Anna Kavan returned to war time Britain and spent the rest of her troubled life there. She continued to publish books. I remember seeing a book by her in the 1970s and thinking she was Eastern European. She's that strain of English writing which is Eurocentric, 'surrealiste' is the term she used. I have now finished the book and it's lodged in my mind as something rare and wonderful - the sound of a voice. She talks about herself having the refugee mentality and wanting to find a room in the mansion of life. But she's vividly alive in her words. Strange to think they lay gathering dust in a university archive in the United States till an enterprising academic, Jennifer Sturm, came along.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
I love this photo of Anna Kavan, The sleepwalker in the city...
Anna Kavan returned to war time Britain and spent the rest of her troubled life there. She continued to publish books. I remember seeing a book by her in the 1970s and thinking she was Eastern European. She's that strain of English writing which is Eurocentric, 'surrealiste' is the term she used. I have now finished the book and it's lodged in my mind as something rare and wonderful - the sound of a voice. She talks about herself having the refugee mentality and wanting to find a room in the mansion of life. But she's vividly alive in her words. Strange to think they lay gathering dust in a university archive in the United States till an enterprising academic, Jennifer Sturm, came along.
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4 comments:
Welcome to the blogworld, Peter Wells. I'm glad to have you here.
I wanted also to point out a friend of mine- she just secured a publisher for her first book, a memoir about her growing up in New Zealand. She's on my blogroll as ' A Cat of Impossible Color ' and I'm sure she'd love to chat with you.
Have you come across this reference?
I found it via Digital NZ
http://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/2496
Dear Peter,
Could you please tell me where did you get this image of Anna Kavan from? And would it be possible if I could have your e mail? As we would like to have her image to be feature in our magazine (Dazed and confused). Please get back to me at guppug@yahoo.com or photography@dazedgroup.com
Regards,
Palida
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