Read Online Liberation by Christopher Isherwood - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher Isherwood
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finish this fall, barring serious interruptions.
On the 19th, I went to see Dorothy Miller. She looked far better than I expected and although the doctor has given her a crutch she wasnât using it. As usual we talked a lot about Elsa. Dorothy said, âIf you talk to her a lot she bores you.â She is very happy about a Unity church in the neighborhood which she has just joined. The pastor is white and so are most of the congregation and it seemed that what Dorothy really appreciates is that she feels completely accepted by them.
When I told Swami that my meditation isnât any better he said he would write me out some instructions. Iâm to get them when I see him next.
The day before yesterday, a goodbye dinner for Peter Schlesinger, who returns to England today. We are both fond of him and rather concerned about his future, maybe without cause. He looks like âa flower of the fieldâ but is probably a very tough little evergreen. Gavinâs friend, the one who dances (or maybe has danced, for now itâs banned) naked at the Honey Bucket, came with Gavin. His name is Mark Andrews. 32 He is an overwhelming talker and flirtâhe flirted with everybody , Jack, Jim, Camilla, Linda [Crawford], Peter, Truman Brewster, 33 Ralph Williams, Don, me; but thereâs something amusing and quite delightful about him; he made our party go.
Â
August 27. A happy busy birthday yesterday. Did some quite good work on chapter 11, I have to be careful and slow about this, and went on the beach with Don and in the ocean and then on to the gym (where damn it my weight has gone up againâI was down just a shade below 150, now Iâm just a shade above) then we went up to have supper with Jennifer. This was quite delightful though sad because itâll be for the last time at the Tower Grove Drive house; sheâs selling it in two weeks. Such memories of that place, it really is the only âGreat Houseâ I have ever known throughout my life in Hollywood. And last night the living room was as beautiful as everâall the more so for being emptyâlit by a beige-gold radiance from the lamps. Donâs two great drawings, the one of David with the blank lens on one side of his glasses and the tip of his little finger appearing through the other, and the one of me, so cruelly and exquisitely exact. The dining porch with all its reflections of trembling candle flames amongst the dark bushes outside. The âhashish roomâ which Tony Duquette designed. And the chairs and table out on the porch all set with lighted candles and quite empty, as if it were a shrine. One had a sense that Jennifer is living here alone amidst her ghosts. Dinner was served by a maid, but you felt the house was vacant .
Jennifer has a new deadline (October 15) on which her lover 34 has to decide between her and his wifeâwhich of course is the very last thing he wants to do. Itâs curious how absolutely convinced she is that, if he does finally come to her, they will be happy for the rest of their lives! But she really is adorable and so delightful to be with. We stayed on until late.
Don has now heard that the Esquire office is mailing his release on his photo back to him. (I still donât trust them one inch.) 35
Also, which really is good news, Billy Al Bengston is holding a group show at his studio of the work of his friends and he is exhibiting three of Donâs drawingsâthis after only asking for one to begin with. So Donâs morale is considerably boosted.
I want to discuss with myself the problem which immediately faces me in chapter 11; exactly what was the private mythology I created out of Wuthering Heights ?
Well, first of all, Wuthering Heights showed me how to see the Disley landscape dramatically; that much is obvious. It did this by showing me an approximately similar landscape which was related to a drama, a love drama. At the time when I first read Wuthering Heights I
On the 19th, I went to see Dorothy Miller. She looked far better than I expected and although the doctor has given her a crutch she wasnât using it. As usual we talked a lot about Elsa. Dorothy said, âIf you talk to her a lot she bores you.â She is very happy about a Unity church in the neighborhood which she has just joined. The pastor is white and so are most of the congregation and it seemed that what Dorothy really appreciates is that she feels completely accepted by them.
When I told Swami that my meditation isnât any better he said he would write me out some instructions. Iâm to get them when I see him next.
The day before yesterday, a goodbye dinner for Peter Schlesinger, who returns to England today. We are both fond of him and rather concerned about his future, maybe without cause. He looks like âa flower of the fieldâ but is probably a very tough little evergreen. Gavinâs friend, the one who dances (or maybe has danced, for now itâs banned) naked at the Honey Bucket, came with Gavin. His name is Mark Andrews. 32 He is an overwhelming talker and flirtâhe flirted with everybody , Jack, Jim, Camilla, Linda [Crawford], Peter, Truman Brewster, 33 Ralph Williams, Don, me; but thereâs something amusing and quite delightful about him; he made our party go.
Â
August 27. A happy busy birthday yesterday. Did some quite good work on chapter 11, I have to be careful and slow about this, and went on the beach with Don and in the ocean and then on to the gym (where damn it my weight has gone up againâI was down just a shade below 150, now Iâm just a shade above) then we went up to have supper with Jennifer. This was quite delightful though sad because itâll be for the last time at the Tower Grove Drive house; sheâs selling it in two weeks. Such memories of that place, it really is the only âGreat Houseâ I have ever known throughout my life in Hollywood. And last night the living room was as beautiful as everâall the more so for being emptyâlit by a beige-gold radiance from the lamps. Donâs two great drawings, the one of David with the blank lens on one side of his glasses and the tip of his little finger appearing through the other, and the one of me, so cruelly and exquisitely exact. The dining porch with all its reflections of trembling candle flames amongst the dark bushes outside. The âhashish roomâ which Tony Duquette designed. And the chairs and table out on the porch all set with lighted candles and quite empty, as if it were a shrine. One had a sense that Jennifer is living here alone amidst her ghosts. Dinner was served by a maid, but you felt the house was vacant .
Jennifer has a new deadline (October 15) on which her lover 34 has to decide between her and his wifeâwhich of course is the very last thing he wants to do. Itâs curious how absolutely convinced she is that, if he does finally come to her, they will be happy for the rest of their lives! But she really is adorable and so delightful to be with. We stayed on until late.
Don has now heard that the Esquire office is mailing his release on his photo back to him. (I still donât trust them one inch.) 35
Also, which really is good news, Billy Al Bengston is holding a group show at his studio of the work of his friends and he is exhibiting three of Donâs drawingsâthis after only asking for one to begin with. So Donâs morale is considerably boosted.
I want to discuss with myself the problem which immediately faces me in chapter 11; exactly what was the private mythology I created out of Wuthering Heights ?
Well, first of all, Wuthering Heights showed me how to see the Disley landscape dramatically; that much is obvious. It did this by showing me an approximately similar landscape which was related to a drama, a love drama. At the time when I first read Wuthering Heights I
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