A Single Man

by Christopher Isherwood

Paperback, 2001

Status

Available

Call number

PR6017.S5

Genres

Collections

Your library, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Publication

University of Minnesota Press (2001), Paperback, 186 pages

Description

George is adjusting to life on his own after the sudden death of his partner, and determines to persist in the routines of his daily life. The course of A Single Man spans twenty-four hours in an ordinary day. An Englishman and a professor living in suburban Southern California, he is an outsider in every way, and his internal reflections and interactions with others reveal a man who loves being alive despite everyday injustices and loneliness.

Media reviews

Twentieth Century Literature

The remarkable thing about this book is that it starts off by looking like his most resounding failure so far, then gradually gets the reader involved until he is laughing, slapping his thigh, and experiencing the sensation described by Holden Caulfield - the desire to snatch up a pen and write the

novelist a letter... What comes over, like a spring breeze, is George’s essential sweetness - and Christopher Isherwood’s own essential goodness and kindness. This is no sour, nihilistic lament of a middle-aged man. It has humour - not even ‘wry’ humour, but the sunny humour of a man who is at peace with himself. When George daydreams about kidnapping the members of the local Purity League and forcing them to act in pornographic movies, the writing has an unexpected touch of Kingsley Amis.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member Whisper1

This is a hauntingly beautiful book portraying one day in the life of 58 year old George. Written in stream-of-consciousness, the reader is privy to George's unrelenting struggle to cope after losing his lover of 16 years.

Though it has been a year since Jim died, George finds each day difficult,

and the simple act of dressing, driving, functioning as a college professor and relating to students, co-workers and friends requires much more energy and emotion than he is capable of exhibiting.

There is sadness that kicks him in the stomach. There is depression that numbs his soul, and there is the tragic inability to move on in a life that feels meaningless.

George is British, living in America. He is older and tired and it appears that all around he is surrounded by hopeful, exuberant youth. He teaches those who are inexperienced, unskeptical and naive, leaving him to feel pedantic, robot like, seasoned and curmudgeonly.

The setting is the 1960's in Southern California where while the culture is experimental, homophobia is still prevalent.

This story is compelling for many reasons, including, but not limited to the fact that the writing is brilliant, insightful and poignant.

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24 more

LibraryThing member pingdjip

I haven’t had such mixed feelings about a novel for a long time.

On the one hand: subtle evocation of characters, impressions and interactions. Elegant, without effort, remaining clear, crisp and to the point. The ability to observe like that and to write it down like that: wonderful, everything

I want from a writer.

But then, so unpleasant. Ok, George thinks back to his deceased partner Jim with great tenderness and he is kind to his students. Ok ok, to student Kenny, who flirts with him, he’s caring and thoughtful. But everyone who doesn’t immediately call forth his appreciation is coolly dismissed or, sometimes, hatefully scorned. This is all the more chilling because it’s still so elegantly phrased.

Must protagonists be sympathetic? Probably not. But this version of George seems to me incomplete and distorted. Biased maybe. Like George resembles his creator Isherwood and like Isherwood himself was somewhat narrow-minded in some respects.

I don’t know if this is correct. Anyhow, the novel left me unsatisfied.

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LibraryThing member blakefraina

I’ve had a raggedy copy of this book kicking around my collection for years. A regulation sized paper back from the early seventies with bad cover art, I never bothered to read it because I was certain any book about a gay man written in 1962 would have noting relevant to offer a modern

audience.

Boy was I wrong.

Now I understand why this book has never gone out of print and why it is considered a classic. This is by no means merely a dated account of a closeted homosexual man in suburban America. As a matter of fact, I found the protagonist’s gayness, as it were, to be almost entirely beside the point. It’s actually a very universal story of grief and healing. All the action takes place over the course of one day in the life of George, an ex-pat British college professor living alone in Southern California, after the untimely death of his lover, Jim. Because George narrates, the book is peppered with his wry observations delivered with typically mordant English wit. While it’s hardly short of humorous moments, the character’s fresh grief is always tangible just beneath the surface. And what a moving and realistic portrayal of bereavement it is. Anyone who’s lost a loved one can relate to the way George clings to even his most negative feelings - old jealousies, for example - as a way to somehow maintain his fading connection to Jim.

