A largely autobiographical account of an unhappy childhood, Sleep Has his House startled with its strangeness in 1948. Today it is one of Anna Kavan's most acclaimed books. A daring synthesis of memoir and surrealist experimentation, Sleep Has His House charts chronologically the stages of the subject's gradual withdrawal from all interest in and contact with the daylight world of received reality. Brief flashes of daily experience from childhood, adolescence and youth are described in what Kavan terms 'night-time language' - a heightened, decorative prose that frees these events from their gloomy associations. The novel suggests we have all spoken this dialect in childhood and in our dreams, but these thoughts can only be sharpened, or decoded by contemplation in the dark. Anna Kavan maintained that the plot of a book is only the point of departure, beyond which she tries to reveal that side of life which is never seen by the waking eye, but which dreams and drugs can suddenly illuminate. She spent the last ten years of her life literally and metaphorically shutting out the light; the startling discovery of Sleep Has His House is how much these night-time illuminations reveal her joy for the living world.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Peter Owen Publishers
ISBN-13
9780720611298
eBay Product ID (ePID)
89724230
Product Key Features
Book Title
Sleep Has His House
Author
Anna Kavan
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Topic
Books
Publication Year
2002
Number of Pages
196 Pages
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Anna Kavan
Series Title
Peter Owen Modern Classic
Country/Region of Manufacture
United Kingdom
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