Wilson, J. M. (2014) Anna Kavan and the New Zealand connection. Paper presented to: Anna Kavan: Historical Contexts, Influences and Legacy of her Fiction, Institute of English Studies, University of London, 2014-09-11.
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | This paper examines Anna Kavan’s sojourn in New Zealand from 1941-42 in the company of the pacifist playwright, Ian Hamilton. It discusses the effects of living in a remote provincial island on her thinking, emotions and work, as evinced in stories such as ‘Ice Storm’ and the essay ‘New Zealand: An Answer to an Enquiry’, published in Horizon (1943), in which she describes the country as ‘It’s null, it’s dull, it’s tepid, it’s mediocre; the downunder of the spirit’ (156). The paper refers to the recently published diary, ‘Five Months Further or What I Remember Ab[ou]t New Zealand’, to argue that living in New Zealand introduced a new creative dimension to Kavan’s work as she grappled with issues of distance, homelessness and disjunctive reality in what was, she realised later, a safe haven during the war years. The geographies, landscapes and small community of these pacific rim islands, the furthest south before Antarctica, gave a depth charge to her imaginative framework. The discussion will focus on the alternative/parallel world that New Zealand came to represent as imaged, for example, in the dystopian stories of I am Lazarus and the apocalyptic vision of her last novel, Ice. i Published in Anna Kavan’s New Zealand: A Pacific Interlude in a Turbulent Life, ed. Jennifer Sturm (Auckland: Random House/Vintage, 2009) |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Anna Kavan, New Zealand, Ian Hamilton, I am Lazarus, deixis |
| Creators: | Wilson, Janet M |
| Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: |
Faculties > Faculty of Education & Humanities > English and Creative Writing Research Centres > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing |
| Date: | 11 September 2014 |
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Anna Kavan: Historical Contexts, Influences and Legacy of her Fiction |
| Event Title: | Anna Kavan: Historical Contexts, Influences and Legacy of her Fiction |
| Event Dates: | 2014-09-11 |
| Event Location: | Institute of English Studies, University of London |
| Event Type: | Other |
| Language: | English |
| Status: | Published / Disseminated |
| Refereed: | No |
| URI: | http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/11457 |
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