Gerald Kersh

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I first heard about Gerald Kersh from listening to a Harlan Ellison convention speech, and not long ago I saw "Night and the City" (1946) in a used book store. It was pretty good, pretty deft, smart and pulpy. On Monday, I found "The Thousand Deaths of Mr. Small" (1950) in a different used book store (1st Edition HB!), and so far, I'm loving it. Has anybody else read this engrossing, out-of-print and seemingly forgotten author?

Chelvis, Wednesday, 9 January 2008 13:42 (seventeen years ago)

Not I. But thank you for asking. Rescuing lost authors is a noble calling.

Aimless, Wednesday, 9 January 2008 18:09 (seventeen years ago)

There's another good one by him called 'Fowler's End', which was reprinted with an entertaining Michael Moorcock introduction a few years ago. And to be fair, 'Night and the City' has JUST been reprinted (in hardcover, no less) by a little publisher called London Books who seem to be planning to resurrect a bunch of 'lost' London-novel classics. Though so far they've only done 2.

James Morrison, Thursday, 10 January 2008 01:38 (seventeen years ago)

While hunting around for more about Kersh, I just came across
http://www.munseys.com/detail/mode/author/Gerald_Kersh
which has two of his books in PDF and various other formats.

James Morrison, Thursday, 10 January 2008 02:01 (seventeen years ago)

i will remember this name.

scott seward, Thursday, 10 January 2008 03:45 (seventeen years ago)

I just finished "The Thousand Deaths of Mr. Small" and I'd say that it was an improvement in many ways from "Night and the City"; more mature and fleshed out, though Kersh deals in grotesqueries in the same fashion as Dickens - stereotyped, two dimensional archetypes. Here at least their stereotypical qualities were fully developed and fleshed out. Another element that singles out "The Thousand Deaths Mr. Small" is that it is actually funny; I actually laughed out loud, which I rarely do. Wodehouse is a favorite of mine, but even he doesn't make me bust out laughing (OK, maybe some of the Mr. Mulliner stories make me laugh out loud). I plan on reading whatever other Kersh I can acquire, and I thank James Morrison for his comments above.

Chelvis, Thursday, 17 January 2008 02:06 (seventeen years ago)

I should add that, re the link to Kersh ebooks, they're free.

James Morrison, Friday, 18 January 2008 00:32 (seventeen years ago)


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