Reading Mansfield and metaphors of form
By: W.H. New.
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Montreal; Ithaca [N.Y.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 215
Subjects: Mansfield, Katherine, 1888-1923 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Mansfield, Katherine, 1888-1923 -- Literary style.; Women and literature -- New Zealand -- History -- 20th century.; Women and literature -- England -- History -- 20th century.; Literary form -- History -- 20th century.; Social problems in literature.; Psychology in literature.
Description: Taking an innovative approach to criticism, Reading Mansfield and Metaphors of Form demonstrates how Mansfield's stylistic practice both embodies and conveys her analysis of social and psychological trauma through a "metaphoric" use of literary form. New argues that the stories are neither simple vehicles for conveying emotional states nor neutral representations of moments in time but carefully crafted models, or correlatives, of social and psychological conditions of understanding.

He elucidates a number of formal strategies, such as sequence, reversal, negation, repetition, deferral, and reconstruction, and then applies them to a wide range of Mansfield's stories, including such favorites as "Prelude," "The Voyage," "The Little Governess," and "Je ne parle pas francais."
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [195]-203) and index.