Katherine Mansfield analysis PDF

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Katherine Mansfield’s Short Stories: An Introduction Par Emilie Walezak : Professeur agrégée d'anglais - Université Lyon II Publié par Clifford Armion le 28/06/2011 Katherine Mansfield wrote short stories exclusively and produced a large body of work though she died quite young from tuberculosis when she was 30. She is one the best representatives of modernist short story writing. Virginia Woolf herself admitted to Mansfield that she was jealous of her writing: "and then Morgan Foster said the Prelude and The Voyage Out were the best novels of their time, and I said damn Katherine! Why can't I be the only woman who knows how to write?" Sommaire

Introduction Modernist short stories have often been described as psychological sketches. The expression underlines two things of paramount importance in modernist short stories and modernist fiction at large. First, modernist writers aimed to do away with plot and action, with a conventional narrative form, whether in the novels or in the shorts stories. Second, they wanted to convey a character's "impressions" through the use of narrative voice, what became known as the stream of consciousness. Formally speaking, this translated into an extensive use of free indirect speech as well as a superimposition of different narrative frames structuring the text in lieu of the traditional plot structure. Another distinctive feature of the modernist text, which is the consequence or maybe the cause of this focus on a character's inner life, is how it consistently lays bare the social semblances. Modernist stories are most often set in highly coded realist social contexts (dinner parties, family gatherings, school lessons, etc) and the drama - there is indeed a characteristic theatricality to Mansfield's texts that may be found in other modernist texts as well - that is played out is that of the collapse of a society's ideals that is transcribed into a character's social inadequacy to conventions or his/her utter failure to play by the rules hence the defeat of his/her preconceptions. This corresponds to what the modernists themselves have theorized as a moment of epiphany. Joyce made the term popular and each of the short stories in his collection Dubliners was designed to contain such a moment of revelation experienced either by the character or by the reader. The description of what Joyce intended with his epiphanies by his brother Stanislaus underlines this process of laying bare which some critics have compared to the disclosure of a character's symptom: "little errors and gestures - mere straws in the wind by which people betrayed the very things they were most careful to conceal."[1] Joyce's own description in Stephen Hero insists on how an object is suddenly stripped to its essentiality: "Its soul, its whatness, leaps to us from the vestment of its appearance." [2] Other modernist writers such as James, Conrad, Woolf or Lawrence appropriated the notion in their own ways. Woolf wrote about "moments of being" [3] while Lawrence evoked a "flame into being"[4], both insisting on a particular state of being that is consistent with the modernist focus on the inner life. Mansfield herself wrote about "one blazing moment" [5], taking up the idea, similar to that of Lawrence, of an illuminating moment. Short stories are particularly apt to convey epiphanic moments as the form relies on condensation. Katherine Mansfield wrote short stories exclusively and produced a large body of work though she died quite young from tuberculosis when she was 30. She is one the best representatives of modernist short story writing. Virginia Woolf herself admitted to Mansfield that she was jealous of her writing: "and then Morgan Foster said the Prelude and The Voyage Out were the best novels of their time, and I said damn Katherine! Why can't I be the only woman who knows how to write?"[6] Mansfield has since been noted as an innovator of the short story form as Andrew Gurr and Clare Hanson have pointed out, underlining in particular her skillful use of free indirect speech: "Katherine Mansfield's development of free indirect form was one of her most important contributions to the art of the short story. Such a form allows for directness and immediacy, enabling the intrusive presence of the author-as-narrator to appear to disappear from the text."[7] Thus the multiplicity of narrative voices and consequently of narrative frames which cast different lights on the same story is a characteristic of Mansfield's writing and help account for the double-sided nature of her stories as they usually read both as enchanting and fiercely ironical. Taking a look at the different uses of voice in Mansfield's stories will help better understand how to read them. 1

