1. Katherine Mansfield

2. Her Life Born Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp
Mansfield was born in New Zealand
Her father was a banker who was knighted after several successful banking decisions

3. Mansfield was friends with many “radical” writers, particularly those who followed feminist beliefs
However, she was not a strong feminist; she wrote about family relationships and the desires of women in the modern world, but she wasn’t interested in more vocal things such as voting rights

4. Mansfield contributed to her high school newspaper, which she continued doing for her college when she and her sisters moved to England to complete their educations
Part of her education involved traveling in Europe
As she continued writing and traveling she met several important writers

5. Mansfield lived a very bohemian lifestyle…she loved intensely and often; she had numerous affairs; she traveled widely and knew many famous writers
Mansfield married twice and had no living children
She died very young from tuberculosis, and suffered greatly during the last months of her life (she tried various experimental cures for her disease)

6. Her Work
Because of her early death, Mansfield has a relatively small collection of work
Most of her best work was published after her death; she was finishing her collection which contained “The Garden Party” as she knew her death was imminent
Her style is very modern: stream-of- consciousness

7. Mansfield’s dialogue is initially choppy; the plot may seem to follow a random path
Once the story is complete, the plot become clear and the “fragmentation” of the piece makes sense