1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910823743503321

Autore

New W. H (William Herbert), <1938->

Titolo

Reading Mansfield and metaphors of form [[electronic resource] /] / W.H. New

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Montreal, : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999

ISBN

1-282-85532-8

9786612855320

0-7735-6747-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (238 p.)

Disciplina

823

Soggetti

English literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Preface: Who’s Been Reading Katherine Mansfield? -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on Sources -- Reading Mansfield -- Canon, Colony, and Critical Expectation -- Reading and Writing -- Reading Reading -- In the Act of Writing: Manuscript Practice -- A Catalogue of Forms -- Metaphors of Form -- Reading for Form -- Reiteration: Stories of Static Action -- Overturns: Stories of Deferral -- After and Before: The Epilogues and “Prelude” -- The Art of Reconstruction: Reading “The Escape” -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index -- Permissions

Sommario/riassunto

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 français." Drawing on a range of writings in contemporary



postcolonial, narratological, and gender theory, Reading Mansfield and Metaphors of Form leads to a new appreciation of the implications of Mansfield's formal craft. The book, written in a lively and readily accessible style, is at once an exemplary demonstration of the intricate process of critical reading and an intelligent and innovative reassessment of Mansfield's literary significance.