1. Inside a character's mind Often enough in Mansfield's stories, the reader is first immersed in the story as told by the main character. This accounts for the recurrent in medias res beginnings of the stories and highlights the use of free indirect speech which is a clue to a character's thoughts and feelings that are often expressed through theatricality as the characters/narrators fancy themselves as the actors of their own lives, orchestrating their own world. 1.1 The in medias res beginning Most of Mansfield's stories are third person narratives in which the perspective of the character is expressed through the use of free indirect speech. The reader may spot such useful clues to a character's subjectivity as the adverbs, the -ing form, the modals, the comparative forms or the punctuation. The in medias res beginnings of the stories often enough serve to enhance a character's world view. They may read like the continuation of a previous action, thus suggesting the character's immediate or long past: And then, after six years, she saw him again. He was seated at one of those little bamboo tables decorated with a Japanese vase of paper daffodils. There was a tall plate of fruit in front of him, and very carefully, in a way she recognised immediately as his "special" way, he was peeling an orange. (A Dill Pickle, 176) In this extract from A Dill Pickle, the use of the adverbs "very carefully" and "immediately" precede and account for the use of the -ing form in "he was peeling an orange". The inverted commas around the word "special" reinforce the impression of subjectivity so that the reader clearly identifies the adopted point of view as that of a yet anonymous "she". When she opened the door and saw him standing there she was more pleased than ever before, and he, too, as he followed her into the studio, seemed very, very happy to have come. (Psychology, 111) In Psychology, the two protagonists, a man and a woman, remain unidentified throughout the story. In the first lines, the point of view of the female protagonist is expressed through the use of a comparative and the repetition of the adverb "very" and is complemented by the setting itself as the door frame mirrors the woman's perspective. The week after was one of the busiest weeks of their lives. Even when they went to bed it was only their bodies that lay down and rested; their minds went on, thinking things out, talking things over, wondering, deciding, trying to remember where ... (The Daughters of the Late Colonel, 262) The incipit of The Daughters of the Late Colonel is particularly interesting as the missing information in the first lines as to who "they" are and when the action takes place is in fact provided in the very title of the story. From the start it thus mirrors the point of view of the two main characters who are still afraid of their late father and going through a grieving process which means they cannot really believe he is dead and dare not mention his death. The suspended sentence as well as the -ing verbs mimic the working of their minds and their lapses of memory. Sometimes the incipits offer a direct insight into a character's frame of mind: If there was one thing that he hated more than another it was the way she had of waking him in the morning. She did it on purpose, of course. It was her way of establishing her grievance for the day, and he was not going to let her know how successful it was. But really, really, to wake a sensitive person like that was positively dangerous! (Mr Reginald Peacock's Day, 144) Free indirect speech in that case reads like the exact record of a character's thoughts with the use, in particular, of the exclamation mark or the idiom "of course". Oh, dear, how she wished that it wasn't night-time. She'd have much rather travelled by day, much much rather. (The Little Governess, 174) 2

The first words of The Little Governess express the girl's distress at traveling alone in a foreign country, which is further enhanced by the repetition of the adverb "much". And after all the weather was ideal. They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden-party if they had ordered it. (The Garden-Party, 245) The first sentence of The Garden Party is the perfect example of an in medias res beginning. The use of the modal could is complemented, in the second sentence, by the comparative to underline the use of free indirect speech. The incipits quoted so far all delay the disclosure of the character's name, which further involves the reader: as the pronoun could be said to reduce the distance between the reader and the character's perceptions, the reader is lured into the character's own apprehension of the world. Other incipits introduce a character's name and may thus mislead the reader into believing he/she is reading a conventional third person narration while the first sentences are still written using free indirect speech: Although Bertha Young was thirty she still had moments like this when she wanted to run instead of walk, to take dancing steps on and off the pavement, to bowl a hoop, to throw something up in the air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at - nothing - at nothing, simply. (Bliss, 91) The beginning of Bliss clearly provides information on the character's identity, her name and age but then the sentence's rhythm is designed to mimic the character's feeling of ecstasy with the dashes making Bertha stumble at the end towards the adverb. From eight o'clock in the morning until about half-past eleven Monica Tyrell suffered from her nerves, and suffered so terribly that these hours were - agonizing, simply. (Revelations, 190) Similarly in Revelations, though the character's name is disclosed, the sentence itself mimics Monica's nervous irritation, her hesitation over the correct word to describe her feelings and the way she emphasizes her suffering with the adverbs. 