Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Katherine Mansfield" - New World
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{{cquote|The pleasure of reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books." — Katherine Mansfield'''}} | {{cquote|The pleasure of reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books." — Katherine Mansfield'''}} | ||
| − | + | ===Early Life=== | |
| − | + | Mansfield was born "Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp" into a socially prominent family in [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]]. The daughter of a banker, Harold Beauchamp, and a genteel mother, Annie Burnell Syer, and born to a middle-class colonial family, Mansfield had a lonely and alienated childhood. She lived for six years in the rural village of Karori. Later on Mansfield said "I imagine I was always writing. Twaddle it was, too. But better far write twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all." At the age of nine, her first published stories appeared in the ''High School Reporter'' and the [[Wellington Girls College|Wellington Girls' High School]] magazine, in 1898 and 1899. She moved to [[London]] in 1902, where she attended [[Queen's College, London]]. At this point, she joined the staff of the College Magazine, which is said to be her first step towards rebellion against her personal background. However, as she was a talented [[cellist]], she was not at first attracted to literature as a means of a career, and after finishing her schooling in [[England]], she returned to her New Zealand home in 1906. | |
| − | + | It was upon her return to New Zealand that Kathleen Beauchamp began writing [[short stories]] more consistently. She then took up music, and had affairs with both men and women, quickly falling into a bohemian lifestyle, where she lived with many contemporary writers of her day. Her father denied her the opportunity to become a professional cello player, as she both both an accomplished violoncellist and cello player. Weary of the provincial New Zealand lifestyle, Beauchamp returned to London two years later in 1908, where she studied typing and bookkeeping at Wellington Technical College. Her lifelong friend Ida Baker (L.M., Leslie Moore in her diary and correspondence) persuaded Mansfield's father to allow Katherine to move back to England, with an allowance of £100 a year, where she completely devoted herself to writing. Mansfield never visited New Zealand again. | |
| − | + | ===Unhappy Life=== | |
| − | + | After an unhappy marriage in 1909 to George Brown, whom she left a few days after the wedding, Mansfield toured for a while as an extra in opera. Before the marriage, she had an affair with Garnett Trowell, a musician, and became pregnant. In Bavaria, where Mansfield spent some time, she suffered a [[miscarriage]] in 1909, possibly brought on by lifting her trunk off the top of a wardrobe. During her stay in Germany she wrote satirical sketches of German characters, which influenced her work elsewhere as well. | |
| − | + | Back in England, 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. Earlier her stories had appeared in ''The New Age''. On her return to London in 1910, Mansfield became ill when she contracted [[gonorrhoea]], an untreated sexually transmitted disease around this time, an event that was to plague her with arthritic pain for the rest of her short life, as well as to make her view herself as a 'soiled' woman. She attended literary parties without much enthusiasm, asserting, "Pretty rooms and pretty people, pretty coffee, and cigarettes out of a silver tankard... I was wretched." | |
| − | + | In 1911, Mansfield met John Middleton Murray, a Socialist and former literary critic, who was first a tenant in her flat, then her lover. Mansfield co-edited and contributed to a series of journals. Mansfied and Murray became closely associated with D.H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda. When Murray had an affair with the Princess Bibesco (née Asquith), Mansfield objected not to the affair but to her letters to Murray, stating "I am afraid you must stop writing these love letters to my husband while he and I live together. It is one of the things which is not done in our world" (from a letter to Princess Bibesco, 1921). | |
| − | === | + | Her life and work were changed forever with the death of her brother, a soldier, during [[World War I]]. She was shocked and traumatised by the experience, so much so that her work began to take refuge in the nostalgic reminiscences of their childhood in [[New Zealand]]. During these years, she also formed an important professional frinedship with [[Virginia Woolf]], who later claimed that her writing was 'The only writing I have ever been jealous of'. |
| − | 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 [[spleen]] with [[x-rays]], caused Mansfield to develop heat flashes and numbness in her legs. | + | |
