Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp Murry (14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield left for
Great BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
in 1908 where she encountered Modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and
Virginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
with whom she became close friends. Her stories often focus on moments of disruption and frequently open rather abruptly. Among her most well-known stories are "The Garden Party", "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" and "The Fly." During the First World War Mansfield contracted extrapulmonary tuberculosis, which rendered any return or visit to New Zealand impossible and led to her death at the age of 34.
Biography
Early life
Mansfield was born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp in 1888 into a socially-prominent family in
WellingtonWellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. The daughter of a banker in a middle-class colonial family, she was a cousin of author Countess
Elizabeth von ArnimElizabeth von Arnim , born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an Australian-born British novelist. By marriage she became Gräfin von Arnim-Schlagenthin, and by a second marriage, Countess Russell...
. Mansfield had two older sisters and a younger brother, born in 1894. Her father,
Harold BeauchampHarold Beauchamp was New Zealand banker.Born in Ararat, Victoria, Australia to 15 November 1858 Arthur Beauchamp and Mary Elizabeth Stanley, the family moved to Nelson in 1961 and then Picton...
, became the chairman of the
Bank of New ZealandBank of New Zealand is one of New Zealand’s largest banks and has been operating continuously in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861...
and was knighted. The Mansfield family moved from
ThorndonThorndon is an inner suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It combines residential accommodation and the home of government, and is located at the northern end of the Central Business District...
to
KaroriKarori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, some 4 km from the city centre.Karori is significantly larger than most other Wellington suburbs, having a population of over 14,000 at the time of the 2006 census.-History:Before the arrival of...
in 1893, where Mansfield spent the happiest years of her childhood; she used her memories of this time as an inspiration for the "
PreludePrelude is a 1918 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published by the Hogarth Press in July 1918, and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.-Plot summary:I...
" story.
Her first published stories appeared in the
High School Reporter and the
Wellington Girls' High SchoolWellington Girls' College was founded in 1883 in Wellington New Zealand. At that time it was called Wellington Girls' High School. It is located in Thorndon in central Wellington, near the Parliament buildings of New Zealand, and with views of the famous Wellington harbour.As an academic school,...
magazine (the family returned to Wellington proper in 1898), in 1898 and 1899. She became enamoured with a cellist, Arnold Trowell (Mansfield was an accomplished cellist, having received lessons from Trowell's father), in 1902, although the feelings were largely unreciprocated. Mansfield wrote in her journals of feeling alienated to some extent in New Zealand, and, in general terms, of how she became disillusioned due to the repression of the Māori people, who were often portrayed in a sympathetic or positive light in her later stories, such as
How Pearl Button Was KidnappedHow Pearl Button Was Kidnapped is a 1912 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in Rhythm in September 1912 under the penname of Lili Heron.-Plot summary:...
.
She moved to
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1903, where she attended
Queen's CollegeQueen's College is an independent school for girls aged 11–18. It is located in central London at numbers 43-49, Harley Street. Founded in 1848 by F. D. Maurice, Professor of English Literature and History at King's College London along with a committee of patrons, the College was the first...
along with her two sisters. Mansfield recommenced playing the cello, an occupation that she believed when at Queen's that she would take up professionally, but she also began contributing to the school newspaper with such dedication that she eventually became editor during this period. She was particularly interested in the works of the French
SymbolistsSymbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
and
Oscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, and she was appreciated amongst her peers for her vivacious and charismatic approach to life and work. She met fellow writer Ida Baker (also known as Lesley Moore), a South African, at the college, and the pair became lifelong friends. Mansfield did not become involved in much political activity when she lived in London; for example, she did not actively support the
suffragette movement in the UKWomen's suffrage in the United Kingdom as a national movement began in 1872. Women were not prohibited from voting in the United Kingdom until the 1832 Reform Act and the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act...
(women in New Zealand had
gained the right to voteWomen's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late 19th century. Of countries presently independent, New Zealand was the first to give women the vote in modern times....
in 1893).