1.2 A Theatre of Semblances Often enough, the reader is thus invited to read about the stories that characters like to tell themselves or about themselves, which can be misleading on a first reading of the texts. In this sense, they are like stage directors who arrange reality as they see fit, which accounts for the theatricality in the short stories. The stories are full of dialogues. Some characters are really playwrights, it is their profession, like the female protagonist in Psychology or Eddie Warren, one of Bertha's dinner guests in Bliss, or actors like Ada Moss in Pictures. All of them like to cast themselves in a role designed to enhance their own sense of self and purpose, their selfimportance. In Bliss, Bertha Young first starts composing her dinner setting with a fruit arrangement like a still life designed to produce a theatrical "effect" (93). Her guests make a "decorative group" that "[remind] her of a play by Tchekof" (100). She herself is dressed so that the colours she wears match those of the pear tree. The story she tells is that of herself cast in the role of a master of ceremonies. Miss Brill's weekly walk in the park on Sunday is designed to make her feel she has an essential role to play on the world stage: They were all on the stage. They weren't only the audience, not only looking on; they were acting. Even she had a part and came every Sunday. No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn't been there; she was part of the performance, after all. (334) In A Cup of Tea, Rosemary Fell fancies herself as a fairy godmother inviting to tea a poor girl she picked up on the street. In The Fly, the main character, who is called "the boss" throughout the text, likes his old impotent 3

employee to admire his office. In An Ideal Family, old Mr Neave has worked all his life, and still does, to cater for the needs of his family and is proud to hear it praised: As a matter of fact, no other house was as popular as theirs; no other family entertained so much. And how many times old Mr Neave, pushing the cigar-box across the smoking-room table, had listened to praises of his wife, his girls, of himself even. "You're an ideal family, sir, an ideal family. It's like something one reads about or sees on the stage." (370) The characters work to arrange reality so that it casts an attractive light on them. Thus pictoriality comes as a complement to theatricality: it is the décor of their lives. In Psychology which is about the attraction between a man and a woman, the female protagonist, while preparing tea, likes to picture the two of them in her sitting room: "The picture was so clear and so minute it might have been painted on the blue teapot lid." (112). In Sun and Moon, the two children to whom the title refers admire the beautiful dinner setting, they "made eyes" at it (155), and are then dressed up themselves in the same tones to match the setting in order to impress the guests. The two of them make "a picture" (156-7) and Moon looks like "a sweet little cherub of a picture of a powder puff" (156). Old Mr Neave in An Ideal Family is forced by his daughters to dress up for the party else it would be "so very out of the picture!" (373). The characters want to be seen on the world stage. This also accounts for the predominant themes of wealth and beauty as signs of fulfillment. Some characters embark on flights of fancy in which they picture themselves as the centre of attention and the object of admiring gazes. Thus in Prelude Beryl, in her clichéd daydreams, imagines meeting rich influent young men and the French "eau-denil" to describe the dress she is wearing echoes with snobbery: A young man, immensely rich, has just arrived from England. He meets her quite by chance. ... The new governor is unmarried. ... There is a ball at Government house. ... Who is that exquisite creature in eau-de-nil satin? Beryl Fairfield. ... (22) Beryl's fantasies which sound like plots from a cheap romance recall those of Rosabel in The Tiredness of Rosabel. Rosabel fancies herself married to the rich Harry who visited the shop where she is working with his fiancée. The scenario she imagines: "Rosabel knew that she was the most famous woman at the ball that night; men paid her homage, a foreign Prince desired to be presented to this English wonder. Yes, it was a voluptuous night, a band playing, and her lovely white shoulders. ..." (518) is directly taken from the romance novel a young girl is reading on the bus taking Rosabel home at the beginning of the story: "She glanced at the book which the girl read so earnestly [...]