Readers of my site will know that my most recent book was Tragic Heroes - the Burney Brothers at War. Christopher’s claim to fame was his book Solitary Confinement which he wrote after he returned from the Second World War in 1945. It became ‘a classic’ but until recently it was virtually out of print and forgotten. Now - hurray! - it is being republished by Recovered Books in March 2025, with the ISBN 978-1-915812-469. It has an Introduction by ‘the leading global guide’ Ted Gioia and an Afterword by me. Also republished in the same volume is Burney’s allegory ‘Descent from Ararat’ which, I consider, is a self-questioning story about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The two writings belong together. I am delighted by this and I’m sure my biography of Christopher brought his writings back into the public domain. He deserves this recognition. His book Solitary Confinement shows how enormous self-discipline with mental activity can lead to withdrawal into an inner world and hence to a form of liberation: a state where solitude enabled Burney “to scan the horizon of existence” and face the horrors of everyday life with serenity. This form of so-called ‘camp autism’ was necessary in Buchdenwald concentration camp, Christopher’s next stop after incarceration in Fresne prison. Please buy a copy (the distributor is Book Source) and you will feel privileged to enter his inner world.
I