The Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield

Publisher Marketing: The short story is often viewed as an inferior relation to the Novel. But it is an art in itself. To take a story and distil its essence into fewer pages while keeping character and plot rounded and driven is not an easy task. Many try and many fail. In this series we look at short stories from many of our most accomplished writers. Miniature masterpieces with a lot to say. In this volume we examine some of the short stories of Katherine Mansfield. She was born on 14th October 1888 into a prominent family in Wellington, New Zealand the middle child of five. A gifted Cello, at one point she thought she might take it up professionally the young Katherine's first writings were published in school magazines At 19 Katherine left for Great Britain and met the modernist writers D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf with whom she became close friends. She travelled to Europe before returning to New Zealand in 1906 she began to write the short stories that she would later become famous for. Her stories often focus on moments of disruption and frequently open rather abruptly. By 1908 she had returned to London and to a rather more bohemian lifestyle. A passionate affair resulted in her becoming pregnant but married off instead to an older man who she left the same evening with the marriage unconsummated. She was then to miscarry and be cut out of her mothers will (allegedly because of her lesbianism). In 1911 she was to start a relationship with John Middleton Murry a magazine editor and although it was volatile it enabled her to write some of here best stories. 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 tender age of 34 on January 9th 1923 in Fontainebleau, France Many of these stories are also available as an audiobook from our sister company Word Of Mouth. Many samples are at our youtube channel http: //www.youtube.com/user/PortablePoetry?feature=mhee The full volume can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores. They are read for you by Richard Mitchley Index Of Stories A Dill Pickle The Garden Party The Life Of Ma Parker Marriage A La Mode Mr & Mrs Dove Stranger An Ideal Family The Singing Lesson Review Citations: Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/1992 pg. 740 (EAN 9780394445328, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 601 (EAN 9780394445328, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 544 (EAN 9780394445328, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2014 pg. 649 (EAN 9780394445328, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Mansfield, Katherine Katherine Mansfield was a popular New Zealand short-story writer best known for the stories "The Woman at the Shore," "How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped," "The Doll s House," and her twelve-part short story "Prelude," which was inspired by her happy childhood. Although Mansfield initially had her sights set on becoming a professional cellist, her role as editor of the Queen s College newspaper prompted a change to writing. Mansfield s style of writing revolutionized the form of the short story at the time, in that it depicted ordinary life and left the endings open to interpretation, while also raising uncomfortable questions about society and identity. Mansfield died in 1923 after struggling for many years with tuberculosis.