With Hitler in power and a dark cloud of war gathering over
Europe, a ten year old Jewish girl is discovered raped and
murdered in the coal cellar of a rotten, abandoned house in
London. With the police investigation stalled for lack of
clues, Asta Thundersley, an eccentric crusader for the rights
of the downtrodden, takes up the challenge. A strange, motley
cast of characters and suspects are introduced, with a secret
plan to discover the murderer in the end.
The novel is a dark portrayal of lives crushed by despair and
hopelessness, with a main character obsessed with their pain
and misery. The story demonstrates the ineffectiveness of one
person to make a difference, partly because of flaws in their
character, and partly because of apathy on the part of the
greater population. The miseries of the unfortunate are
repeatedly portrayed as entertainment for those more
fortunate. In all of the above, the book closely parallels
Nathanael West's MISS LONELYHEARTS. The bizarre cast of
grotesque characters and the drunken party at the end is
distinctly reminiscent of West's DAY OF THE LOCUST.
The theme seems to point towards the futility of attempting
to do anything to improve the sad state of mankind. However,
an alternative theme is presented in a curious dialogue
between Asta and Inspector Turpin. Turpin explains the
dangers of masochistic submission to the brutality of
another, explaining that it serves to increase the need for
more violence. At the end of the conversation Asta summarizes
what he says:
"...everyone who enjoys being hurt adds to the cruelty
of the world."
Extrapolating, it's possible that Kersh is
setting forth a theme that pacifism and apathy in the face of
malevolent violence only serves to encourage more violence,
and that those who do not actively stand against violence are
soaking their hands in the same blood as the actual
perpetrators.
Gerald Kersh was born in 1911 in England. Kersh showed a
talent for writing at an early age, and from the moment he
entered his teens, he was commited to writing. He worked at
various side jobs to feed himself, including bodyguard, cook,
and travelling salesman, and acquired a reputation as a
street fighter. He had a hatchet scar on his forehead, a
knife slash on his wrist, and tooth marks on his knuckles. He
published his first book, JEWS WITHOUT JEHOVAH, in 1934. It
received good reviews. He worked as a correspondent for the
BBC in 1936, and in 1938 his second novel, NIGHT IN THE CITY,
was published. Possibly influenced by the rising tide of
American crime literature, it was even more popular than the
first one. Aside from his novels, Kersh produced many short
stories, many of them dealing with crime. The most popular of
these was a series of 17, started in 1936, involving a master
criminal named Karmesin. As a footnote, these largely
uncollected stories are slated for publishing by Crippen and
Landru.
In 1940 he entered military service and one night, while on
leave, he was buried alive in the London Blitz. He came out
of that with a damaged knee and wrote THEY DIED WITH THEIR
BOOTS CLEAN in 1941. Along with articles for several papers,
Kersh also wrote influential war propaganda from 1940 to 1946
for The People Sunday newspaper. In 1947 PRELUDE TO A CERTAIN
MIDNIGHT was published.
Kersh continued to write but fell into disfavor with the
critics in 1953 with THE GREAT WASH, his only science fiction
novel. A messy divorce in 1955 made matters worse, but he
rebounded, marrying again and moving to a remote are in New
York, and won the Edgar Allan Poe award from the Mystery
Writers of America for a short story. Kersh died in
1968.
Note: Paul Duncan's web site is the source of most of the
biographical information.
miker
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