| + | Although Mansfield continued writing between her first and second collections ("Prelude", 1918), she rarely published her work, and sank into [[clinical depression|depression]]. Her health declined further after a near-fatal attack of [[pleurisy]], after learning that she had contracted [[tuberculosis]] in 1917. It was while combating the disease in health spas across Europe, and suffering a serious hemorrhage in 1918, that Mansfield began writing the works she would become best known for. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Death=== | ||
| + | |||
| + | 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 [[spleen]] with [[x-rays]], which caused Mansfield to develop heat flashes and numbness in her legs. | ||
In October 1922, Mansfield moved to [[G. I. Gurdjieff|George Gurdjieff's]] [[Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man]] in [[Fontainebleau]], [[France]], where she was under the care of Olgivanna Lazovitch Hinzenburg (later, Mrs. [[Frank Lloyd Wright]]). While at Fontainebleau, Mansfield continued to write despite her failing health. After publishing an additional two volumes, one of poetry, and the other short stories, Mansfield suffered a fatal pulmonary hemorrhage in January 1923. She was buried in a cemetery in the Fontainebleau District in the town of [[Avon, Seine-et-Marne|Avon]]. | In October 1922, Mansfield moved to [[G. I. Gurdjieff|George Gurdjieff's]] [[Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man]] in [[Fontainebleau]], [[France]], where she was under the care of Olgivanna Lazovitch Hinzenburg (later, Mrs. [[Frank Lloyd Wright]]). While at Fontainebleau, Mansfield continued to write despite her failing health. After publishing an additional two volumes, one of poetry, and the other short stories, Mansfield suffered a fatal pulmonary hemorrhage in January 1923. She was buried in a cemetery in the Fontainebleau District in the town of [[Avon, Seine-et-Marne|Avon]]. | ||
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==Works== | ==Works== | ||
Revision as of 18:57, 9 June 2007
Katherine Mansfield (14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction. She was born into a middle class family in Wellington, New Zealand on October 14, 1888. Throughout her childhood, she took an extreme interest in music a litertaure, and would eventually go on to write a number of short stories and novels. She is said to be New Zealand's most famous writer, who was closely associated with D.H. Lawrence and something of a rival of Virginia Woolf. Mansfield's creative years were burdened with loneliness, illness, jealousy, alienation - all this reflected in her work with the bitter depiction of marital and family relationships of her middle-class characters. Her short stories are also notable for their use of stream of consciousness. Like the Russian writer Anton Chekhov, Mansfield depicted trivial events and subtle changes in human behavior. Without the company of her literary friends, family, or her husband, she wrote much about her own roots and her childhood. Mansfield died of a pulmonary hemorrhage on January 9, 1923, in Gurdjieff Institute, near Fontainebleau, France.
Life
| “ | The pleasure of reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books." — Katherine Mansfield | ” |
Early Life
Mansfield was born "Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp" into a socially prominent family in Wellington, New Zealand. The daughter of a banker, Harold Beauchamp, and a genteel mother, Annie Burnell Syer, and born to a middle-class colonial family, Mansfield had a lonely and alienated childhood. She lived for six years in the rural village of Karori. Later on Mansfield said "I imagine I was always writing. Twaddle it was, too. But better far write twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all." At the age of nine, her first published stories appeared in the High School Reporter and the Wellington Girls' High School magazine, in 1898 and 1899. She moved to London in 1902, where she attended Queen's College, London. At this point, she joined the staff of the College Magazine, which is said to be her first step towards rebellion against her personal background. However, as she was a talented cellist, she was not at first attracted to literature as a means of a career, and after finishing her schooling in England, she returned to her New Zealand home in 1906.
It was upon her return to New Zealand that Kathleen Beauchamp began writing short stories more consistently. She then took up music, and had affairs with both men and women, quickly falling into a bohemian lifestyle, where she lived with many contemporary writers of her day. Her father denied her the opportunity to become a professional cello player, as she both both an accomplished violoncellist and cello player. Weary of the provincial New Zealand lifestyle, Beauchamp returned to London two years later in 1908, where she studied typing and bookkeeping at Wellington Technical College. Her lifelong friend Ida Baker (L.M., Leslie Moore in her diary and correspondence) persuaded Mansfield's father to allow Katherine to move back to England, with an allowance of £100 a year, where she completely devoted herself to writing. Mansfield never visited New Zealand again.
