Anna Kavan
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Anna Kavan (born Helen Emily Woods; 10 April 1901 – 5 December 1968) was a British novelist, short story writer and painter. Originally publishing under her first married name, Helen Ferguson, she adopted the name Anna Kavan in 1939 as both her
pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
and her legal identity. She is most well-known for her 1967 novel, ''
Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
'', published just a year before her death.


Biography


Early life and background

Kavan was born Helen Emily Woods in
Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...
, as the
only child An only child is a person with no siblings, by birth or adoption. Overview Throughout history, only-children were relatively uncommon. From around the middle of the 20th century, birth rates and average family sizes fell sharply for a number of ...
of an affluent British family. Her father, Claude Charles Edward Woods, was a brewer who graduated
Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...
in 1888. He was the son of Matthew Charles Woods of Holeyn Hall,
Wylam Wylam is a village and civil parish in the county of Northumberland, England. It is located about west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is famous for the being the birthplace of George Stephenson, one of the early railway pioneers. George Stephen ...
, and the grandson of William Woods, a banker in
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...
. Her mother, Helen Eliza Bright, was the daughter of George Charles Bright, physician and son of Richard Bright, and Susan Emmeline Bright (née Cooper). Kavan's parents travelled frequently, and she spent her childhood in both Europe and the United States. When Kavan was around 10 years old, the family moved from
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
to
Rialto The Rialto is a central area of Venice, Italy, in the ''sestiere'' of San Polo. It is, and has been for many centuries, the financial and commercial heart of the city. Rialto is known for its prominent markets as well as for the monumental Ria ...
, California to start an orange farm. While the business was moderately successful, Kavan's father abandoned the family and was found dead around a year later in 1915, having thrown himself from the prow of a ship. After his death, she returned to the UK where she was a boarder at Parsons Mead School in Ashstead and
Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...
in
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
. Kavan has reflected upon her childhood as both incredibly lonely and neglectful, and her fiction often contains portrayals of dysfunctional family relationships.


Marriages and first hospitalization

Disregarding her daughter's desire to go to
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, Kavan's mother arranged an encounter with between the then nineteen-year old Kavan and Donald Ferguson, a man both ten years her senior and allegedly her mother's former lover. She married him in 1920, a few months before he took a position with as a railroad administrator in
colonial Burma British colonial rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the successive three Anglo-Burmese wars through the creation of ''Burma'' as a province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally ind ...
. After moving, Kavan began to write and gave birth to her son Bryan Gratney Ferguson. In 1923, the marriage collapsed and Kavan left Ferguson, returning with Bryan to the UK. Living alone in London during the mid-1920s, she began studying painting at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts, and continued to paint throughout her life. Kavan regularly travelled to the
French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...
where she was introduced to
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
either by racing car drivers she took up with,Ironside Virginia, "Julia and the Bazooka" Peter Owen Publishers reprint 2007, introduction. a tennis professional who claimed it would improve her game, or through a prescription for
morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...
to treat depression. While in France, she began an affair with Stuart Edmonds, who she married in 1928. Together the couple travelled through France, Italy, and Spain before resettling in England. A year later in 1929, she published her first novel, ''A Charmed Circle'', under the name Helen Ferguson. It follows the story of a pair of sisters, Olive and Beryl Deane, who live in a small town under the tyranny of their hermit father and mother who dote on their cruel older brother-- themes she would return to frequently for the rest of her career. ''A Charmed Circle'' was followed by five more books over the next eight years: ''Let Me Alone'' (1930), ''The Dark Sisters'' (1930), ''A Stranger Still'' (1935), ''Goose Cross'' (1936), and ''Rich Get Rich'' (1937). Most notable of these books is ''Let Me Alone'', which follows the protagonist, Anna Kavan, forced into marriage by a cruel aunt and forcefully moved to a tropical "hell" where she is tormented by both the environment and her domineering husband. Together Kavan and Edmonds had a daughter, Margaret, who died soon after childbirth. They then adopted a girl they named Susanna. In 1938, the marriage had begun to sour and Edmonds began an affair, leading the severely depressed Kavan to attempt
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
. She was then sent to a private clinic in Switzerland to recover. This would be the first of many suicide attempts, hospitalizations, and asylum incarcerations throughout Kavan's life for both depression and her lifelong
heroin addiction Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a substance use disorder characterized by cravings for opioids, continued use despite physical and/or psychological deterioration, increased tolerance with use, and withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing opioids. ...
.


