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Anna Kavan (Critical Survey of Long Fiction)

Other Literary Forms

In addition to her novels, Anna Kavan produced five collections of shorter fiction, two of which appeared posthumously. She also wrote occasional reviews for Cyril Connolly’s journal, Horizon.

Achievements

Kavan’s early fiction was rather inconsequential and excited little critical notice. Once she shifted emphasis and themes during the early 1940’s, reviewers began to notice her work, though not always favorably. In 1947, for example, Diana Trilling castigated The House of Sleep unmercifully, insisting that “nothing...

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