I¹m extremely glad to learn all this info abot Kersh and to
learn also that a bio is forthcoming by Paul Duncan. Also
very interested by the info concerning boxing legend Archie
Moore that I remember seeing on French TV as a youngster and
who had such a dramatic face...the quintesential fighter and
in fact when I lived in Louisiana in 69 I met in New Orleans
several old fighters for whom he remained a hero... The only
book of Kersh I ever read was Night & The City, and I had
come to the book through the magnificent J. Dassin film (the
best and meanest film noir to my eyes) with brilliant
performances of Richard Widmark, Francis L. Sullivan and
Stanislaus Zbyszko as Gregorius the Great, and the story of
the Polish wrestler/intellectual is worth reading since it
probably inspired a lot of the Kersh story...(
http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=4243&p=1).
Stanislaus was inducted in the Wrestler¹s Hall of Fame in
2003 and I learned about that in a French film magazine!!...
I read in France as a younster the S鲩e Noire version called
³Les Forbans de la Nuit² (SN480), translated by S. Henry and
R. Amblard, which I still have, and about 20 years ago bought
a copy of the Dell Book (#374) at a second hand bookstore in
a small town in Michigan. This version has a picture from the
film on the cover and a map of Œunderworld London¹ on the
back with a complete list of the locations mentioned in the
story such as the Silver Fox Club or Fabian Promotions or
East & West Caf鮮.. I bought a cassette of the Dassin film
on e-Bay for about $5.00, 6 months ago since there are yet no
DVD¹s of this magnificent film. The 92 version is farce, and
a sad reminder that a sometimes interesting Producer should
remain on the phone and not behind the camera...poor Jessica
Lange participated (that¹s the best one can say in that case)
to this debacle which has one redeeming value: the presence
of Eli Wallach....
Steve Novak le Montois de D鴲oit
On 1/31/05 8:41 PM, "Richard Moore" <
moorich2@aol.com> wrote:
>
> --- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Max Gilbert"
<jmaxgilbert@y...>
> wrote:
>> >
>> > --- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Michael Robison
>> > <miker_zspider@y...>
wrote:
>>> > > ****************
>>> > > I thought his PRELUDE TO A CERTAIN
MIDNIGHT was pretty
>>> > > darned bleak, too. It's about the
search for the
>>> > > murderer of a young girl. It
wasn't bad except for
>>> > > the occasional
divergences.
>>> > >
>>> > > miker
>>> > >
>> > I read PRELUDE TO A CERTAIN MIDNIGHT a few
years back and it
>> > certainly qualified as bleak, but I
remember at least some of the
>> > cast of characters were likable, whereas
with NIGHT & THE CITY
>> > everyone you're introduced to (in the first
half of the book at
>> > least) is either reprehensible or pathetic
and the main character,
>> > Harry Fabian is a pimp and blackmailer who
is thoroughly dishonest
>> > with himself as well as everyone he
meets--being stuck in his head
>> > can be pretty disturbing. I definitely
recommend the book.
>> >
>> > Max
>
> Ah, Gerald Kersh! Kersh was one of the writers a
used book store
> clerk (and later store owner) steered my teenage
self to more than
> forty years ago. I owe everything to that fellow who
helped me out
> of rural Georgia and a terrible school
system.
> Subdividing "everything" I would rank Kersh
reasonably up there on
> the individual author hit parade.
>
> I wish Paul Duncan was still on this list. Duncan,
author of NOIR
> FICTION, DARK HIGHWAYS (Pocket Essentials 2000)
among other works,
> is the premier Kersh expert and I can't wait to read
the biography
> upon which he has labored for some years. As an
aside, I emailed
> Duncan a few months ago about Kersh. One of my
passions is boxing
> and I had picked up an old boxing magazine from the
1950s with an
> article about "the old Mongoose" Archie Moore, who
was light
> heavyweight champion circa 1952-1962. The article
had a picture that
> showed Archie on the top of steps leading from his
home in San Diego,
> California to the beach. Each step was named and
labeled for
> sportswriters who had helped him along the way. One
of the steps was
> labeled "Gerald Kersh" and when I wrote Duncan he
was glad to explain
> that Kersh had written an Esquire article about
Moore.
>
> NIGHT AND THE CITY is an excellent novel and I my
recommendation to
> that of Max. Let me quote from Paul Duncan on the
book: "NIGHT AND
> THE CITY (1938) is a novel of disgust. Of all
Kersh's novels, it is
> the one where you most feel the fetid stink of the
city, and the
> worthless lives of the people in it. As one reviwer
put it, 'this
> novel of the London underworld has something of the
realism of a
> Hogarth picture and the satire of a Swift. Pimps,
prostitutes,
> panderers, petty crooks and odd characters move
about in low joints
> and night clubs, fleecing and being fleeced by each
other.'"
>
> I agree and don't believe either of the film
versions (Richard
> Widmark or Robert Duvall) did it complete
justice.
>
> PRELUDE TO A CERTAIN MIDNIGHT (1947) is a very fine
novel but
> provokes a strong reaction among those who expect
good to always
> triumph.
>
> Back to NIGHT AND THE CITY for a moment: Kersh
brought back Harry
> Fabian in the novel THE SONG OF THE FLEA (Doubleday
1948). It has
> been too many decades for me to give a reasoned
review of this
> novel. I only remember that I did not care for it
and especially
> thought the use of Harry Fabian was
ill-advised.
>
> Under the same caution of years-passed, I recall
fondly the long
> (22,000 words) story by Kersh "Clock Without Hands"
as one of likely
> interest to Rara list members. You can find the
story in one of the
> most common Kersh U.S. collections MEN WITHOUT BONES
(Paperback
> Library 1962). I don't have a bibliography handy but
am not
> confident that this long story was in the U.K.
collection also called
> MEN WITHOUT BONES. The story is also in the rather
common British
> collection THE BEST OF GERALD KERSH (Heinemann
1960). While I can't
> check this at present, I believe that Kersh's use of
the title "Clock
> Without Hands" predates its use by my fellow
Georgian Carson
> McCullers.
>
> Richard Moore
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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