Mansfield began journeying into
continental EuropeContinental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
in 1903–1906, mainly to
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Germany. After finishing her schooling in England, Mansfield returned to her New Zealand home in 1906, only then beginning to write
short storiesShort Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
. She had several works published in the
Native Companion (
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
), which was her first paid writing work, and by this time she had her mind set on becoming a professional writer. It was also the first occasion on which she used the pseudonym 'K. Mansfield'. During this time she rapidly wearied of the provincial New Zealand lifestyle and of her family, and two years later headed again for London. Her father sent her an annual allowance of £100 for the rest of her life. In later years she expressed both admiration and disdain for New Zealand in her journals, and she was never able to return there, partly due to her
tuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
Mansfield had two
lesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
relationships during this period, notable for their pre-eminence in her journal entries. Mansfield biographer Angela Smith has said that this is evidence of her "transgressive impetus", although Mansfield continued to have male lovers, and attempted to repress her feelings at certain times. Her first relationship was with Maata Mahupuku, a young Māori woman whom Mansfield had first met in Wellington, and then again in London. In June 1907 she wrote: "I want Maata—I want her as I have had her—terribly. This is unclean I know but true." The second relationship, with Edith Kathleen Bendall, took place from 1906 to 1908, and Mansfield also professed her adoration for her in her journals.
Return to London
Back in London in 1908, Mansfield quickly fell into the
bohemianBohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
way of life lived by many artists and writers of that era, although she published only one story and one poem during her first 15 months there. Mansfield sought out the Trowell family for companionship, and whilst Arnold was involved with another woman, Mansfield embarked on a passionate affair with his brother, Garnet. By early 1909 she had become pregnant with his child, though Trowell's parents disapproved of the relationship, and the two broke up. She hastily entered into a marriage with a singing teacher 11 years older, George Bowden, on 2 March, but left him the same evening, having failed to consummate the marriage. After a brief reunion with Garnet, Mansfield's mother, Annie Beauchamp, arrived in 1909. She blamed the breakdown of the marriage on a lesbian relationship between Mansfield and Baker, and she quickly had her daughter despatched to the
spa townA spa town is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...
of
Bad WörishofenBad Wörishofen is a spa town in the district Unterallgäu, Bavaria Germany known for the water-cure developed by Sebastian Kneipp , a Catholic priest, who lived there for 42 years...
in
BavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Germany. Mansfield
miscarriedMiscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
after attempting to lift a suitcase on top of a cupboard. It is not known whether her mother knew of this miscarriage when she left shortly after arriving in Germany, but she cut Mansfield out of her will.
Mansfield's time in Bavaria was to have a significant effect on her literary outlook. She was introduced to the works of
Anton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, a writer who proved to have greater influence upon her writing in the short term than Wilde, on whom she had been fixated. She returned to London in January 1910, and had over a dozen works published in A.R. Orage's
The New AgeThe New Age was a British literary magazine, noted for its wide influence under the editorship of A. R. Orage from 1907 to 1922. It began life in 1894 as a publication of the Christian Socialist movement; but in 1907 as a radical weekly edited by Joseph Clayton, it was struggling...
, a socialist magazine and highly-regarded intellectual publication. She became a friend and lover of
Beatrice HastingsBeatrice Hastings was the pen name of Emily Alice Haigh an English writer, poet and literary critic. Much of her work was published in The New Age under a variety of pseudonyms, and she lived with the editor, A. R. Orage, for a time before the outbreak of the First World War...
, who lived with Orage. Her experiences of Germany formed the foundation of her first published collection,
In a German Pension, in 1911, a work that was lauded by a number of critics (and enjoyed for its unfavourable portrayal of Germans) but which she later described as "immature". The most successful story from this work was
Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding.
Meeting Murry
Although discouraged by the volume's relative lack of success, Mansfield submitted a lightweight story to a new avant-garde magazine called
Rhythm. The piece was rejected by the magazine's editor,
John Middleton MurryJohn Middleton Murry was an English writer. He was prolific, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime...
