Gerald Basil Edwards
Encyclopedia
Gerald Basil Edwards (July 8, 1899, Vale, Guernsey
- December 29, 1976, Weymouth, Dorset), was a British author.
, which was published posthumously in 1981. Edwards had worked on his great novel for many years but only completed it towards the end of his life, presenting the typescript to his friend Edward Chaney in August 1974, rather in the manner that the fictional Ebenezer bequeaths his 'Book' to Neville Falla in the novel. The typescript was rejected by all the publishers it was shown to and only after Edwards' death was it taken up by Hamish Hamilton
who arranged for John Fowles
to write an introduction. It was widely and very favorably reviewed, among others by William Golding
and Guy Davenport
. Harold Bloom
included it in his Western Canon. Penguin
produced a paperback and it was published in American and in French translation. It has now been published in Italian also by Elliot Edizioni. It is currently in print in Britain and America with New York Review of Books in their Classics series.
In the late 1920s and '30s Edwards had been regarded as a writer and intellectual of great promise, one who might indeed fill the shoes of D.H. Lawrence, whose biography Cape
commissioned him to write. He occasionally contributed to Middleton Murry
's Adelphi but never completed his larger projects. Eventually his friends Murry, J.S. Collis
and Stephen Potter
gave up their hopes in him. By 1933 he had abandoned his wife and children and he did not re-establish contact with his daughter until decades later. He became an itinerant teacher of drama and, latterly, a minor civil servant and something of a recluse. Towards the end of his life, he became a lodger in a house near Weymouth where he was 'discovered' by art student Edward Chaney. The latter encouraged him to complete his novel and eventually got it published. In September 2008 Guernsey
's first Blue Plaque
was affixed to his father's house on the island.
Vale, Guernsey
Vale is one of the ten parishes of Guernsey.Until 1806 the parish occupied territory on the mainland of Guernsey, the Vingtaine de l'Epine, as well as the whole of Le Clos du Valle, a tidal island forming the northern extremity of Guernsey separated from the mainland by La Braye du Valle, a tidal...
- December 29, 1976, Weymouth, Dorset), was a British author.
Biography
Edwards is known for The Book of Ebenezer Le PageThe Book of Ebenezer Le Page
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page is a novel by Gerald Basil Edwards first published in United Kingdom by Hamish Hamilton in 1981, and in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf in the same year...
, which was published posthumously in 1981. Edwards had worked on his great novel for many years but only completed it towards the end of his life, presenting the typescript to his friend Edward Chaney in August 1974, rather in the manner that the fictional Ebenezer bequeaths his 'Book' to Neville Falla in the novel. The typescript was rejected by all the publishers it was shown to and only after Edwards' death was it taken up by Hamish Hamilton
Hamish Hamilton
Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton . Confusingly, Jamie Hamilton was often referred to as Hamish Hamilton...
who arranged for John Fowles
John Fowles
John Robert Fowles was an English novelist and essayist. In 2008, The Times newspaper named Fowles among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".-Birth and family:...
to write an introduction. It was widely and very favorably reviewed, among others by William Golding
William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, best known for his novel Lord of the Flies...
and Guy Davenport
Guy Davenport
Guy Mattison Davenport was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher.-Life:...
. Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
included it in his Western Canon. Penguin
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
produced a paperback and it was published in American and in French translation. It has now been published in Italian also by Elliot Edizioni. It is currently in print in Britain and America with New York Review of Books in their Classics series.
In the late 1920s and '30s Edwards had been regarded as a writer and intellectual of great promise, one who might indeed fill the shoes of D.H. Lawrence, whose biography Cape
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
commissioned him to write. He occasionally contributed to Middleton Murry
John Middleton Murry
John Middleton Murry was an English writer. He was prolific, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime...
's Adelphi but never completed his larger projects. Eventually his friends Murry, J.S. Collis
John Stewart Collis
-Life:The son of an Irish solicitor, John Stewart Collis was educated at Rugby and Oxford. A writer of biographies and other works, his first book on George Bernard Shaw, was published in 1925, followed by biographies of Havelock Ellis, Strindberg, Tolstoy, the Carlyles and Christopher Columbus...
and Stephen Potter
Stephen Potter
Stephen Meredith Potter was a British author best known for his mocking self-help books, and film and television derivatives from them....
gave up their hopes in him. By 1933 he had abandoned his wife and children and he did not re-establish contact with his daughter until decades later. He became an itinerant teacher of drama and, latterly, a minor civil servant and something of a recluse. Towards the end of his life, he became a lodger in a house near Weymouth where he was 'discovered' by art student Edward Chaney. The latter encouraged him to complete his novel and eventually got it published. In September 2008 Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
's first Blue Plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
was affixed to his father's house on the island.