Book Description

Katherine Mansfield's contemporaries knew her primarily as a contributor to magazines and periodicals. In 1922, for instance, Wyndham Lewis described her as âe~the famous New Zealand Mag.-story writer. This book provides the first in-depth study of Mansfield's engagement in periodical culture, examining her contributions to the political weekly The New Age, the avant-garde little magazine Rhythm and the literary journal The Athenaeum. Reading these writings against the editorial strategies and professional cultures of each periodical, Chris Mourant situates Mansfieldâe(tm)s work within networks of production and uncovers the many ways in which she engaged with the writings of others and responded to the political, aesthetic and social contexts of early twentieth-century periodical culture. By examining Mansfieldâe(tm)s ambivalent position as a colonial woman writer working both within and against the London literary establishment, in particular, this book provides a new perspective on Mansfield as a âe~colonial-metropolitan modernistâe(tm) and proto-postcolonial writer. Key Features Foregrounds the original material contexts in which Mansfield produced the majority of her work, emphasising a dialogic or âe~conversationalâe(tm) model for modernism Interrogates Mansfieldâe(tm)s ambivalent self-positioning within English literary circles as a âe~colonial-metropolitan modernistâe(tm) and âe~outsiderâe(tm) Integrates ideas of the recent âe~transnational turnâe(tm) across literary studies into the field of periodical scholarship Examines new archival findings