, who requested something darker. Mansfield responded with
The Woman at the StoreThe Woman At The Store is a 1912 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in Rhythm in Spring 1912 under the penname of Lili Heron.-Plot summary:...
, a tale of murder and mental illness. Mansfield was inspired in her writing by
FauvismFauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
, a contemporary art movement of the period, as well as Chekhov, although neither literary style had a profound effect on her writing in the long term (Fauvist literature has been described as 'savage').
In 1911 Mansfield and Murry began a relationship that culminated in their marriage in 1918. They led a troubled life during this time - Mansfield left Murry twice in 1911–13. In October 1912, the publisher of
Rhythm, Stephen Swift, absconded to Europe, and left Murry responsible for the debts the magazine had accumulated. Mansfield pledged her father's allowance towards the magazine, but it was discontinued, being reorganized as
The Blue ReviewRhythm was a literary, arts, and critical review magazine published in London, England from 1911 to 1913....
in 1913 and folding after three issues. Mansfield and Murry were persuaded by their friend
Gilbert CannanGilbert Cannan was a British novelist and dramatist.-Early life:Born in Manchester of Scottish descent, he got on badly with his family, and in 1897 he was sent to live in Oxford with the economist Edwin Cannan...
to rent a cottage next to his windmill in
CholesburyCholesbury is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, on the border with Hertfordshire. It is situated in the Chiltern Hills, about east of Wendover, north of Chesham and from Berkhamsted....
,
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
in 1913, in an attempt to alleviate Mansfield of her ill health. It has been suggested that she was suffering from gonorrhoea amongst other things, but there is no real evidence for this. In January 1914 they moved to Paris, with the hope that the change of setting would make writing for both of them easier. However, Mansfield wrote only one story during her time there (
Something Childish But Very NaturalSomething Childish But Very Natural is a 1914 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published posthumously in the Adelphi, though it was written in 1914.-Plot summary:...
) before Murry was recalled to London to declare bankruptcy. Mansfield had a brief affair in 1914 with French writer
Francis CarcoFrancis Carco was a French author, born at Nouméa, New Caledonia. He was a poet, belonging to the Fantaisiste school, a novelist, a dramatist, and art critic for L'Homme libre and Gil Blas. During the War he became aviation pilot at Étampes, after studying at the aviation school there...
; her visiting him in Paris in February 1915 was retold in one of her short stories,
An Indiscreet JourneyAn Indiscreet Journey is a 1920 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in the Athenaeum on 1 October 1920, and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.-Plot summary:...
.
Mansfield's life and work were changed forever by the 1915 death of her brother, Leslie Heron "Chummie" Beauchamp, as a New Zealand soldier in France in
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. She was shocked and traumatized by the experience, so much so that her work began to take refuge in the nostalgic reminiscences of their childhood in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. In a poem describing a dream she had shortly after his death, she wrote
Despite this turbulence in Mansfield's life, she entered into her most productive period of writing in early 1916, and her relationship with Murry also improved. The couple had befriended
D. H. LawrenceDavid Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
and his wife,
Frieda von RichthofenFrieda Freiin von Richthofen , a distant relative of the "Red Baron" Manfred von Richthofen, who is best known for her marriage to the British novelist D. H. Lawrence.-Life:...
, in 1913, and maintained a strong relationship with them until falling out in 1916. Mansfield began to broaden her literary acquaintances for the remainder of the year, encountering
Virginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
,
T. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
,
Lytton StracheyGiles Lytton Strachey was a British writer and critic. He is best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit...
and
Bertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
through social gatherings and introductions from others.