As Anna Kavan

''Asylum Piece'' (1940), a collection of short stories which explores dreamy, strange mindscapes and touches on themes of captivity, mental illness, alienation, and the difficulty of the 'patient' role, was her first book under the name Anna Kavan. This collection marks a drastic change in Kavan's writing, and all subsequent works would continue to embrace and build upon the experimental,
slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slips ...
style exemplified by the collection, which
Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...
called "nocturnal language".Anaïs Nin, The Novel of the Future published by Mcmillan, 1968. However, she did not immediately adopt a new identity as 'Anna Kavan' in her day-to-day life. She continued to sign her letters as 'Helen' up until the end of 1940, when she moved to New York. An inveterate traveller, Kavan initiated a long journey at the outset of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. From September 1939 to February 1943, she spent six months in
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California Carmel-by-the-Sea (), commonly known simply as Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, located on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 3,220, down from 3,722 a ...
. The stay inspired her novella, ''My Soul in China'', published posthumously in 1975. She also visited the island of
Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...
, Indonesia, and stayed for twenty-two months in
Napier, New Zealand Napier ( ; ) is a city on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Hawke's Bay region. It is a beachside city with a seaport, known for its sunny climate, esplanade lined with Norfolk pines, and extensive Art D ...
, her final destination. Her travel itinerary was complicated by the war, which severely restricted many ordinary boat routes. Returning to England early 1943, she worked briefly as a psychiatric nurse with soldiers suffering from
war neurosis Combat stress reaction (CSR) is acute behavioral disorganization as a direct result of the trauma of war. Also known as "combat fatigue", "battle fatigue", "operational exhaustion", or "battle/war neurosis", it has some overlap with the diagnosis ...
at the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital and studied for a diploma in Psychological Medicine, which she never finished. She also took a secretarial position at ''Horizon'', an influential literary magazine edited by
Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine ''Horizon (British magazine), Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote ''Enemies of Pro ...
and founded by Peter Watson, one of her friends. There, she contributed stories, articles, and reviews from 1944 to 1946, Most notable of her work for Horizon is ''The Case of Bill Williams'', based on her time as a nurse. During her tenure at ''Horizon'', letters indicate that Kavan had begun using
cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
as well as heroin, and may have been supplying it to others in the office, which Connolly disapproved of.Walker, Victoria Carborne. ''The Fiction of Anna Kavan (1901-1968)''. Diss. Queen Mary University of London, 2012. In February 1944, Kavan's son from her first marriage, Bryan, died serving in
No. 3 Commando No. 3 Commando was a battalion-sized Commando unit raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in July 1940 from volunteers for special service, it was the first such unit to carry the title of "Commando". Shortly afterwards th ...
during the Second World War. After her return to the UK, Kavan began treatment with the German psychiatrist . They shared an unconventional relationship, with Bluth becoming Kavan's close friend, creative collaborator, and doctor until his death in 1964. He also managed her heroin addiction, and supplied her with the drug. Bluth regularly dedicated poetry, writings, and drawings to Kavan. The drawings were often sexual in nature, and though there were tensions between Bluth's wife and Kavan due to her disapproving of their closeness, there is no evidence that their relationship ever became physical. Together, Bluth and Kavan cowrote the allegorical satire, ''The Horse's Tale'', published in 1949 by
Gaberbocchus Press The Gaberbocchus Press was a London publishing house founded in 1948 by the artist couple Stefan and Franciszka Themerson. Alongside the Themersons, the other directors of the Press were the translator Barbara Wright and the artist Gwen Barnard ...
. It was Bluth who arranged for Kavan to be treated by pioneering psychiatrist and existential psychologist
Ludwig Binswanger Ludwig Binswanger (; ; 13 April 1881 – 5 February 1966) was a Swiss people, Swiss psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of existential psychology. His parents were Robert Johann Binswanger (1850–1910) and Bertha Hasenclever (1847–1896). ...
at his Swiss clinic, the (1857–1980). Her time at the clinic centered around treating her psychological problems and finding a cure for heroin addiction. However, they were unsuccessful in managing her addiction. Kavan continued to undergo sporadic inpatient treatments for heroin addiction and in her later years in London she lived as a virtual recluse. She enjoyed a late triumph in 1967 with her novel ''
Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
'', inspired by her time in New Zealand and the country's proximity to the inhospitable frozen landscape of
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
. The original manuscript was titled ''The Cold World''. When her publisher
Peter Owen Peter Owen may refer to: * Peter Owen (make-up artist), Oscar-winning make-up artist * Peter Owen (publisher) (1927–2016), British publisher * Peter Owen Publishers, a London-based publisher founded in 1951 * Peter Owen (actor) in '' Miss Mabel'' ...
sent Kavan his initial response, neither rejecting nor accepting her text, he described it as a cross between
Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...
and
The Avengers Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sag ...
.David Callard, The Case of Anna Kavan, biography published by Peter Owen, 1992. ''Ice'' brought Kavan critical acclaim and it is her best-known novel, known for its strangeness, disturbing imagery, portrayals of violence and war, and slipstream writing style. Although popularly supposed to have died of a heroin overdose, Kavan died of heart failure at her home in
Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
and was found dead on December 5, 1968. The previous night she had failed to attend a reception in honor of author Anaïs Nin at the home of her London-based publisher
Peter Owen Peter Owen may refer to: * Peter Owen (make-up artist), Oscar-winning make-up artist * Peter Owen (publisher) (1927–2016), British publisher * Peter Owen Publishers, a London-based publisher founded in 1951 * Peter Owen (actor) in '' Miss Mabel'' ...
.Emily Hill, A Novel Approach, interview with Peter Owen for Dazed & Confused, 2010 :"The author of Ice, who died in 1968 with enough heroin stockpiled in her house to kill the whole street, did so on the night she was expected at one of Peter Owen’s parties. When the police broke in the door, they found the gold invitation, so Owen was the first person they called. "I didn’t realise at the time that I was dealing with a really major writer who would become a cult figure", Owen admits. ".