The book’s strength is in George’s unique voice and his scrupulously chosen words. I can’t imagine how director Tom Ford has managed to translate this to the screen. No film could be even half as affecting as being privy to George’s thoughts, even with the talented Colin Firth in the role.

While I don’t want to downplay this book as a "gay" classic, the character of George is a misfit for so many reasons, and being gay is only one of them. He’s an Englishman amongst Americans. He’s an older man surrounded by college kids. He lives alone in a neighborhood of couples and families. With George, Isherwood has created a classic fish out of water living in a kind of bitter, self-imposed emotional exile until he re-discovers [almost too late] how to engage with life by, quite literally, diving right in the water.

The reason I finally chose to tackle A Single Man is because I received a promotional copy of the unabridged CD version, apparently issued as a film tie-in. Initially I found it tougher to follow than other recorded books I’ve tried because it’s very wordy and somewhat philosophical in parts, but Simon Prebble did an amazing job of pulling me into the story. His delivery is precise, funny and moving. Plus, this would make a great introduction to CD books because, at under five hours, it’s relatively short. All in all, highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member jwhenderson

One day in the life of a man is the basis for Christopher Isherwood's penultimate and what many consider his best novel, A Single Man. Written from in the first person the protagonist, George, is reflecting on his life and friends as he lives through an ordinary day in the shadow of the sudden

death of his partner, Jim. Using meditative prose Isherwood manages to express both the inner being of George and his memories of the past. But the present, through episodes with his former lover Charley, before his years with Jim, and his students, especially Kenny Potter, is intertwined with the memories to make this an exceptional read. George is an Englishman and a professor living in suburban Southern California, he is also an outsider in every way, and his internal reflections and interactions with others reveal a man who loves being alive despite everyday injustices and loneliness. It is also an honest look at his life by a man who accepts his being as a homosexual and reveres the life he had for many years with his partner Jim. Isherwood succeeds in bringing George's life alive even as both the day and his life wind down with a not unexpected quiet confidence.

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LibraryThing member whitewavedarling

Quiet and beautifully written, this novel is a quick read. It's a careful and believable character study, and worth a look. I read this quickly, and I suspect that the work is most powerful when read in the space of only a day or two as I wandered through it, as opposed to being spread over

multiple readings. For me, the book became more and more disconcerting as I ventured through it, and what I thought would end predictably became something else entirely. Isherwood's graceful prose is both refreshing and realistic, and while I can't imagine how they'll make this into a film, I very much appreciated the book, and recommend it to lovers of language and character.

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LibraryThing member siafl

Graceful and beautiful prose. Quick but deep. I am not sure I understood it all, however. The character Charlotte was a bit of an annoyance for me, which I suppose was the point. On the other hand I might have read it too quickly. Very well-crafted visuals and imagery throughout, which I am glad in

my great hurry I haven't missed.

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LibraryThing member bookmaven404

A Single Man
Christopher Isherwood

Having recently seen the Tom Ford film of this book, I was delighted when the note from Librarything.com dropped into my email thingummy, informing me that I'd scored a ARC copy of the book. I was not so delighted when the promised book arrived, as a book on CD.

(I've a scant 30 minute commute to work, and generally spend it talking with my best friend, so books on CD don't generally gain my interest). Then, the book came and I thought..."oh, what the hell" and put it on while I was working on the computer, writing a syllabus or something. Shocking!! I was actually engaged by it...no, more than engaged, engrossed. So engrossed in fact, that I ended that evening putting the next disc on, and lying there in the dark was Simon Prebble's dulcet tones read me Isherwood's stylish prose.

So, let me get the reviewing part out of the way. The book's excellent, the movie's excellent (and very stylish to look at) and I have to say that I found the audiobook a really excellent experience as well. There. Having said that, I can now spend the rest of my review having the epiphany that A Single Man owes a great deal to Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway". Forgive me if everyone on the planet's already commented on this, but ... it just occurred to me as I read the book. Structurally, of course, both books follow protagonists on the final day of their lives. Thematically, both George and Clarissa Dalloway are marginalized, both by their sexuality and by the unresolved relationships of their past.

Anyway...get the book, see the movie. Isherwood is certainly canonical in terms of the prose style of the 20th century and this is his masterwork.

