things and not quite saying them, and behind it all the reader is conscious of the show more tum-tum-tum drumbeat of emerging Nazi control in Germany. It's an easy read, but it leaves you feeling disquieted. show less

This book is a very compelling collision of lightness, optimism and flippancy with sinister events and a terrible sense of foreboding. Isherwood is masterful in his ability to balance the two moods even within the same page. I struggled a bit to get my head around the first two (short) chapters, maybe because I was confused by this contradiction - is Arthur Norris endearing or grotesque? But then chapter 3 is laugh out loud funny and I was entirely on board.

I don't think there is any resolution of the two counterpoints of the story - the Nazis are both ludicrous and terrifying, Kano is both predator and victim, and so on - but the conclusion was satisfying nonetheless.

There are few fireworks in the writing, but it is elegantly written show more with wit and perfect pacing. show less

Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood was drawn from his experiences as an expatriate living in Berlin during the early 1930’s and received rave reviews when originally published in 1935, but Isherwood later denounced his work as shallow and dishonest. The book was originally planned to be much longer and more comprehensive about conditions in Germany at the time, but the author decided instead to mostly concentrate the story around the character of Mr. Arthur Norris whom the young and naive narrator of the story, William Bradshaw meets on a train going from the Netherlands into Germany.

These two characters strike up a friendship and Bradshaw goes on to find many aspects of Mr. Norris intriguing. He is a member of the show more communist party and his frequent disappearances and fluctuating finances raise a certain amount of speculation. He is also a sexual deviant and introduces Bradshaw to the murky side of Berlin. The character of William Bradshaw is that of an observer, while the author delves into the more complex character of Mr. Norris who can be crafty, charming, vain and hedonistic. The author has also added other memorial characters that help to flesh out the story.

While I would consider this more of a character study than an actual story, this was an interesting and informative book. The setting is of Berlin at a critical point in history, Hitler and his Nazis are about to come into power and set aside Germany’s democratic institutions. The understated and dry manner of the story-telling, even the glossing over of incidents of political violence in no way took away my knowledge of the sinister and dangerous future that was on the horizon. show less

When I read Goodbye to Berlin, I innocently thought that the anti-semitism in it belonged to the characters. Now, reading Mr Norris Changes Trains, I see that isn’t so. The anti-semitic comments are gratuitously those of the author. Still, I wondered. If he were living in Germany, was it that he felt it made him safe throwing in just a few words in a few places to prove his credentials?

But now I see that his private words have always been littered with this abhorrent attitude, the more so since he lived in Berlin and must have known what was happening.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/mr-norris-changes-trains-...

When I read Goodbye to Berlin, I innocently thought that the anti-semitism in it belonged to the characters. Now, reading Mr Norris Changes Trains, I see that isn’t so. The anti-semitic comments are gratuitously those of the author. Still, I wondered. If he were living in Germany, was it that he felt it made him safe throwing in just a few words in a few places to prove his credentials?

But now I see that his private words have always been littered with this abhorrent attitude, the more so since he lived in Berlin and must have known what was happening.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/mr-norris-changes-trains-...

When I read Goodbye to Berlin, I innocently thought that the anti-semitism in it belonged to the characters. Now, reading Mr Norris Changes Trains, I see that isn’t so. The anti-semitic comments are gratuitously those of the author. Still, I wondered. If he were living in Germany, was it that he felt it made him safe throwing in just a few words in a few places to prove his credentials?

But now I see that his private words have always been littered with this abhorrent attitude, the more so since he lived in Berlin and must have known what was happening.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/mr-norris-changes-trains-...