At the beginning of 1917 Mansfield and Murry separated, although he continued to visit her at her new apartment. Baker, whom Mansfield often called, with mixture of affection and disdain, her "wife", moved in with her shortly afterwards. Mansfield entered into her most prolific period of writing post-1916, which began with several stories, including
Mr Reginald Peacock's DayMr Reginald Peacock's Day is a 1920 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in the New Age on 14 June 1917, and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.-Plot summary:...
and
A Dill PickleA Dill Pickle is a 1917 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in the New Age on 4 October 1917 under the title of An Album Leaf...
, being published in
The New Age. Woolf and her husband,
LeonardLeonard Sidney Woolf was an English political theorist, author, publisher and civil servant, and husband of author Virginia Woolf.-Early life:...
, who had recently set up
Hogarth PressThe Hogarth Press was founded in 1917 by Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond, in which they began hand-printing books....
, approached her for a story, and Mansfield presented "
PreludePrelude is a 1918 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published by the Hogarth Press in July 1918, and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.-Plot summary:I...
", which she had begun writing in 1915 as
The Aloe. The story is centred around a family of New Zealanders moving home, with little external plot. Although it failed to reach a wider audience and was little noticed and criticized on its publication in 1918, it later became one of Mansfield's most celebrated works.
In December 1917 Mansfield became ill, and was diagnosed with
tuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. Rejecting the idea of a
sanatoriumA sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
on the basis that it would cut her off from writing, she took the only available option, to move abroad during the English winter. She moved to
BandolBandol is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-References:*...
, France, and stayed at a half-deserted and cold hotel, where she became
depressedDepression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
. However, she continued to produce stories, including
Je ne parle pas français"Je ne parle pas français" is a short story by Katherine Mansfield. She started it at the end of January, 1918 and finished it by February 10. It was first published by the Heron Press in early 1920, and an excised version was published in Bliss and Other Stories later that year.-Publishing...
, one of her darker works (believed to have been inspired by
Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
's
Notes from the UndergroundNotes from Underground is an 1864 short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Notes is considered by many to be the first existentialist novel...
, it is a deeply personal work that casts Murry in negative light).
Bliss, the story that lent its name to her second collection of stories in 1920, was also published in 1918. Her health continued to deteriorate, and she had her first lung haemorrhage in March.
By April, Mansfield's divorce from Bowden was finalized and she and Murry married, although they parted two weeks later. They rejoined, and in March 1919 Murry became editor of
AthenaeumThe Athenaeum was a literary magazine published in London from 1828 to 1921. It had a reputation for publishing the very best writers of the age....
, a prestigious weekly journal. Mansfield wrote over 100 reviews for the magazine, and they were published as a collection, posthumously, in
Novels and Novelists by Murry. For the winter of 1918–19 she and Baker stayed in a villa in
San RemoSanremo or San Remo is a city with about 57,000 inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy. Founded in Roman times, the city is best known as a tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. It hosts numerous cultural events, such as the Sanremo Music Festival...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Their relationship came under strain during this period, and after writing to Murry to express her feelings of depression, he stayed over
ChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
. Although her relationship with Murry became increasingly distant after 1918 and the two often lived apart, this intervention of his spurred her on, and she wrote
The Man Without a TemperamentThe Man Without a Temperament is a 1920 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in Arts and Letters in Spring 1920, and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.-Plot summary:...
, the story of an ill wife and her long-suffering husband. Biographer Joanna Woods has said that this work signalled a turning point for Mansfield, when she was able to display a "new objectivity that gives the story a universal dimension".
Miss Brill, the bittersweet story of a fragile woman living an ephemeral life of observation and simple pleasures in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, established Mansfield as one of the preeminent writers of the Modernist period on its publication in the 1920s
Bliss. The title story from that collection, "
BlissBliss is a modernist short story by Katherine Mansfield, first published in 1920. It was first published in the English Review in August 1918 and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.-Plot summary:...
", which involved a similar character facing her husband's infidelity, also found critical acclaim. She followed with the equally praised collection
The Garden Party, published in 1922.