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LibraryThing member davros63au

After reading a string of novels with ‘page turning’ plots, it was a pleasure to ponder the inner most thoughts of George, a university lecturer dealing with the death of his partner. Isherwood expertly gives us access to George’s feelings and observations and I was able to experience what

that sense of loss must be like – the solitude and disconnectedness from the world around you. I was also fascinated to read a novel written in the 1964, experiencing what are now historical events as contemporary happenings. It seems to heighten the themes of past, present and future.

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LibraryThing member the_darling_copilots

Mostly a stranger to the "audio-book" format, I very much enjoyed the way this recording paced me through the text: listening, I simply did not have the option of rushing through this or that little part of the novel, and thereby missing the detailed nuances of Isherwood's language that help make

the whole work so powerful. Encountering the text in this way, an experience halfway between reading a novel and watching a theatrical piece, was exquisite.

This audio-book of A Single Man is read by Simon Prebble, who has won numerous awards for his audio work and was a fairly accomplished stage actor. A Single Man is first and foremost about the continuous and complicated experience of living and, perhaps most of all, its fragility. The cadence of Prebble's voice captures the flavor and the beauty of Isherwood's depiction of lived experience, with a particular power and charm that makes the book worth seeking out in this format. Prebble's interpretation of the text is perfect; his voice is crystal clear, and because of this clarity, captures the language of the book beautifully. Further, he dramatizes the work with a subtlety that lets the strength and complexity of Isherwood's work come through.

When I finished listening to this recording the first time, I immediately had the feeling that I wanted to start listening to it again, all over. Two nights later, I did listen to the entire book again--all in one go, instead of in bits and pieces as I did the first time-- and this time with company: my spouse, two bottles of wine, a jar of almonds and two (seemingly) interested cats. I was glad to share such a singular performance like this one with my loved ones, and glad to take the time to do so (about 4 1/2 very nice hours).

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LibraryThing member AustereAdam

Summary

George, the main character, is an English-born gay man, living and working as a literature professor in Southern California. George is struggling to readjust to “single life” after the death of his long-time partner, Jim. George is brilliant but self-conscious. He is determined to see

the best in his pupils, yet knows few, if any, of his students will amount to anything. His friends look to him as a revolutionary and a philosopher, but George feels he’s simply an above-par teacher, a physically healthy but noticeably aging man, with little prospects for love – though he seems to find it when determined not to look for it.

The Good

Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man is not Isherwood’s most popular or most lauded work, even after the recent Hollywood movie, starring Colin Firth & Julianne Moore (two of my favorite actors). That this novel is one of the “lesser read” of Isherwood’s novels, I think, speaks volumes for his other works –because this novel is absolutely beautiful. In some ways, it reminds me of a gay Nicholas Sparks, except the themes are deeper and the language/style is more artistically driven and manipulated. Edmund White, one of gay literature’s most respected and prominent authors, called A Single Man “one of the first and best models of the Gay Liberation movement” and it’s impossible to disagree. Isherwood himself said that this was the favorite of his nine novels, and though it is my first encounter with Isherwood’s works, I imagine it would be quite difficult to top this work in terms of emotional connectivity and social relevance. The language flows beautifully, even poetically, without seeming self-indulgent. The structure – like short bursts of thought – is easy to keep pace with and seems to function almost in tune with George’s day-to-day musings. What’s for breakfast? What’s happening on the way to work? What am I saying to my students, but what do I hope they’re hearing? Once I got 15-20 pages into the novel, I knew it would be impossible to put down and, indeed, I completed most of the book in one afternoon. This is not to say that the book was an “easy read.” In fact, it was emotionally and psychologically haunting. George’s love for his deceased partner, his loyalty to a broken friend, and his struggle to control lustful emotions for a student are effortlessly expressed by Isherwood, and the tension is brilliantly divined. There is a twist ending which, had it not been constructed with such ingenuity and genius, I would have ordinarily found it quite cliché. Fortunately, Isherwood gets his point across without having to sacrifice his (or the readers) immersion into the plot line. This was a balancing act pulled of immaculately, and I was –as a seasoned reader- truly impressed.

