Female Themes And Narrative Strategies In Katherine Mansfield’s Short Stories

Katherine Mansfield is widely considered one of the best short story writers of the modernist literature in the twentieth century. She devoted all her life time to the development of short story as a literary form, practicing innovations and experiments in the art of short story continually. Mansfield also proved ahead of her time in her adoration for Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, and incorporated some of his themes and techniques into her writings. Many critics focus on her outstanding writing techniques, her modernist practice of expression and her contribution to the maturity of short story. Comparatively speaking, fewer comments are related to her concern and deliberation on female issues. In fact, female themes have taken a large account for her writings. Favored by her unique sensitivity and delicacy, Mansfield has pictured a dynamic female world for her readers. From these writings, we may witness Mansfield’s deep concern for the status of women at that time and also her active exploration in the liberation of women.Although Mansfield never claimed to be a feminist, her feminist perspectives are demonstrated to the full in her writings. Most female characters in her short stories - whether they are the lower class who live in poverty or the upper class who live in comfort - tend to free themselves from the daily life. Mansfield had made efforts to evoke female consciousness in a certain degree and encouraged women to seek a new life.For a long time, feminist criticism has focused on the writer and the sexual politics in his or her text, and also paid special attention to the dispute of authority and subjectivity between male and female. However, these criticisms are more concerned about the“story level”in the text rather than the“expression level”. Although attention has been drawn upon female writers’employment of words and sentences, there are few in-depth discussions about the specific writing techniques in the“expression level”. Therefore, it is always difficult to answer how a particular narrative strategy is employed in a certain text and why this narrative strategy is chosen.In fact, the perfect integration of theme and narrative strategy has contributed to the success of Mansfield’s short stories. This paper, based on feminist literary criticism, will discuss the female themes in Katherine Mansfield’s short stories and the employment of four narrative strategies: plot, characterization, focalization and narration. Three major female themes in her writing will be touched upon: women’s poverty and loneliness; women’s ambivalence and disillusionment; and women’s rebellion against their traditional roles. These themes genuinely mirror the living conditions of women at that period. They are grounded on Mansfield’s thorough understanding of the inner experience of women and also reflect her exploration in the feminist ideology. Her writings have gone deep into the female consciousness. Her deliberation over women’s fortune has paved the way for them to recognize the values of their own and also to seek their own liberation. Mansfield’s active and instructive adventure has contributed to the development of feminist literature significantly.This paper is divided into four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces Katherine Mansfield’s life and works, which is intended for a more in-depth understanding of the themes and significance of her short stories, since her writings are closely associated with her personal experiences. Together with a literature review on the related researches on Mansfield, this chapter also presents the thesis of this paper. The second chapter discusses the three major female themes in Mansfield’s short stories: women’s loneliness, disillusionment and rebellion, which reflect her feminist thinking. The third chapter examines the above female themes on the basis of a detailed analysis of the narrative strategies in her writings. This chapter mainly aims to study what specific narrative strategies are adopted and why these strategies are adopted. The final chapter is the conclusion of this paper.