Latest reading - Vera

I have just finished Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim, which I really enjoyed.  It was the second book I have read by the author (the first was The Enchanted April) and it was almost the complete opposite.  Elizabeth von Arnim was the cousin of Katherine Mansfield, moved in similar literary circles as her cousin and was married unsatisfactorily twice, to a Count and then an Earl.  Her first marriage provided the inspiration for Elizabeth and her German Garden while the second was the inspiration for Vera.  I wonder whether Daphne du Maurier knew this book, because there are some similarities to this story in Rebecca.  However, this book concerns the relationship between a young and innocent twenty-two year old heroine who has just lost her father and the older man who befriends, looks after and then wants to control her.  The reader is drawn in very quietly but can see all the signs that Lucy misses.  In the introduction, it says that the author thought that this was her best book and it certainly kept me totally engrossed.

More thoughts on Katherine Mansfield

Having nearly finished the book I borrowed from the Library, I have become a real fan of these short stories.  Most are incredibly bittersweet, many are poignant, only a few are happy.  I decided to find out more about the author and have discovered that she is regarded as one of the first Modernist writers.  Why had I not heard of her before?  I think this is because she wrote short stories - there was never a major novel that earned her fame or fortune.  Her short stories are superbly constructed and the characterisations are masterly.  I felt as though I knew these people, even though they only have a few pages in which to tell their story.  A couple of them were particularly moving; "Life of Ma Parker", which describes the life of a char lady, with all the disappointments and tragedy that life has thrown her way and "Miss Brill", who goes every Sunday in her fur collar to listen to the band and indulge in some people watching.  She happens to overhear a conversation and I really felt  her pain as she returns home with her life utterly destroyed.
Katherine Mansfield was only thirty five when she died of tuberculosis. I have bought her complete works so that I can read more of her fascinating stories and continue to find out more about her and her work.

Latest Reading - Katherine Mansfield

(My original photo for this post was deemed to be 'boring' by Chris, so I have put a different one in, which I hope is a little more interesting.)
Above is a photo of my latest reading, 'The Garden Party and other stories' by Katherine Mansfield.  This  copy is from the library at college and hasn't been taken out since 1995.  However, while browsing through the blogs that I follow, I was intrigued by this book.  It is, as the title suggests, a collection of short stories and was first published in 1922.  Having read the first five stories, I can say that they are very well written, with excellent characterisations but are somewhat unsatisfactory as I have been left wondering "what happened next?" with each one.  There is a great attention to detail and description and some of the vernacular language the author uses really conjures up an image of the speaker.  Below is my favourite example of this so far from The Daughters of the Late Colonel:
"When I was with Lady Tukes," said Nurse Andrews, "she had such a dainty little contrayvance for the buttah.  It was a silvah Cupid balanced on the - bordah of a glass dish, holding a tayny fork.  And when you wanted some buttah you simply pressed his foot and he bent down and speared you a piece.  It was quite a gayme."
Josephine could hardly bear that.  But "I think those things are very extravagant" was all she said.
"But whey?" asked Nurse Andrews, beaming through her eyeglasses.  "No one, surely, would take more buttah than one wanted - would one?"

Katherine Mansfield

The stories are a little dated, but they do give a real feeling of the time they were written and I am enjoying becoming acquainted with each of the characters.
Photo of Katherine Mansfield from  http://www.katherinemansfield.net/life/briefbio1.html