Final years
Mansfield spent her last years seeking increasingly unorthodox cures for her tuberculosis. In February 1922, she consulted the Russian physician Ivan Manoukhin. His "revolutionary" treatment, which consisted of bombarding her
spleenThe spleen is an organ found in virtually all vertebrate animals with important roles in regard to red blood cells and the immune system. In humans, it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood in case of hemorrhagic shock...
with X-rays, caused Mansfield to develop heat flashes and numbness in her legs.
The
Dictionary of National BiographyThe Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
reports that she now came to feel that her attitude to life had been unduly rebellious, and she sought, during the days that remained to her, to renew and compose her spiritual life. In October 1922, Mansfield moved to
Georges Gurdjieff'sGeorge Ivanovich Gurdjieff according to Gurdjieff's principles and instructions, or the "Fourth Way."At one point he described his teaching as "esoteric Christianity."...
Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in
FontainebleauFontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...
, France, where she was under the care of
Olgivanna Lazovitch HinzenburgOlgivanna Lloyd Wright was the third and final wife of Frank Lloyd Wright and had significant influence in his life and work, due in part to her extensive Theosophical associations. She was a Serb Montenegrin dancer...
(later Mrs
Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
). Mansfield suffered a fatal pulmonary haemorrhage in January 1923, after running up a flight of stairs to show Murry how well she was. She died on 9 January and was buried in a cemetery in the Fontainebleau district in the town of
AvonAvon is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-Geography:Avon and Fontainebleau, together with three other smaller communes, form an urban area of 36,713 inhabitants...
.
Mansfield proved to be a prolific writer in the final years of her life, and much of her prose and poetry remained unpublished at her death. Murry took on the task of editing and publishing her works.
His efforts resulted in publication of two additional volumes of short stories in 1923 (
The Dove's Nest), in 1924 (
Something Childish), her
Poems,
The Aloe, a collection of critical writings (
Novels and Novelists) and a number of editions of her letters and journals.
Legacy
Mansfield is widely considered one of the best short story writers of her period. A number of her works, including
Miss Brill,
Prelude,
The Garden Party,
The Doll's House and
The Fly"The Fly" is a 1922 short story written by Katherine Mansfield. The text was first published in The Nation & Athenaeum on 18 March 1922 and it later appeared in The Dove's Nest and Other Stories.-Plot summary:...
, are frequently collected in short story anthologies. Mansfield also proved ahead of her time in her adoration of Russian playwright and short story writer
Anton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, and incorporated some of his themes and techniques into her writing.
Mount Roskill Grammar SchoolMount Roskill Grammar is a secondary school in the suburb of Mount Roskill, Auckland, officially opened in 1954. The school has students of over 70 different nationalities including approximately 200 International students...
in
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, Rangiora High School in North Canterbury,
Tauranga Girls' CollegeTauranga Girls' College is a high school in Tauranga, New Zealand. It caters for girls from the ages of 12 to 18 , and offers the NCEA system of qualifications. The current principal is Ms Pauline Cowens....
in
TaurangaTauranga is the most populous city in the Bay of Plenty region, in the North Island of New Zealand.It was settled by Europeans in the early 19th century and was constituted as a city in 1963...
,
Westlake Girls' High SchoolWestlake Girls High School is an all-girls secondary school in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. The students range in level from Year 9 to Year 13 . With 2159 girls enrolled as of 2009, it is one of the largest single sex schools in New Zealand...
in Auckland,
Macleans CollegeMacleans College is a co-educational secondary school in New Zealand situated in the Auckland suburb of Bucklands Beach. The principal is B J Bentley. The school is named after the Macleans family who after immigrating to New Zealand in 1850 farmed the area of land that the school is built on...
in
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, Wellington Girls' College in
WellingtonWellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
,
Westlake Girls' High SchoolWestlake Girls High School is an all-girls secondary school in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. The students range in level from Year 9 to Year 13 . With 2159 girls enrolled as of 2009, it is one of the largest single sex schools in New Zealand...
in Auckland,
Southland Girls' High SchoolSouthland Girls' High School is a girls' secondary school in Invercargill, New Zealand. The 2005 NZQA report commended the school and staff for the very good practices and consistently high standards.The school admits a small number of international students...
in
InvercargillInvercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff,...
and
Rangitoto CollegeRangitoto College is the largest secondary school in New Zealand with over 3,000 students as of 2007. The Correspondence School has more enrolled secondary students, but fewer full-time equivalent secondary students....
in Auckland have a
houseThe house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
named after her.