Legacy

Many of Kavan's works were published posthumously, some edited by her friend and legatee, the Welsh writer Rhys Davies. Her writing has been compared to that of
Djuna Barnes Djuna Barnes ( ; June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel '' Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist lite ...
,
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
,
Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...
,
Jean Rhys Jean Rhys, ( ; born Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she resided mainly in England, where she was sent for her educa ...
, Alan Burns, and Ann Quin.
Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for oc ...
described her as
Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...
's sister.Brian Aldiss, The Detached Retina : aspects of SF and Fantasy published Syracuse University Press, 1995.
Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing ( Tayler; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British novelist. She was born to British parents in Qajar Iran, Persia, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where ...
,
J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist and short-story writer, satirist and essayist known for psychologically provocative works of fiction that explore the relations between human psychology, technology, s ...
, Anaïs Nin,
Jean Rhys Jean Rhys, ( ; born Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she resided mainly in England, where she was sent for her educa ...
,
Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for oc ...
, Christopher Priest,
Nina Allan Nina Allan (born 27 May 1966) is a British writer of speculative fiction. She has published five collections of short stories, multiple novella-sized works, and five novels. Her stories have appeared in the magazines '' Interzone'', '' Black Stat ...
,
Virginia Ironside Virginia Ironside (born 3 February 1944) is a British journalist, agony aunt and author. Born in London, she is the daughter of Christopher Ironside, painter and coin designer, and Janey Ironside who was the first professor of fashion design a ...
and Maggie Gee are among the writers who have praised her work. Nin was perhaps the most dedicated of Kavan's early supporters, as she tried unsuccessfully for years to begin a correspondence with her. London-based Peter Owen Publishers have been long-serving advocates of Kavan's work and continue to keep her work in print. In 2009,The society was founded by Victoria Walker who achieved her PhD 'The Fiction of Anna Kavan' at Queen Mary, University of London in 2012. the Anna Kavan Society was founded in London with the aim of encouraging wider readership and increasing academic scholarship of Kavan's work. Kavan's paintings have been recently exhibited at the Zarrow Art Center in
Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...
, Oklahoma. ''The Unconventional Anna Kavan: Works on Paper''Kristina Rosenthal, Announcement: Anna Kavan at the Zarrow Art Center 23 October 2014 :"Based upon her formal training at the Central London School of Arts and Crafts in "design theory", Kavan’s technique places each current painting in the context of earlier pieces. It mirrored her creative approach to first experience a relationship, emotion, or life situation then make a work of art that marked that experience. She considered these memorials a justification for having lived." . exhibition displayed thirty-six paintings created by Kavan drawn from the McFarlin Library Special Collections, University of Tulsa. The exhibition ''Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors'' at
Freud Museum The Freud Museum in London is a museum dedicated to Sigmund Freud, located in the house where Freud lived with his family during the last year of his life. In 1938, after escaping Nazi annexation of Austria he came to London via Paris and ...
London10 October 2013 – 2 February 2014 : Inspired by Lisa Appignanesi’s acclaimed book, Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present, the exhibition highlights the experience of women and their relationship to those who confined, cared for and listened to them. It also shows how women today conduct their own explorations of mind and imagination in challenging works of art. traced key moments in the history of
hysteria Hysteria is a term used to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, female hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that the bas ...
and counterpointed these with women's inventive art.


