This volume offers an introductory overview to the short stories of Katherine Mansfield, discussing a wide range of her most famous stories from different viewpoints. The book elaborates on Mansfield's themes and techniques, thereby guiding the reader - via close textual analysis - to an understanding of the author's modernist techniques.

Discussion of Mansfield¿s writing technique in the early years after her death was initially subordinate to the overwhelming interest in her personality, with the hagiography of her lifeand praise for her personal writing - particularly in France - for many years taking precedence over any consideration of her fiction. However, with the passage of time there has emerged a more balanced and critical viewpoint, with an attempt to remove the saint-like, ethereal, wholly false mask of the author so revered by the French. The aim of this discussion is to illustrate how radical and innovative Mansfield¿s narrative writing would become during her life-time, ultimately placing her at the forefront of Modernist short story writers. Yet even today, there are a few critics who tend to concentrate on the facets of Mansfield¿s personality or her art which tally with their particular literary hypothesis, ignoring what does not, in order to create their particular version of Mansfield the writer. It is not often that one is able to view all the facets which go to make up Mansfield¿s complex body of work. Mansfieldwas that rare thing - a writer exclusively associated with the short story. The notional superficiality of her stories, together with the premise that the short story is perceived to be alesser form, has meant that many critics have viewed Mansfield as a minor writer. It is not known what she might have accomplished had her life not been cut short or whetherher narrative art might have gone in a different direction. Her legacy comprises roughly ninety stories - some incomplete - totalling about 300,000 words. This study offers a detailed consideration of Mansfield's short stories and her work in thecontext of a literary Modernist. Subjects covered include: 'Mansfield's Narrative Technique', 'Use of Literary Impressionism', 'The Incorporation of Symbolism', 'Sexuality as a Theme', 'Portrayal of Children', 'Use of Humour', 'War and Death'.

This collection allows the reader to become familiar with the complete range of Mansfield's work from the early, satirical stories set in Bavaria, through the luminous recollections of her childhood in New Zealand, and through the mature, deeply felt stories of her last years.

The narration delves on the living and values of a large family in New Zealand. With trivial details of characters such as personality, gestures and attitudes, Mansfield has managed to delve into the psychology of characters and produce individuals that instantly capture attention. A must-read....

"The book is, in effect, a revaluation of Katherine Mansfield, throwing new light on her craftsmanship, her artistic credo and her vision of life."--BOOK JACKET.