KaroriKarori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, some 4 km from the city centre.Karori is significantly larger than most other Wellington suburbs, having a population of over 14,000 at the time of the 2006 census.-History:Before the arrival of...
Normal School in
WellingtonWellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
has a stone monument dedicated to her with a plaque commemorating her work and her time at the school.
A street in
MentonMenton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.Situated on the French Riviera, along the Franco-Italian border, it is nicknamed la perle de la France ....
, France, where she lived and wrote, is named after her and a Fellowship is offered annually to enable a New Zealand writer to work at her former home, the Villa Isola Bella. New Zealand's pre-eminent short story competition is also named in her honour.
She was the subject of the 1973
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
miniseries
A Picture of Katherine MansfieldA Picture of Katherine Mansfield is a 1973 BBC miniseries starring Vanessa Redgrave as the title character. The series included dramatizations of Mansfield's life as well as adaptations of her short stories.-Cast:*Vanessa Redgrave as Katherine Mansfield...
starring
Vanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
. The six-part series included adaptations of Mansfield's life and of her short stories.
Collections
- In a German Pension (1911), ISBN 1-86941-014-9
- The Garden Party
The Garden Party: and Other Stories is a 1922 collection of short stories by author Katherine Mansfield.- Stories :# At the Bay# The Garden Party# The Daughters of the Late Colonel# Mr and Mrs Dove# The Young Girl...
: and Other Stories (1922), ISBN 1-86941-016-5
- The Doves' Nest: and Other Stories (1923), ISBN 1-86941-017-3
- Bliss: and Other Stories (1923)
- The Montana Stories (1923) (Republished in 2001 by Persephone Books
Persephone Books is an independent publisher based in Bloomsbury, London. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone has a catalogue of 93 "neglected novels, diaries, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, biography and cookery books, mostly by women and mostly dating from the early to...
)
- Poems (1923), ISBN 0-19-558199-7
- Something Childish (1924), ISBN 1-86941-018-1, first published in the U.S. as The Little Girl
- The Journal of Katherine Mansfield (1927, 1954), ISBN 0-88001-023-1
- The Letters of Katherine Mansfield (2 vols., 1928–29)
- The Aloe
The Aloe is a novel written by Katherine Mansfield in 1930.-External links:*...
(1930), ISBN 0-86068-520-9
- Novels and Novelists (1930), ISBN 0-403-02290-8
- The Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield (1937)
- The Scrapbook of Katherine Mansfield (1939)
- The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield (1945, 1974), ISBN 0-14-118368-3
- Letters to John Middleton Murry, 1913–1922 (1951), ISBN 0-86068-945-X
- The Urewera Notebook (1978), ISBN 0-19-558034-6
- The Critical Writings of Katherine Mansfield (1987), ISBN 0-312-17514-0
- The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield (4 vols., 1984–96)
- Vol. 1, 1903–17, ISBN 0-19-812613-1
- Vol. 2, 1918–19, ISBN 0-19-812614-X
- Vol. 3, 1919–20, ISBN 0-19-812615-8
- Vol. 4, 1920–21, ISBN 0-19-818532-4
- The Katherine Mansfield Notebooks (2 vols., 1997), ISBN 0-8166-4236-2
Short stories
Katherine Mansfield's works in film
- The Doll’s House (1973), directed by Rudall Hayward
Rudall Charles Victor Hayward was a pioneer New Zealand filmmaker from the 1920s to the 1970s, who directed seven feature films and numerous others. He was born in England, and died in Dunedin while promoting his last film....