Modern scholarship and interpretations

In September 2014, the Anna Kavan Society organized a one-day symposium at the Institute of English Studies in association with Liverpool John Moores University Research Centre for Literature and Cultural History and
Peter Owen Publishers Peter Owen Publishers was founded in 1951 as a family-run independent publisher based in London, England.John Self"Peter Owen: Sixty years of innovation" Books Blog, ''The Guardian'', 4 July 2011. The company was acquired by Pushkin Press in 20 ...
. Th
Anna Kavan Symposium
brought together scholars and writers to historicize Kavan's work (from the
post-colonial Postcolonialism (also post-colonial theory) is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic consequences of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and thei ...
aspects of Kavan's fiction and journalism to the
interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
period), situate her within the literary and intellectual context of her times, and chart her legacy as a writer.


Feminist readings

On ''Ice'' and
protofeminism Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as 18th-century feminism ...
, L.Timmel Duchamp said "First published in 1967, on the eve of the second wave of feminism, ''Ice'' has never been regarded as a significant work of proto-feminist literature, although scholars occasionally include it on lists of science fiction written by women before the explosion of the genre in the 1970s. The novel's surrealist form demands a different sort of reading than that of science fiction driven by narrative causality, but the text's obsessive insistence on linking the global political violence of the Cold War with the threateningly lethal sexual objectification of Woman and depicting them as two poles of the same suicidal collective will to destroy life makes ''Ice'' an interesting feminist literary experiment."


Genre-bending and experimental writing

Kavan's reception as a 'woman writer' has been complicated by her perceived lack of attention to gender politics, and her fiction has most often been interpreted as
autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
rather than experimental and aesthetic writing. Kavan's work is difficult to situate in fixed literary categories; the scope of her work shows her experimenting with
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...
,
surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
and
absurdism Absurdism is the philosophical theory that the universe is irrationality, irrational and meaningless. It states that trying to find meaning leads people into conflict with a seemingly meaningless world. This conflict can be between Rationality ...
. Her work often abandons linear plot and narrative structure and portrays nameless landscapes and nameless characters. Her disruptive narratives are close to the technique of
stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. It is usually in the form of an interior monologue which ...
associated with modernist novelists. Her best-known novel ''Ice'' has been described as
slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slips ...
, a non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries, where
Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known w ...
' ''Fictions'',
Calvino Italo Calvino (, ; ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian novelist and short story writer. His best-known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the ''Cosmi ...
's ''Invisible Cities'' or Ballard's ''Crash'' are cited as 'canon of slipstream writing'.