Unhappy Life
After an unhappy marriage in 1909 to George Brown, whom she left a few days after the wedding, Mansfield toured for a while as an extra in opera. Before the marriage, she had an affair with Garnett Trowell, a musician, and became pregnant. In Bavaria, where Mansfield spent some time, she suffered a miscarriage in 1909, possibly brought on by lifting her trunk off the top of a wardrobe. During her stay in Germany she wrote satirical sketches of German characters, which influenced her work elsewhere as well.
Back in England, 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. Earlier her stories had appeared in The New Age. On her return to London in 1910, Mansfield became ill when she contracted gonorrhoea, an untreated sexually transmitted disease around this time, an event that was to plague her with arthritic pain for the rest of her short life, as well as to make her view herself as a 'soiled' woman. She attended literary parties without much enthusiasm, asserting, "Pretty rooms and pretty people, pretty coffee, and cigarettes out of a silver tankard... I was wretched."
In 1911, Mansfield met John Middleton Murray, a Socialist and former literary critic, who was first a tenant in her flat, then her lover. Mansfield co-edited and contributed to a series of journals. Mansfied and Murray became closely associated with D.H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda. When Murray had an affair with the Princess Bibesco (née Asquith), Mansfield objected not to the affair but to her letters to Murray, stating "I am afraid you must stop writing these love letters to my husband while he and I live together. It is one of the things which is not done in our world" (from a letter to Princess Bibesco, 1921).
Her life and work were changed forever with the death of her brother, a soldier, during World War I. She was shocked and traumatised by the experience, so much so that her work began to take refuge in the nostalgic reminiscences of their childhood in New Zealand. During these years, she also formed an important professional frinedship with Virginia Woolf, who later claimed that her writing was 'The only writing I have ever been jealous of'.
Although Mansfield continued writing between her first and second collections ("Prelude", 1918), she rarely published her work, and sank into depression. Her health declined further after a near-fatal attack of pleurisy, after learning that she had contracted tuberculosis in 1917. It was while combating the disease in health spas across Europe, and suffering a serious hemorrhage in 1918, that Mansfield began writing the works she would become best known for.
Death
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 spleen with x-rays, which caused Mansfield to develop heat flashes and numbness in her legs.
In October 1922, Mansfield moved to George Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, France, where she was under the care of Olgivanna Lazovitch Hinzenburg (later, Mrs. Frank Lloyd Wright). While at Fontainebleau, Mansfield continued to write despite her failing health. After publishing an additional two volumes, one of poetry, and the other short stories, Mansfield suffered a fatal pulmonary hemorrhage in January 1923. She was buried in a cemetery in the Fontainebleau District in the town of Avon.
Works
Legacy
Katherine 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 later works such as "The Fly", are frequently collected in short story anthologies. 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 relatively young only added to her legacy.
Mount Roskill Grammar School in Auckland, Rangiora High School in North Canterbury, Macleans College in Auckland, and Wellington Girls' College in Wellington have a house named after her.
Bibliography
- In a German Pension (1911), ISBN 1-86941-014-9
- Bliss (1920), ISBN 1-86941-015-7
- The Garden Party (1922), ISBN 1-86941-016-5
- The Doves' Nest (1923), ISBN 1-86941-017-3
- 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 (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
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
External links
- Official website Retrieved June 9, 2007.
- Literary Encyclopedia biography
- Biography Retrieved June 9, 2007.
- The Garden Party at "Encyclopedia of the Self" Retrieved June 9, 2007.
- Birthplace Trust Wellington Retrieved June 9, 2007.
- Katherine Mansfield at Fontainebleau Retrieved June 9, 2007.
- Some Katherine Mansfield Short Stories Retrieved June 9, 2007.
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