In a German Pension (1911)

Ended up being better than I thought it would at first. ( )

THE BARON

In a German Pension contains thirteen short stories written by Katherine Mansfield after she visited Germany.

The Baron (1910)

A young lady is fascinated by a mysterious German baron.

‘I imbibe nourishment in my room.’ (page 14)
or Sic transit gloria German mundi (Thus passes the glory of the German’s world),
or When you don’t know, you could imagine everything.

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This is a collection of short stories that are loosely tied to a group of guests who are "taking the cure" at a German pension. I liked them okay, but didn't love them. Some are darkly funny, but most are just depressing. ( )

2664 In a German Pension, by Katherine Mansfield (read 11 Oct 1994) This is the first book of writings by Mansfield, published in 1911 and later practically disowned by her. There are 13 short stories, some very biting and satiric as to German foibles, some rather pointless. I rather liked "The Sister of the Baroness", which tells of a woman who passes herself as a baroness' sister and is treated with great respect, but turns out to be a servant. The stories were written when Mansfield was 19 ( )

Mansfield is a great writer, she has facility and wit. The stories flow, they are about ordinary things, yet extraordinary.

However, this collection contains a story - The Child Who Was Tired - that also appears in a collection of Chekov's short stories. This bothered me years ago and it still bothers me, along with V. Woolf's comment that K. Mansfield's fingernails weren't any too clean. ( )