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A review by ohnoflora
Bliss and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield
4.0
Katherine Mansfield is a capturer of moments. The stories in this collection do not always have a plot and some of them seem at first glance vague and insignificant, but they all build up images and impressions so that the meaning is deeply felt. The picture on the front cover of this edition is apt: a woman putting on an earring in the mirror, her expression distant (what is she thinking?), a wash of bluey green filling the background.
I liked the first story, Prelude, the best. A long short story - a novella almost - about a New Zealand family moving from the town to the country. Mansfield is a adept at writing from a child's point of view without being twee or sentimental - not always an easy thing.
Some of the stories are quite prudish, which I was surprised about given Mansfield's private life. There are a lot of thwarted women and a lot of women punished for being foolish or stepping out of line - even if only briefly, even if completely innocently - of society's conventions. You could say that this is because of the mores of the time but remember that Jean Rhys' stories of London's seedy demi-monde were not far off. Perhaps it was a form of protection for herself.
I liked the first story, Prelude, the best. A long short story - a novella almost - about a New Zealand family moving from the town to the country. Mansfield is a adept at writing from a child's point of view without being twee or sentimental - not always an easy thing.
Some of the stories are quite prudish, which I was surprised about given Mansfield's private life. There are a lot of thwarted women and a lot of women punished for being foolish or stepping out of line - even if only briefly, even if completely innocently - of society's conventions. You could say that this is because of the mores of the time but remember that Jean Rhys' stories of London's seedy demi-monde were not far off. Perhaps it was a form of protection for herself.