Politics of madness

Kavan's writing of
madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...
, asylum incarceration and opiate addiction offer a complex and thought-provoking perspective on early twentieth-century
psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...
and
psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
. As well as being treated in private asylums and nursing homes, Kavan underwent a short analysis at the
Tavistock Clinic The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health trust based in north London. The Trust specialises in talking therapies. The education and training department caters for 2,000 students a year from the United Kin ...
, experienced Ludwig Binswanger's method of
existential psychotherapy Existential therapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the Existentialism, existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on the psychological experience revolving around universal h ...
at the Bellevue Sanatorium, and had a close personal relationship with her longtime psychiatrist Karl Bluth. In her fiction and journalism Kavan promoted a radical politics of madness, giving voice to the disenfranchised and marginalized psychiatric patient and presaging the
anti-psychiatry Anti-psychiatry, sometimes spelled antipsychiatry, is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment can often be more damaging than helpful to patients. The term anti-psychiatry was coined in 1912, and the movement emerged in the 1960s, ...
movement. In the exhibition ''Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors'' at the Freud Museum in London (2013), her work was presented alongside other female explorers of the mind, among them:
Mary Lamb Mary Anne Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847) was an English writer. She is best known for the collaboration with her brother Charles Lamb, Charles on the collection ''Tales from Shakespeare'' (1807). Mary suffered from mental illness, and i ...
, Theroigne de Méricourt,
Alice James Alice James (August 7, 1848 – March 6, 1892) was an American diarist, and the younger sister of novelist Henry James and philosopher and psychologist William James. Her relationship with William was unusually close, and she seems to have ...
,
Anna O Bertha Pappenheim (27 February 1859 – 28 May 1936) was an Austrian-Jewish feminist, a social pioneer, and the founder of the Jewish Women's Association (). Under the pseudonym Anna O., she was also one of Josef Breuer's best-documented pat ...
, Ida Bauer, Augustine, Elizabeth Severn,
Bryher Bryher () is one of the smallest inhabited islands of the Isles of Scilly, with a population of 84 in 2011, spread across . Bryher exhibits a procession of prominent hills connected by low-lying necks and sandy bars. Landmarks include Hell Bay, ...
, Annie Winifred Ellerman, Hilda Doolittle,
Princess Marie Bonaparte Princess Marie Bonaparte (2 July 1882 – 21 September 1962), known as Princess George of Greece and Denmark upon her marriage, was a French author and psychoanalyst, closely linked with Sigmund Freud. Her wealth contributed to the popularity ...
,
Anna Freud Anna Freud CBE ( ; ; 3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father a ...
,
Dorothy Burlingham Dorothy Trimble Tiffany Burlingham (11 October 1891 – 19 November 1979) was an American child psychoanalyst and educator. A lifelong friend and partner of Anna Freud, Burlingham is known for her joint work with Freud on the analysis of childr ...
,
Zelda Fitzgerald Zelda Fitzgerald (; July 24, 1900 – March 10, 1948) was an American novelist, painter, and socialite. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, to a wealthy Southern family, she became locally famous for her beauty and high spirits. In 1920, she marri ...
,
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
,
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...
and
Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...
.


Influences


Literature

Kavan was friends with the Welsh writer Rhys Davies, who based his 1975 novel ''Honeysuckle Girl'' on her early life.


Theater and performance

Choreographer and stage director, adapted ''Ice'' for the theater in 2008. ''Silverglass'' by DJ Britton is a play about the relationship between Rhys Davies and Anna Kavan. It was presented as a premiere during the Rhys Davies Short Story Conference 2013 held in
Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
. The play is set in the late 1960s and depicts Davies' late literary recognition as well as Kavan's final tragedy. Both writers lived 'a life of self-invention, in which secrets, sexuality and deep questions of personal identity lurked constantly in the shadows'.