The Bad

There is little to place here under “the bad.” I found the novel just so impressive and moving, it’s hard to find fault. The two things I was disappointed in, I suppose, are 1) the novel’s length. George’s simple, sad life was so ordinary but had so much promise – largely due to George’s internal monologue – his analysis of every action and emotion (typically literary-inspired). I would have enjoyed getting more of the back story between George and Jim – and more of the relationship (little as it existed) between George and his student, Kenny. I was disappointed in George’s kindness to Dorothy, mainly because I would not have been able, personally, to forgive such a transgression and betrayal – so, for this reason, I find it a bit unbelievable (but that could be my problem, and not George’s or Isherwood’s). 2) No, I was wrong – I covered all of this in point #1.

The Final Verdict 4.5/5.0

The novel takes place in the course of one day – so the characterization was probably as well developed as it could be; the emotion of the novel – the desperation and sadness were genuine and personal – I felt exposed and violated, frustrated and hopeful. I could see myself in George – the future me – and I was disappointed in myself at times, proud of myself at times, but – ultimately – I was left with the sense of knowing who I am (who George is) and of accepting things as they are. The only truly possible way of living a satisfied (not happy) life.

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LibraryThing member SavvyEscapades

A Single Man is yet another of the books I am currently reading for my Modern Novel class, and I also have the fabulous opportunity of reading it under the guidance of one of the most dedicated Isherwood scholars around. From the very first passage, you know you are reading something fantastic.

Isherwood doesn't have the impressionistic style of Woolf, and he doesn't feel the need to write EXACTLY how people think, like Joyce. He simply lets a few thoughts run, and sees where they go for however long they stay.

I love the candid nature of George's mind... like when he fantasizes about tormenting all the jerks in the world who piss him off (you know, the jerk who cuts you off on the highway, that smug bastard down the street). These are all urges that people feel, but we push them down because, as George thinks, there's a certain expectation that people and the universe have of you. You will get up. You will put on real pants. You will go to work. At the start of the day, George is aware that the day is going to suck, and by the end of the day both he and the reader realize that it was probably a pretty good day, actually. This is kind of reassuring. And I'm just saying kind of because the ending is very, VERY vague as to whether or not George will be capable of having a decent day tomorrow, too.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the intentions of the author, the fact that it's not too far off from Isherwood's own life, and how George's/Isherwood's sexuality comes into play. Isherwood is gay. George is gay and mourning his dead lover, Jim. But Isherwood repeatedly held that A Single Man is not a "Gay" book; it is a book about the downtrodden minorities of every type (race, age, and sexuality primarily, though I'm sure you could argue it represents minorities of any other kind you could think of) represented through the metaphor of George's homosexuality. But then again, that was just how Isherwood said he meant the book, and many authors (including the amazing John Green) have argued that the author's intention is irrelevant, and that the reader's interpretation is king, though there are both good and bad readings.

Ok, Ok, I'll pull back the English Major stuff now. But Isherwood's prose is amazing, his insight into the human psyche is inspired, and the book is a light and fairly easy read on top of that. And it also functions as a more or less working map of L.A. in the 60's, so if you want a bit of a time-warp vacation, this book is for you!

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LibraryThing member tapestry100

A Single Man tells one day in the life of George, a man trying to cope with his day to day existence after the death of his partner, Jim. This is a no holds barred portrayal of his existence. We meet George as he awakens in the morning, starting his day, coming to the determination that he must get

out of bed, shower, dress, get ready to face his day. From there we follow him through the actions of the day, driving to work, teaching classes (he's a professor at the university), interacting with coworkers. It seems a dismal existence, but with moments of clarity shining through, we think that maybe George will make it after all.

Throughout his day, Jim flits in and out of George's thoughts. It doesn't seem to take much to bring Jim to George's mind, often leaving him with at first what seem happy memories but then constant reminders of Jim's absense in George's life.

Eventually, George finds himself seeking out his best friend, Charlie, who shares in his grief of a missing loved one (her's through divorce). After an evening of that closeness that can only come from such a friendship, Charlie makes one of many attempts at trying to seduce George, yet never getting any farther than a drunken, fumbled kiss.

Afterward, George decides to go out, that he is not ready to go home quite yet, and happens upon one of his students, Kenny, at the local bar, and they strike up a conversation, eventually finding themselves drunk and skinny-dipping in the ocean. George may or may not be perceiving the situation for more than what it is, just as Kenny may not even be sure of the situation. George wonders if, in Kenny, he has found a kindred spirit, but we may never know as drunkeness finally overtakes him, and he finds himself alone again at the end of his day.

