Gerda Charles
Gerda Charles, born Edna Lipson in 1914 in Liverpool, England, was a notable writer whose work often centered on themes of isolation and resilience among marginalized individuals. She perceived herself as a defender of those who feel alienated due to various factors such as gender, appearance, or religion, reflecting a cynical view of human nature. Charles's protagonists typically embody this struggle, facing societal norms and drawing strength from within. Her literary contributions are often categorized within the realm of "Jewish novels," influenced by her own Jewish heritage and the complexities of Anglo-Jewish culture.
Her first novel, *The True Voice* (1959), features a shy character, Lindy Frome, who learns to recognize her self-worth despite her isolation. In *The Crossing Point* (1963), which Charles identified as her "Jewish novel," she explores the dichotomies of Judaism through the lens of a character grappling with personal and cultural oppression. Charles's narrative style frequently intertwines individual experiences with significant historical events, as seen in *A Logical Girl* (1967). Throughout her career, she received multiple awards, including the James Tait Black Award and the Whitbread Literary Award, underscoring her impact on literature and her exploration of patient suffering as a central theme.
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Gerda Charles
Fiction Writer
- Born: August 14, 1914
- Birthplace: Liverpool, England
- Died: November 4, 1996
Biography
Gerda Charles, the pseudonym of Edna Lipson, was born in 1914 in Liverpool, England, and attended Liverpool public schools. Not much else is known about Charles’s early life. As a writer, Charles saw herself in the role of defender of the ordinary people, those who felt isolated and alienated from the modern world whether because of appearance, gender, religion, or other factor. Such weaker people, Charles believed, were devoured thoughtlessly by the strong in the manner of Darwin’s theoretical survival of the fittest. Charles was cynical about human nature. Her protagonists tend to be people who fall outside of societal norms; they suffer silently and must summon strength from within themselves.
Many critics have classified Charles’s novels as “Jewish novels,” or reflections of Anglo-Jewish culture and society, because they reflect the author’s Jewish heritage. Her first novel, The True Voice (1959), presents the extremely shy Lindy Frome, a talented young woman who finds that her shyness keeps her ambitions frozen. However, through patience and internal fortitude, Lindy learns her own self-worth. In The Crossing Point (1963), which Charles called her “Jewish novel,” the author advocates Judaism as the most perfect of all religions because it dovetails such dichotomies as feast and fast, spiritualism and worldliness. Charles symbolically posits the patiently suffering protagonist Sara, who desires to escape her stifling marriage and domestic duties, as representative of historical Jewish oppression. Set in a 1943 English seaside town, A Logical Girl (1967) tells the story of immature Rose Morgan and the influence of American troops just before the Allied Invasion. Here, Charles once again parallels an unhappy individual life with a major historical event.
The theme of patient suffering remains central to Charles’s work; thus, her stories often didactically present a moral. Numbered among her awards are the 1963 James Tait Black Award for A Slanting Light (1963), the 1971 Whitbread Literary Award for The Destiny Waltz, and the 1972 Arts Council Award.