Music and sound art

Thalia Zedek Thalia Zedek (born 1961) is an American singer and guitarist. Active since the early 1980s, she has been a member of several notable alternative rock groups, including Live Skull and Uzi (band), Uzi both of which, according to ''Spin (magazine) ...
is an American singer and guitarist, active since the early 1980s and member of several notable
alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
groups, including
Live Skull Live Skull is a post-punk/experimental rock band from New York City, formed in 1982. In an overview of their abrasive no wave-influenced music, ''Trouser Press'' said, "As part of the same New York avant-noisy scene that spawned Sonic Youth, Ly ...
and
Uzi The Uzi (; ; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel. ...
. 'Sleep Has His House was the inspiration for the albu
Sleep Asylum
ref name=Zedek>From the desk of Thalia Zedek : Anna Kavan, interview in Magnet Magazine 28 April 2013 : http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2013/04/28/from-the-desk-of-thalia-zedek-anna-kavan/.
of Uzi' released in 1986.
David Tibet David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting; 5 March 1960) is an English poet, artist and musician. He is best known for the musical group Current 93, which he founded and is the only consistent member of, along with his contributions to the b ...
, the primary creative force behind the
experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
/
neofolk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrume ...
music group
Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorte ...
, named the group's album '' Sleep Has His House'' after Anna Kavan's book of the same title. San Francisco post-rock band Carta titled a song ''Kavan'' on their album "The Glass Bottom Boat" after Anna Kavan. The song was subsequently released as a remix by The Declining Winter on their album Haunt the Upper Hallways. Floriane Pochon, French artist, created a sound artwork untitled ''Ice Lady'' based on the novel ''Ice''. It was presented during Les Nuits de la Phaune, a live broadcast event initiated by the Marseille-based in 2008. Squid's 2021 album ''
Bright Green Field ''Bright Green Field'' is the debut studio album by British band Squid. The album was recorded throughout 2020, and was released on 7 May 2021 through Warp Records. Three singles accompanied the album; "Narrator", released on 27 January, "Paddlin ...
'' gets its title from an Anna Kavan short story of the same name. The ninth song on the record, "Peel St.," is based on Kavan's novel ''
Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
''. The name "Peel St." comes from the street Kavan lived on.


Visual arts

In an installation named Anna, the Wales-based artist duo
Heather and Ivan Morison Heather and Ivan Morison are a Welsh artist duo known for their conceptual and performative public artworks. The duo, Heather Peak (born 1973) and Ivan Morison (born 1974), are based in North Wales. Work In 2007 they grew and then distributed 10 ...
investigate the construction of the
self In philosophy, the self is an individual's own being, knowledge, and values, and the relationship between these attributes. The first-person perspective distinguishes selfhood from personal identity. Whereas "identity" is (literally) same ...
based on ambiguous narratives. They developed an allegorical piece of object theatre draws on the life and works of Kavan using
performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...
and
puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...
to connect the objects and play out "a brutal tale of love and loss set against the approaching threat of the ice".Heather & Ivan Morison website: http://www.morison.info/anna.html . It has been first presented in 2012 at
The Hepworth Wakefield The Hepworth Wakefield is an art museum in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, which opened on 21 May 2011. The gallery is situated on the south side of the River Calder and takes its name from artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born ...
in Wakefield, England.


Bibliography


As Helen Ferguson

Re-issues after 1939 are under the name Anna Kavan. * ''
A Charmed Circle A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient G ...
'' (London : Jonathan Cape, 1929
Open Library
* '' Let Me Alone'' (London : Jonathan Cape, 1930
Open Library
* '' The Dark Sisters'' (London : Jonathan Cape, 1930
Open Library
* '' A Stranger Still'' (London : Jonathan Cape, 1935
Open Library
* '' Goose Cross'' (London : John Lane, 1936
Open Library
* ''
Rich Get Rich Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling ** Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated communi ...
'' (London : John Lane, 1937
Open Library


As Anna Kavan

* '' Asylum Piece'' (London : Jonathan Cape, 1940
Open Library
* '' Change The Name'' (London : Jonathan Cape, 1941
Open Library
* '' I Am Lazarus'' (London : Jonathan Cape, 1945
Open Library
* '' Sleep Has His House'' (a.k.a. ''The House of Sleep'' (New York : Doubleday, US ed., 1947) – ''Sleep Has His House'' (London: Cassel, UK ed., 1948)
Open Library
* ''
The Horse's Tale ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...
'' (with K. T. Bluth) (London :
Gaberbocchus Press The Gaberbocchus Press was a London publishing house founded in 1948 by the artist couple Stefan and Franciszka Themerson. Alongside the Themersons, the other directors of the Press were the translator Barbara Wright and the artist Gwen Barnard ...
, 1949
Open Library
* '' A Scarcity of Love'' (Southport, Lancashire: Angus Downie, 1956
Open Library
* '' Eagle's Nest'' (London : Peter Owen, 1957
Open Library
* '' A Bright Green Field and Other Stories'' (London : Peter Owen, 1958
Open Library
* '' Who Are You?'' (Lowestoft, Suffolk: Scorpion Press, 1963
Open Library
* ''
Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
'' (
Peter Owen Publishers Peter Owen Publishers was founded in 1951 as a family-run independent publisher based in London, England.John Self"Peter Owen: Sixty years of innovation" Books Blog, ''The Guardian'', 4 July 2011. The company was acquired by Pushkin Press in 20 ...
, London 1967, scheduled for reissue in Christmas 2017
Open Library