Films about Katherine Mansfield
- A Picture of Katherine Mansfield
A Picture of Katherine Mansfield is a 1973 BBC miniseries starring Vanessa Redgrave as the title character. The series included dramatizations of Mansfield's life as well as adaptations of her short stories.-Cast:*Vanessa Redgrave as Katherine Mansfield...
(1973), TV Series, starring Vanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
- Leave All Fair (1984), directed by John Reid
-Politics:* John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan , Former British Home Secretary and former Chairman of Celtic F.C.* John William Reid , U.S. Representative from Missouri...
- A Portrait of Katherine Mansfield: The Woman and the Writer (1987), directed by Julienne Stretton
- The Life and Writings of Katherine Mansfield (2006), directed by Stacy Waymack Thornton
- Bliss (2010), produced by Michel Fantl
See also
- New Zealand literature
New Zealand literature is essentially literature in English that is either written by New Zealanders, or migrants, dealing with New Zealand themes or places and is primarily a 20th Century creation...
- New Zealand Post Katherine Mansfield Prize
The New Zealand Post Katherine Mansfield Prize, formerly known as the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship and then the Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship, is one of New Zealands foremost literary awards...
- Elizabeth von Arnim
Elizabeth von Arnim , born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an Australian-born British novelist. By marriage she became Gräfin von Arnim-Schlagenthin, and by a second marriage, Countess Russell...
, cousin and novelist
- John Middleton Murry
John Middleton Murry was an English writer. He was prolific, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime...
, husband and editor
- Kathleen Jones
Kathleen Jones is an English poet and biographer.Born and brought up on a hill farm in the north of England, she escaped to London as a teenager in order to become a writer. She spent several years in Africa and the Middle East - where she worked in English broadcasting - before returning home...
, author of a new comprehensive biography
External links
- Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society
- Katherine Mansfield Society – A Charitable Trust established to promote and encourage enjoyment of Katherine Mansfield’s writing
- http://www.katherinemansfield.net/index.htmAn extensive website based on resource material for "The Storyteller" a new biography by Kathleen Jones
Kathleen Jones is an English poet and biographer.Born and brought up on a hill farm in the north of England, she escaped to London as a teenager in order to become a writer. She spent several years in Africa and the Middle East - where she worked in English broadcasting - before returning home...
] from the Dictionary of New Zealand BiographyThe Dictionary of New Zealand Biography contains biographies for over 3,000 New Zealanders. It is available in both English and Maori. All volumes of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography are available online....
- Katherine Mansfield’s Short Stories: An Introduction Emilie Walezak
- Miss Brill (1920) Text and audio file.
- "In Pursuit: The Katherine Mansfield Story Retold" 2010, a novel by Joanna FitzPatrick
- Literary Encyclopedia biography
- Biography
- Biography, Works Review
- Images & e-texts of her works at NZeTC
- Works by Katherine Mansfield at Project Gutenberg Australia
- Works by Katherine Mansfield at LibriVox
LibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers and is probably, since 2007, the world's most prolific audiobook publisher...
(audiobooks)
- The Garden Party at "Encyclopedia of the Self"
- Birthplace Trust Wellington
- Katherine Mansfield at Fontainebleau
- Mansfield's fiction bibliography on IBList
- Some Katherine Mansfield Short Stories
- Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Awards
- Portrait of Katherine Mansfield, 1918, by Anne Estelle Rice, oil on canvas
- http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=244747Katherine Mansfield and S.S. Koteliansky in the garden, 1920, by Beatrice Campbell
Beatrice Moss Elvery was an Irish stained-glass artist and painter.She was the second daughter of a Dublin businessman whose family had originated from Spain where they were silk merchants. Her family owned the original Elverys Sports store in Wicklow Street, Dublin...
, oil on canvas]
- Katherine Mansfield and her female lovers
- Katherine Mansfield Papers at the Newberry Library
- Katherine Mansfield, in wikilivres.info