NYRB Classics discussion

The Book of Ebenezer Le Page



Publication Date: July 10, 2007
Pages: 424
Introduction by John Fowles.
Originally published posthumously in 1981.

Ebenezer Le Page, cantankerous, opinionated, and charming, is one of the most compelling literary creations of the late twentieth century. Eighty years old, Ebenezer has lived his whole life on the Channel Island of Guernsey, a stony speck of a place caught between the coasts of England and France yet a world apart from either. Ebenezer himself is fiercely independent, but as he reaches the end of his life he is determined to tell his own story and the stories of those he has known. He writes of family secrets and feuds, unforgettable friendships and friendships betrayed, love glimpsed and lost. The Book of Ebenezer Le Page is a beautifully detailed chronicle of a life, but it is equally an oblique reckoning with the traumas of the twentieth century, as Ebenezer recalls both the men lost to the Great War and the German Occupation of Guernsey during World War II, and looks with despair at the encroachments of commerce and tourism on his beloved island.

G. B. Edwards labored in obscurity all his life and completed The Book of Ebenezer Le Page shortly before his death. Published posthumously, the book is a triumph of the storyteller’s art that conjures up the extraordinary voice of a living man.

A biography of the author has just been published, written by Edward Chaney,

The title is "Genius Friend: G.B. Edwards and The Book of Ebenezer Le Page". Chaney was the man who, as a young art student, met the author and encouraged him to finish the book. The author then dedicated the book to Chaney, and Chaney went on to get it published five years after the author's death.

The biography reveals G.B. Edwards's hitherto unknown early works included essays published in Middleton Murry's Adelphi, plays which he wrote and subsequently destroyed and that Cape had commissioned him to write the first study of D.H. Lawrence.

It also reveals how much the events in his only novel were inspired by his own life and family history in his native Guernsey.

With over 90 illustrations and previously unpublished letters and poetry, this book is a must-read for fans of The Book of Ebenezer Le Page.

The book on Blacklisted podcast is The Book of Ebenezer le Page. It sounds like an important book. I hope we read it soon.

It was on our first poll this year but narrowly lost out to Berlin Alexanderplatz. Then it never got enough nominations to make it to another poll. Hopefully we can get it onto another poll soon.

I’d like to read it, too. Backlisted is such a great podcast!

Isn’t it? I love Backlisted.

The problem we have is every nyrb book is important!