It is a dark and somber story, and doesn't hide any of George's faults or feelings from the reader. We get George, farts and all, just as he is. There is no fantasy to George's life, just the stark reality of his situation as he struggles with Jim's death and tries to cope and move on with his own life. Despite its darkness, I felt swept along by the narrative and found myself wishing there was more to the story; a second day, perhaps. But that is all we are given, one day, and we must learn to accept that is all that we are getting, just as George has to accept that he is only getting one day of his life at a time. There is no real happy ending here, simply a real and powerful one.

Simon Prebble does a fine job narrating the story. His reading is clear and he expresses George's emotions perfectly. It is a short recording (4.75 hours on 4 CDs) so won't take much time to listen to.

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LibraryThing member ClifSven

Being a book on CD (my first attempt at reviewing same), I'll a bit at odds with how to review this wonderful book. I'm still in the process of listening to disc 4 and I find that I'm still fascinated by this wonderful book. This stream of consciousness is a great deal easier than Joyce's 'Ulysses'

- more is more 'approachable'! A day-in-the-life work of brilliance....everyone should read (or listen) to this book!

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LibraryThing member biblio99

A Single Man
by Christopher Isherwood

Reviewed by Jim McGuire
for Librarything.Com and HighBridge Audio

Christopher Isherwood’s novel A Single Man first published in 1964 is simply, for many, a nostalgic look back and the manners and mores of that time period. It is simply the story of one day in the

life of aged homosexual academic, George, who having lost his life mate, Jim, copes with it by a separation from self and by degrees from society.
It is the language and from the language that Isherwood provides for the reader a sense of the unique. In the opening of the book George is presented in terms of I and then it. “It knows its name. It is called George.” The it that is known by George proceeds to inform the reader of his present life but always qualifies it in terms of Jim. George’s life is limited by a loss that allows no completeness in what relations are left. His classes, his drunkenness with Charlotte, his meeting with Kenny are all tempered by the resurging idea of Jim. In the novel we are also constantly reminded of George’s sexuality and how he perceives his contemporaries view his homosexuality.
At the end of the novel we find George where he was in the beginning; in bed. We are presented with in Isherwood’s masterful prose, the supposition of dying (even here the memory of Jim will not let George alone) and the end we are presented with George and the garbage waiting to be carried out.

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LibraryThing member Georg.Miggel

“Sitting on the john, he can look out of the window (They can see his head and shoulders from across the street, but not what he is doing.)” (p.7)

That’s typical of George. He observes his whereabouts thoroughly but nobody knows what he himself is thinking or doing. Not his students, not his

colleagues, nor Doris or Charley. And at least Kenny who thinks George is just “cagey”. A wonderful book about sadness after a loss, about foreigners in the US, about friendship and – most important – about the difficult relationship between minorities and majorities.

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LibraryThing member ikbodd

This book reminded of just life.

If I could float outside my life and look down this s what i would look like. At least the simplicity of the style.

It draws you in, elates to you and changes you. It is nice when empathy is attributed through a fictional life into my own.

LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd

A brilliant piece of writing. A day-in-the-life of a "middle-aged" gay man in California in the 1960's. While it seemed to be an ordinary day, it was packed with illustrative moments showing us just what George's life was like in that place and time. I was not entirely happy with the "what if"

ending; the author was too visible, and it felt too much like a literary necessity (the day is over, and now we must put a solid "The End" section here), but it too was beautifully written. Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member jayne_charles

It’s not so many days since I returned from the holiday I read this on, and already great chunks of the plot are disappearing from my mind like the coat tails of a dream you can’t quite grasp in the morning. It started with the protagonist, ageing homosexual lecturer George (I remembered that

bit) waking up and not being totally sure who he was. It was an effective rendering of those confusing first few moments after the alarm clock goes off, and we see him as though from above, as he gets a grip on who he is and where he is. And though we then get to follow him through his day, I never did lose the detachment of those first few paragraphs. The novel is short, the encounters he has with various acquaintances are fleeting, and there is the feeling that none of them are going to reappear so why invest anything in remembering them. And in the end very few of them do reappear.