Published posthumously

*
Julia and the Bazooka
' (London : Peter Owen, 1970) *
My Soul in China
' (London : Peter Owen, 1975) *
My Madness: Selected Writings
' (London : Macmillan, 1990) *
Mercury
' (London : Peter Owen, 1994) *
The Parson
' (London : Peter Owen, 1995) *
Guilty
' (London : Peter Owen, 2007) *''Machines in the Head: the Selected Short Writing of Anna Kavan'' (London : Peter Owen, 2019)


Journalism

All work published in Horizon : A Review of Literature and Art * 'New Zealand: Answer to an Inquiry', ''Horizon'' 45, Sept 1943 * 'The Case of Bill Williams', ''Horizon'' 50, Feb 1944 * 'Reviews', ''Horizon'' 50, Feb 1944 * 'Reviews', ''Horizon'' 52, April 1944 * 'Reviews', ''Horizon'' 59, Nov 1944 * 'Reviews', ''Horizon'' 62, Feb 1945 * 'Reviews', ''Horizon'' 67, July 1945 * 'Reviews', ''Horizon'' 73, Jan 1946


Anthologized work by Anna Kavan

* "Department of Slight Confusion." In ''Book: A Miscellany''. No. 3, edited by Leo Bensemann & Denis Glover. Christchurch: Caxton Press, 1941. * "Ice Storm." In ''New Zealand New Writing'', edited by Ian Gordon. Wellington: Progressive Publishing Society, 1942. * "I Am Lazarus." ''Horizon'' VII, no. 41, 1943, 353–61. * "New Zealand: An Answer to an Inquiry." ''Horizon'' VIII, no. 45, 1943, 153–61. * "The Big Bang." In ''Modern Short Stories'', edited by Denys Val Baker. London: Staples & Staples, 1943. * "Face of My People." ''Horizon'' IX, no. 53, 1944, 323–35. * "Face of My People." In Little Reviews Anthology 1945, edited by Denys Val Baker. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1945. * "I Am Lazarus." In ''Stories of the Forties'' Vol. 1, edited by Reginald Moore & Woodrow Wyatt. London: Nicholson & Watson, 1945. * "Two New Zealand Pieces." In ''Choice'', edited by William Sansom. London: Progressive Publishing, 1946. * "Brave New Worlds." In ''Horizon'', edited by Cyril Connolly. London, 1946. * "The Professor." In ''Horizon'', edited by Cyril Connolly. London, 1946. * "Face of My People." In Modern British Writing, edited by Denys Val Baker. New York: Vanguard Press, 1947. * "I Am Lazarus." In ''The World Within: Fiction Illuminating Neuroses of Our Time'', edited by Mary Louise W. Aswell. New York: McGraw-Hill Books, 1947. * "The Red Dogs." In ''Penguin New Writing'', Vol. 37, edited by John Lehmann. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1949. * "The Red Dogs." In ''Pleasures of New Writing: An Anthology of Poems, Stories, and Other Prose Pieces from the Pages of New Writing'', edited by John Lehmann. London: John Lehmann, 1952. * "Happy Name." In London Magazine, edited by Alan Ross. London, 1954. * "Palace of Sleep." In ''Stories for the Dead of Night'', edited by Don Congdon. New York: Dell Books, 1957 * "A Bright Green Field." In ''Springtime Two: An Anthology of Current Trends'', edited by Peter Owen & Wendy Owen. London: Peter Owen Ltd., 1958. * "High in the Mountains." In London Magazine, edited by Alan Ross. London, 1958. * "Five More Days to Countdown." In ''Encounter'' XXXI, no. 1, 1968, 45–49. * "Julia and the Bazooka." In ''Encounter'' XXXII, no. 2, 1969, 16–19. * "World of Heroes." In ''Encounter'' XXXIII, no. 4, 1969, 9–13. * "The Mercedes." In London Magazine 1970, 17–21. * "Edge of Panic." ''In Vogue'', 1 October 1971, 75–83. * "Sleep Has His House" excerpts. In ''The Tiger Garden: A Book of Writers' Dreams''. Foreword by Anthony Stevens. London: Serpent's Tail, 1996 * "The Zebra Struck" In ''The Vintage Book of Amnesia'', edited by Jonathan Lethem. New York: Vintage Books, 2000


