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Overview
Written during the final stages of her illness, The Garden Party and Other Stories is full of a sense of urgency and was Katherine Mansfield's last collection to be published during her lifetime. The fifteen stories, many of them set in her native New Zealand, vary in length and tone from the opening story, "At the Bay," a vivid impressionistic evocation of family life, to the short, sharp skectch "Mrs. Brill," in which a lonely woman's precarious sense of self is brutally destroyed when she overhears two young lovers mocking her. Sensitive revelations of human behaviour, these stories reveal Mansfield's supreme talent as an innovator who freed the story from its conventions and gave it a new strength and prestige.Relates Katherine Mansfield's classic short story about a garden party which continues uninterrupted by a neighborhood death.
Synopsis
Katherine Mansfield (1888-19230 was a New Zealand modernist writer of short fiction stories. Katherine moved to London where she attended Queen's College. She followed a bohemian lifestyle. After her brother's death in World War I her work took on a nostalgic theme. After a near-fatal attack of pleurisy she contracted TB. It was at this point that she began writing her best works. The Garden Party and Other Stories contains the following stories. At the bay -- The garden party -- The daughters of the late colonel -- Mr. and Mrs. Dove -- The young girl -- Life of Ma Parker -- Marriage a la mode -- The voyage -- Miss Brill -- Her first ball -- The singing lesson -- The stranger -- Bank holiday -- An ideal family and The lady's maid.
Children's Literature
Laura is the daughter of a privileged family whose worldview is limited to that of their own social class. As her family prepares to host a lavish garden party, she and her siblings are drawn into the festivities as they discuss the choice of flowers, the placement of the tent, the types of sandwiches, and, of course, their expensive costumes. The activity is not even interrupted by the news of the death of a poor young worker who lives nearby. When the party is over, however, Laura's mother suggests that she take the leftover food to the deceased's family. Laura meets the dead man's family, and, in an unwelcome surprise, sees the corpse of the dead man himself. As she returns to her frivolous life, the reader is left to decide whether the confrontation will change Laura's outlook on life. This short story, first published in 1922, is as relevant today as it was then, when it sought to expose the callousness of the upper class. This edition includes a critical essay on the story and a short biography of the author by Kate Riggs, both of which are excellent. There is also a photograph of a garden party from the 1920s that vividly illustrates the milieu of the time. The layout and presentation of this story, which is part of the "Creative Short Stories" series by the publisher, is quite good, and the book should be a welcome addition to any school library. The only questionable aspect is the decision by the publisher to put some of the passages in colored type. This could be viewed as a type of study guide, as it certainly draws the reader's attention, but it is probably not necessary, since it tends to interfere with the flow of the work. Reviewer: Leona Illig