On Mansfield’s Innovative Effects On Modern Short Stories

Katherine Mansfield (1888—1923) is an outstanding short novel writer in20thcentury. She was born in a wealthy family in Wellington, New Zealand, on October14,1888. Being tired of the colonial life and bourgeois social conventions in her country,she decided to give up the rich life at home and went to London by herself in order toseek better development in writing. The only thing that does not change is her passionfor literature during her trip in almost the whole Europe. Just like what she said in herjournal that “No feelings can be compared with the joy of writing novels.”When many writers devoted themselves in novel writing, Mansfield preferred towriting short stories, which made her the one and only writer whose reputation restsentirely on short stories. She was also called “English Chekhov”,“The Queen ofEnglish Short Novel” and “The Master of Short Novel” by the literary critics. Shewrote93works during her35-year short life. She won her fame in English literatureworld in1917when Prelude an autobiological work was published. She wrote about88short stories, including The garden Party, the daughters of the late colonel, whichare all her representative works and are collected in the collections: In a GermanPension(1911), Bliss and Other Stories(1920) and The Garden Party and OtherStories(1922). After the death of Mansfield, the unpublished stories were compiledinto two collections: Dove’s Nest and Other Stories (1923) and Something Childishand Other Stories (1924). Mansfield’s bold and innovative spirit is totally reflected onthe unique writing techniques that are applied in her short novels, including the inner-monologue and the plotless form, which are all earlier than Joyce and Woolf in time.Mansfield’s imploration of “glimpse” and “epiphany” may be the most complex andcomplete in modern works.This thesis consists of three parts, including introduction, body and conclusion.In the introduction the thesis first gives an introduction of the studies ofMansfield in English, New Zealand and in China and how her significant position inEnglish and New Zealand literary fields is gradually established. And then it explainsthe literary trend of modernism and the background of modern short stories. At lastthe thesis brings out its points of view.The body is divided into three parts. ChapterⅠanalyses in detail the formation and the developments of Mansfield’s creative consciousness in writing,which can bedivided into three periods according to the form, style and writing techniques:Apprenticeship period (1898—1910), exploration period (1911—1917) and matureperiod (1917—1922). During apprenticeship period Mansfield mainly imitatedChekhov’s writing style successfully and won her the reputation of “the EnglishChekhov”; from1911to1917, Mansfield’s short novels began to take on a look ofvarieties of style, subjects and writing techniques. After exploration period, Mansfieldfinally found the most suitable subject and style and become more and more skillful inwriting skills in her short stories and entered into mature period, when Prelude is therepresentative work. The unique and innovative effect of Mansfield on short novelwriting is the poetic lyrical narration and the excavation of New Zealand culture andits pastoral life.Chapter Ⅱ analyses in detail the unique modern writing techniques in Prelude,including plotless form, multi-personal points of view, stream of consciousness,inner monologue and symbolism in order to show Mansfield is the innovator masterin short novel writing. Instead of inheriting the traditional plot and style in novelwriting Mansfield preferred to depict the inner world of characters by changing pointsof views so naturally that readers can feel exactly what the characters feel and makethe story more interesting. The application of symbolism evokes deep thinking ofreaders who not only “read” the novel but also “ponder” the deep meaning implied byMansfield. It is Mansfield’s unique way of writing that affects the development ofEnglish short novel and the writers of later generations. Mansfield, along with othercontemporary writers including Josephine Conrad, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolfpromoted the trend of new novel and laid a foundation for the modern novel.Mansfield is a pioneer in applying inner monologue and multi-personal points of viewin short novel writing and made a great achievement in short novel field just likeJoyce and Woolf did in full-length novel writing.The last chapter discusses the skillful combination of Mansfield’s writingtechniques, among which the most unique one is the poetic language and her choiceof words and building of sentences, making the story more vivid and specific. What’smore, Mansfield preferred to use some adjectives and prepositions in Prelude to strengthen changing of feelings and emphases in different situations and environment.In addition, the elaborate selection of punctuations and figures of speech in Preludemakes the story more concise and explicit as well as more expressive andthought-provoking.Conclusion consists of Mansfield’s writing skills and techniques as well as theirinnovative effect on modern novel, which is also the significance of this thesis. Thesignificance of this thesis lies in the realization of Mansfield’s real status in the historyof English literature that is Mansfield is one of the most significant writers in Englishshort stories and the history of English modern literature. She is also the innovator ofexerting modern features on short novel writing and one of the important writersduring the rise of Modernism in English. The exquisite description of the mental andspiritual world of the characters in Mansfield’s stories has enlightened people in realworld who are struggling with depression, loneliness and distortion. KatherineMansfield is the real innovator and pioneer in short story writing and makes indeliblecontribution to the history of short novel writing.