Kavan, Anna [born Helen Emily Woods] — I Am Lazarus, Stories

London Peter Owen Limited | Printed by Redwood Burn Limited pp. [1-6], 7-146. Duodecimo (12mo.)., measuring 7.5" x 5". Publisher's tan paper boards, spine lettered in silver. Trifling wear to the head and foot of the spine; otherwise, the extremities remain in excellent condition. Small trace of erased pencil to the upper-right corner of the front free endpaper; otherwise, the contents are clean and without blemish; near fine. Housed in its original dust jacket, designed by Keith Cunningham, featuring a striking black-and-white portrait of Kavan on the rear panel, accompanied by a brief biographical note. Dustjacket price-clipped, with an unobtrusive offset to the front panel; otherwise very good (now housed in a protective mylar sleeve). A lovely copy of the elusive Peter Owen imprint, first published by Jonathan Cape in 1945. ¶ Comprising fifteen short stories, this was Kavan's second collection of short stories under the name by which she became best known. Drawing upon her wartime work at the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital, where she interviewed servicemen suffering from what was then termed "effort syndrome" (war neurosis), the collection explores the enduring psychological wounds of war with Kavan's characteristically lucid and haunting prose. The title invokes the biblical Lazarus as a metaphor for those restored to life physically yet left emotionally and spiritually estranged by trauma, a theme that resonates throughout the stories.