The two novels are set in Jazz Age Berlin between and on the cusp of Adolf Hitler 's ascent to power. Berlin is portrayed by Isherwood during this chaotic interwar period as a carnival of debauchery and despair inhabited by desperate people who are unaware of the national catastrophe that awaits them.
The first novel focuses on the misadventures of Arthur Norris , a character based upon an unscrupulous businessman named Gerald Hamilton whom Isherwood met in the Weimar Republic. Isherwood based the character of Sally Bowles on teenage cabaret singer Jean Ross , Isherwood's intimate friend during his sojourn in Berlin.
Although The Berlin Stories secured Isherwood's reputation, the author denounced his writings after the collection's publication. The only genuine monster was the young foreigner who passed gaily through these scenes of desolation, misinterpreting them to suit his childish fantasy.
I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. At the time, Isherwood was an apprentice novelist who was politically indifferent [ a ] about the rise of fascism in Germany. In Berlin during Winter —, Isherwood met Gerald Hamilton , an unscrupulous businessman who inspired the fictional character of Arthur Norris.
Jean [Ross] was more essentially British than Sally [Bowles]; she grumbled like a true Englishwoman, with her 'grin-and-bear-it' grin. And she was tougher. She never struck Christopher as being sentimental or the least bit sorry for herself. Like Sally, she boasted continually about her lovers. In those days, Christopher felt certain that she was exaggerating Due to his limited finances, Isherwood shared modest lodgings in Berlin with year-old Jean Ross , [ c ] a British cabaret singer who inspired the fictional character of Sally Bowles.