. It was something about a hot, voluptuous night, a band playing, and a girl with lovely, white shoulders." (513-14). In Mr Reginald Peacock's Day, Peacock, who is a music master, bathes in the wealth and reputation of his clients and thinks his status as an artist makes him one of them and he is a puppet master: ""Have some more champagne, Peacock," said Lord Timbuck. Peacock, you notice - not Mr Peacock - but Peacock, as if he was one of them. And wasn't he? He was an artist. He could sway them all." (152). 1. 3 The characters' epiphanies What all the characters really want to recover, however, is a lost sense of harmony like a lost paradise. Many characters thus insist on a discrepancy between the self they present to the world and what they often call their "real self". Thus Beryl in Prelude, while engaging in attractive fantasies, also despises herself for it: "oh", she cried, "I am so miserable - so frightfully miserable. I know that I'm silly and spiteful and vain; I'm always acting a part. I'm never my real self for a moment." In Revelations, Monica Tyrell seeks shelter at her hairdresser's where "Monica had the feeling that they loved her in this shop and understood her - the real her" (193). In A Dill Pickle, Vera, upon meeting her former lover who left her with only bitter memories, rewrites all the painful memories as she listens to his own rememoration that sounds like "some forgotten, heavenly language" (168) and seeks to regain the feeling that they had of "a boundless understanding between them" (172). In The Canary, the first person female narrator describes her canary as "perfect company" (420) as she interprets the bird's song according to her own needs and feelings and so "I felt that I understood every note of it." (419). The characters' delusion often enough works up to a fantasmatic climax that is described as an epiphany, though it is but the character's epiphany. Thus it is the climax of a delusion and works as a counterpoint to the 4

negative epiphanies at the end of the stories. Such titles as Bliss or Revelations underline the epiphanic sense. Among the most famous epiphanies in Mansfield are those that shape themselves round trees. There is the pear tree in Bliss. Bertha looking at the pear tree imagines she has a perfect bond with Miss Fulton: "Both [...] understanding each other perfectly" (102). Linda in Prelude imagines her escape on the aloe boat. The aptly named story The Escape ends with the husband eluding the pressure put on by his wife by losing himself in the contemplation of a tree, hearing a woman singing, which brings a "heavenly happiness" (202). The tree stands for the fantasy of a regained paradise. All the trees share common features mixing the phallic - the "round, thick silver stem" (The Escape, 201), the "fleshy stem" (Prelude, 34) and its "long sharp thorns" (Prelude, 53), a "fat swelling plant" (Prelude, 34) that "seemed to grow taller and taller as they gazed" (Bliss, 102) - and the feminine - the "bloom" and "blossoms" (Bliss, 96) of the pear tree echoing with the women's "bosoms" (p. 102), the presence of her mother at Linda's side in Prelude, the feeling the husband in The Escape gets of being "enfolded" (202). Epiphanies are quite often fantasies of perfection as the phallic mother stands for completeness and self-sufficiency. Thus the drama that is being played out in Mansfield's stories could be said to be, in psychoanalytical terms, that of castration: because they are speaking subjects, the characters experience the division brought about by language, which implies indeed that the harmony between words and things is lost forever. The reader, upon reading a story for the first time, is thus trapped by the character's delusional narrative as a struggle to regain this lost paradise through an inflated sense of self. It is the play with other narrative voices that will bring about an altogether different kind of epiphany. 2. Irony Many other voices can be heard lining the character's utterance with irony and serve as a disruption of the delusional narrative. They can be the voices of other characters cruelly shattering the harmonious reality imagined by the protagonist. It can be the voice of a discrete third-person narrator mimicking a satirical process known as double enunciation which makes the character appear as a puppet at the mercy of an ironical secondary voice. Such process may account for the recurrent theme of the double. The secondary voice may also directly stem from free indirect speech and come as a subtle interference as Andrew Gurr and Clare Hanson have underlined. All in all they serve to provide a very different perspective on the story and another kind of epiphany that consists in revealing brutally a character's delusion or symptom as the quote from Joyce's brother suggested. 2.1 The voices of other characters In A Dill Pickle, Vera keeps wavering thinking she may have made a mistake breaking with her former lover and cannot decide upon hearing his words whether he is making fun of her or not: "Was there just a hint of mockery in his voice or was it her fancy? She could not ...