It wasn’t badly written, but unless there was some underlying metaphor running through the whole thing that I missed, I can’t see what the point was. I might have to watch the film one day, if only to discover whether there really was a plot lurking in there, just outside the field of my vision.

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LibraryThing member corinneblackmer

The premise of this riveting novel is devastating and, perhaps, the most effective exposure of the inhumanity of heteronormative culture ever penned. An Englishman--58, a professor in Los Angeles in the earlier 1960s--loses his husband, the love of his life, to an automobile accident while he is

visiting his family. What follows is an exploration of the relationship between mourning and the closet. How can the protagonist mourn when he cannot even tell others in his life that he is gay to begin with? Grief crashes down on all sides, and Isherwood figures his protagonist as a sympathetic, raging, grief-stricken, exhausted human animal in a "terrible predicament." His encounter with a student who is fascinated by the protagonist's take on literature serves as a life boat but, in the end, he re-captures his solitude and insists on keeping himself apart to mourn Jim, his husband. The writing is wonderful, and the indictment of a civilization that doesn't even know it is prohibiting some from engaging in the most basic rituals of civilization--burying and mourning one's own--is overpowering.

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LibraryThing member csweder

This is one of those books that came to me by chance. And thank goodness it did!!

The truth (and humor) of this middle-aged, a bit eccentric, British literature professor is touching. From explaining the difficulties of simply waking up in the morning, to living without your partner...it's

touching.

The book almost sounds like a memior, and the truthfulness of the main character is shocking. Revealing the thoughts and actions that...you wouldn't really fess up to.

A fantastic read.

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LibraryThing member SigmundFraud

I am reviewing the audio edition which is beautifully read. I think Single Man is among the best of Isherwood's. It is enrapturing and much better than the recent movie made of the book. A Single Man is worth a detour.

LibraryThing member fist

The book sucks you in with its atmosphere of existential loneliness and 'tristesse'. These feelings are highly recognisable, yet this story is also a portrait of a California in the early '60s which was on the cusp of the sexual revolution. As yet, WWII is still a vivid memory, the threat of atomic

destruction looms, and gay love still "dare not speak its name". In this context he author is coping with the loss of his partner (in a traffic accident in another state), wondering what sense to make of his life now through dry and detached observations. There is no false self-pity or sentimentality in him, as is shown in vivid contrast when he interacts with the two other living characters that he meets in this book. I read this in a contemporary Dutch translation, meaning that the language seemed rather antiquated (eg "mieters"). I look forward to re-reading in the original.

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LibraryThing member elliepotten

A beautiful little novella that's far more focussed on character, thought and ambience than it is on plot - and is thus difficult to describe or review in any meaningful way. This was my first Isherwood - and most definitely not my last - and is pretty much a 'day in the life' of George, a British

college professor living in Los Angeles. He is still mourning the (fairly) recent loss of his partner Jim, and finds himself irreparably estranged from the world: from his neighbours and colleagues, because of his sexuality, and from his students, because of his age. He spends his time perfecting his outer façade, searching for understanding, reflecting on life, and fielding the neuroses of his larger-than-life friend Charlotte. It's gorgeously written and quietly devastating, and I plan to watch the film soon because if it's even NEARLY as good as this, it's going to be something special...

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LibraryThing member stevejwales

"Now a major motion picture" the cover of this edition proclaims and, this being one of the few times when I've seen the film before I've read the book, it was naturally narrated in my head by Colin Firth. The film was beautiful, but I loved the novel even more. It's very intimate, sad in places,

of course, but at other points it is simply joyous - giddy with happiness - and very funny.

"just plain happiness - das Glueck, le bonheur, la felicidad - they have given it all three genders but one has to admit, however grudgingly, that the Spanish are right, it is usually feminine, that's to say, woman-created." How could a linguist not love a passage like that?

I've rented the movie and borrowed the book from the library, but I'm going to have to go shopping and buy a copy of the book (if not both). I'm going to want to revisit George again.

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LibraryThing member lilithcat

How times change. The cover image is of a man, and a woman, wearing a slip and bearing a striking resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor, holding him. Today, I'd bet there'd be a hunky young guy on the cover.

Fewer