Mansfield, Katherine

Katherine Mansfield, born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp (October 14, 1888–January 9, 1923) in New Zealand was a famous author.

Biography

Born into a socially-prominent Wellington, New Zealand family, Katherine's first published stories were in the High School Reporter, the Wellington Girls' High School magazine, in 1898 and 1899. Beauchamp moved to London in 1902. A talented cellist, she was not at first attracted to literature, and after finishing her schooling in England, she returned to her New Zealand home in 1906. Weary of the provincial New Zealand lifestyle, Beauchamp returned to London two years later.

It was upon her return to London that Kathleen Beauchamp began writing short stories and entered London's cultural circles, where she met such contemporaries as D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. Her work drew the attention of several publishing houses, and Beauchamp took on the pen-name Katherine Mansfield upon the publication of her first collection of short stories, In a German Pension, in 1911.

Discouraged by the volume's lack of success, Mansfield met and moved in with her future husband, fellow writer John Middleton Murry. Though she continued writing between her first and second collections (Prelude, 1918), she rarely published her work, and sank into depression. Her health declined further when she contracted tuberculosis in 1917. It was while combating the disease in health spas across Europe, that Mansfield began writing the works she would become best known for.

"Miss Brill," the bittersweet story of a fragile woman living in an ephemeral life of observation and simple pleasures in Paris, established Mansfield as one of the preeminent writers of the Modernist period, upon its publication in 1920's Bliss. The title story from that collection, "Bliss," 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.

Mansfield spent her last years at the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, France, where she continued to write despite her failing health. After publishing an additional two volumes, one of poetry, and the other short stories, Mansfield succumbed to tuberculosis shortly after her thirty-fourth birthday. She was buried in a cemetery in the Fontainebleau District in the town of Avon.

Proving to be a prolific writer in the final years of her life, much of Mansfield's prose and poetry had been unpublished before her death. John Middleton Murry took on the task of editing and publishing her works. His efforts resulted in two additional volumes of short stories in 1924 (Something Childish) and 1930 (The Aloe); as well as three volumes of Mansfield's previously unpublished letters and journals. A collection of unfinished works came nine years later.

Katherine Mansfield is widely considered one of the best short story writers of her period. A number of her works, including "Miss Brill" and later works such as "Prelude" and "The Fly," are frequently cited as the best short stories ever written. Mansfield also proved ahead of her time in her adoration of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, and incorporated some of his themes and techniques into her writing. The fact that Mansfield died at a relatively young age only adds to her legacy.

Selected Bibliography

• In a German Pension, 1911
• Prelude, 1918
• Bliss, and Other Stories, 1920
• Garden Party, and Other Stories, 1922 - includes the stories 'Prelude' and 'Je ne parle pas francais'
• Poems, 1923
• The Dove's Nest, and Other Stories, 1923
• Something Childish, and Other Stories, 1924
• The Journal of Katherine Mansfield, 1927 (ed. by J.M. Murry)
• The Letters of Katherine Mansfield, 2 vols., 1928-1929 (ed. by J.M. Murry)
• The Aloe, 1930
• Stories by Katherine Mansfield, 1930
• Novels and Novelists, 1930
• The Scrapbook of Katherine Mansfield, 1939
• Collected Stories, 1945
• Katherine Mansfield's Letters to J. Middleton Murry, 1951
• Journal of Katherine Mansfield, Definitive Edition, 1954
• The Critical Writings of Katherine Mansfield, 1987
• The Collected Letters of Catherine Mansfield: 1918-1919, 1987
• The Collected Letters of Catherine Mansfield: 1920-1921, 1996 (vol. 4)
• The Garden Party: The Collected Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield (vol. 2), 2000
• The Dove's Nest: The Collected Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield (vol. 3), 2000

See also

• New Zealand literature
• Elizabeth von Arnim, cousin and novelist
• John Middleton Murry, husband and editor

External links

• Official website
• Literary Encyclopedia biography
• Biography
• Works by Katherine Mansfield at Project Gutenberg
• The Garden Party at "Encyclopedia of the Self"
• Birthplace Trust Wellington