Katherine Dunn's short story collection, "Near Flesh," highlights her literary impact in Portland. Her posthumous novel, Toad, published six years after her death, has garnered rave reviews. Toad follows Sally Gunnar, who reflects on her youth at a private college resembling Reed, where Dunn studied. Reviews laud the book's subdued, haunting qualities. Dunn, a single mother during its creation, faced early rejections from publishers. However, contrary to some portrayals, she was active in Portland's vibrant arts community, engaging with fellow writers and artists throughout her career.
"Toad is a subdued, haunting novel. It is exhilarating, often disturbing, and as compelling in its way as Dunn's best-known work," according to the Washington Post.
Dunn was crushed when Toad was rejected by her publisher in the early 1970s and she struggled unsuccessfully to sell it to other publishers for several years before giving up.
Praise for Toad has come from The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Chicago Review of Books, among others.
Dunn was deeply involved in a lively, and at times chaotic, local arts scene that included many other writers, as well as performers and visual artists.
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