Further sources


Biographies

* The Case of Anna Kavan : A Biography, by David Callard. London: Peter Owen, 1994 *, by Jeremy Reed. London: Peter Owen, 2006
Anna Kavan's New-Zealand
by Jennifer Sturm. Auckland: Random House Books, 2009 * Stranger Still: The Works of Anna Kavan, by Francis Booth. London:Lulu.com, 2013


Major archives

The largest collection of archival material from Kavan is held by the
University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
's McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections and University Archives. This includes her personal archive of manuscripts and artwork in the Anna Kavan papers, 1867–1991; further material in the Meic Stephens collection of Anna Kavan ephemera, 1943–1971; the Richard R. Centing collection of Anna Kavan, 1943–1991; David A. Callard collection of Anna Kavan; and the Anais Nin papers, 1969–1992. Other collections beyond Tulsa include The Peter Owen Archives at the
Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...
, University of Texas with correspondence between Kavan and her publisher Peter Owen and related material. Other archives contain letters from Kavan to publishers include the William A Bradley Literary Agency, Francis Henry King, Scorpion Press,
John Lehmann Rudolf John Frederick Lehmann (2 June 1907 – 7 April 1987) was an English publisher, poet and man of letters. He founded the periodicals '' New Writing'' and ''The London Magazine'', and the publishing house of John Lehmann Limited. Early ...
,
Kay Dick Kathleen Elsie "Kay" Dick (29 July 1915 – 19 October 2001) was an English journalist, writer, novelist and autobiographer, who sometimes wrote under the name Edward Lane De-la-Noy, Michael (24 October 2001)"Kay Dick"(obituary), ''The Guardian'' ...
and
Gerald Hamilton Gerald Bernard Francis Hamilton (né Souter; 1 November 1890 – 9 June 1970) was a British memoirist, critic and internationalist known as "the wickedest man in Europe".''The Man Who Was Norris: The life of Gerald Hamilton'', Tom Cullen, Daed ...
. Letters from Kavan and papers relating to posthumous publication are included in the Rhys Davis Archive in the
National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...
. Letters from Kavan to Walter Ian Hamilton Papers between 1940 and 1955 are in the Alexander Turnbull Library,
National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand () is charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga) Act 2003). Under the ...
. Other correspondence can be found at the
Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...
files in the Random House Archives at the University of Reading and the Koestler Archive in Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections.


See also

*
Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
* Women's Writing *
Autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel, also known as an autobiographical fiction, fictional autobiography, or autobiographical fiction novel, is a type of novel which uses autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The ...
*
Nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the ...


Notes


External links


Anna Kavan Society
*
Anna Kavan aka Helen Ferguson
(redmood.com/kavan) – created by Jan Hanford, archived 2004-12-04
Anna Kavan on Open LibraryAnna Kavan by Jennifer Sturm
at CulturalIcons.co.uk – discussion by Dr Jennifer Sturm and Debbie Knowles for the Cultural Icons project (audio and video) * *
Anna Kavan papers, 1867-1991, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa

Meic Stephens collection of Anna Kavan ephemera, 1943-1971, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa

Richard R. Centing collection of Anna Kavan, 1943-1991, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa

David A. Callard collection of Anna Kavan, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa

Anais Nin papers, 1969-1992, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavan, Anna 1901 births 1968 deaths English short story writers People educated at Parsons Mead School British women short story writers British women novelists 20th-century British women writers 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British short story writers British expatriates in France