The Garden Party and Other Stories (Everyman's Library)

Katherine Mansfield was a New Zealand author who spent considerable time in both New Zealand and England. She wrote exclusively short fiction; this collection includes 21 works published between 1910 and 1922. The introduction by Claire Tomalin provides a thorough yet brief biography, and an excellent analysis of the stories and their themes. About this collection she wrote, The Mansfield who writes here is tough, adventurous, humorous, observant colonial girl, hard on others and hard on herself. Her best stories are miracles of construction, spare, sharp, and cool. There are no tricks in them, only an attentiveness to detail, a watchfulness so acute that it sometimes verges on the sinister; a watchfulness that is evident from the start and never leaves her. (p. ix) Tomalin also notes that the earlier stories are display much more anger about the role of women in society, and I found this to be true. The later stories more poignant, but in all cases Mansfield skewers the upper classes and, especially, the stereotypically pompous man.

There were five stories that stood out as favorites:
* Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding (1910) - Frau B. and her husband attend a wedding where a young woman is clearly being married off to a man she does not love. The experience evokes strong emotions in Frau B. concerning the quality of her own marriage.
* The Woman at the Store (1911) - a group riding through a remote region on horseback encounter a lonely woman whose hospitality one of them experienced several years before. There is something mysterious about her circumstances ... revealed at the end.
* Bliss (1918) - A young couple living in London hosts several pretentious friends for a dinner party. Bertha, the woman, is especially happy with the party and her guests, but the end has a particularly interesting twist.
* The Daughters of the Late Colonel (1920) - two young women struggle to hold it together just after their father's death.
* The Garden Party (1921) - A family is preparing for a garden party when they learn that someone in their town has died in an accident. One sensitive family member believes the party should be cancelled, but she is overruled because, after all, the dead man is of a lower class.

Each of these stories is very well-written, but I think I erred in reading them one after the other. My interest began to flag towards the end of the book. Mansfield's collections may be best read with time for contemplation between each story. ( )

Oh, how delightful it is to fall in love for the first time! How exciting to go to your first dance when you are a girl of eighteen! But life can also be hard and cruel, if you are young and inexperienced and travelling alone across Europe . . . or if you are a child from the wrong social class . . . or a singer without work and the rent to be paid.

Set in Europe and New Zealand, these nine stories by Katherine Mansfield dig deep beneath the appearances of life to show us the causes of human happiness and despair.

This selection of stories by Katherine Mansfield has been chosen by Claire Tomalin and emphasise the stronger, feminist side of her writing rather than the popular, more sentimental view. The 21 stories are presented in chronological order and include "Prelude", "The Garden Party" and "At the Bay".