Currently reading
Almost No Memory
Selected Poems
The Tiger's Wife
Charles Dickens (Penguin Lives)
The Mansion of Happiness
Schriften
Fire and IceSome say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-Robert Frost
With the dog days of summer upon us, a searing drought killing crops in the Midwest, fires devouring acres of forest, glacial shelves detaching and melting into seas, malaria-carrying mosquitoes encroaching ever farther north, etc, etc, it is odd to make the mind-switch and picture Anna Kavan's ice plowing across the globe with its killing cold.
This was an intense fever dream of the end of the world, with a thin and somewhat mysterious plot. A man pursues a frail, fair girl through different countries and climates, often in rivalry with another powerful figure, possibly her husband. No one has names; everyone is doomed. It was well written and vividly imagined, but it didn't blow my mind.
Despite its brevity, I sometimes thought it was monotonous, although overall I enjoyed the idea and images. I will likely try some of Anna Kavan's short fiction.