Anna Kavan

I should have to start searching for her all over again. The repetition was like a curse

And always, on the surface, the indestructible ice-mass was moving forward, implacably destroying all life. I felt a fearful sense of pressure and urgency, there was no time to lose, I was wasting time; it was a race between me and the ice

worldwide swing towards militarism had taken place during recent months, with deplorable and brutalizing effects. Frequent clashes occurred between civilians and the armed forces. The killing of police and soldiers, with retributory executions, had become commonplace

I could not persuade or bribe anybody to take us in. Travellers were disliked and discouraged: it was natural, in the circumstances

I was well aware how sinister my wordless exits and entrances must have seemed, and derived some satisfaction from this.

We were near the end of the journey

It was a bad sign. If I mentioned it, I was told this was the cool season. All the same, the sun should have had more power. Looking about, I found other signs of a changing climate. Plants in the tropical gardens were starting to look unhealthy, and I asked a man working there why this was

dividing allegiance between them. Both principals held stocks of nuclear weapons many times in excess of the overkill stage, so that the balance of terror appeared to be nicely adjusted

But some of the lesser countries also possessed thermonuclear devices, although which of them was not known: and this uncertainty, and the resulting tension, provoked escalating crises, each of which brought nearer the final catastrophe.

driving mankind to a second suicide, even before the full effect of the first had been felt.

I looked at the natural world, and it seemed to share my feelings, to be trying in vain to escape its approaching doom. The