A LitSalon Special - The stories of Katherine Mansfield
Event Details
“Do you remember your childhood? I am always coming across these marvellous accounts by writers who declare that they remember ‘everything’. I certainly don’t. The dark stretches, the blanks, are much bigger than the bright glimpses. I seem to have spent most of my time like a plant in a cupboard.”
Katherine Mansfield
This LitSalon Special, a lecture by Dr Gerri Kimber, acknowledged as the world expert on Katherine Mansfield, serves as an introduction to our six week reading of Mansfield’s work: The Child Who Was Tired & other stories led by Karina Jakubowicz but can also be booked as a standalone event. Gerri Kimber has contributed to over 40 books on Mansfield’s life and work, was President of the Katherine Mansfield Society for ten years (2010-2020) and is currently working on a new biography of Mansfield for Reaktion Books.
Katherine Mansfield was a master of the modern short story. She crafted precise pictures of individual moments and scenes, resulting in deft narratives that are as devastating as they are beautiful. While the early 20th century novel has received a significant amount of critical attention, the short story has been somewhat overlooked. Nonetheless, as Mansfield’s biographer states, the short story ‘was often the most aesthetically experimental, formally innovative, emotionally powerful prose form of the early twentieth century.’ One critic has gone so far as to call it ‘the chosen form of the exile’, due to its daring and artistically marginal status.
Our six-week study following the introductory lecture will consider themes including childhood, motherhood and female relationships. We will ask how Mansfield responds to the vulnerability of children while also addressing the difficulty of motherhood. We may also consider the fate of reluctant parents and the role of older carers.
JOINING DETAILS:
- A LitSalon Special from world expert on Katherine Mansfield, Dr Gerri Kimber.
- Monday 13 May 2024, 6.00-8.00 pm BST on Zoom
- £30 (or £20 if booked as part of The Child Who Was Tired)
