Strange Bliss

This is an exemplary collection of Mansfield's stories, including 'big' tales like 'Prelude', 'At the Bay' and (my favourite) 'Bliss'. Some are concerned with girl children, others with adult women but what they share are Mansfield's interest in small but illuminating moments in a life.

There are places where Mansfield is very visual in her style - the floating fruit bowl in 'Bliss' and the silver dress. At others, she concentrates on the tensions between how people, often women, look and behave socially and what is running through their heads and hearts - 'Psychology' is a good example of the latter.

The events in these tales are often small, almost inconsequential in some cases, but Mansfield squeezes out their significance with consummate ease. There's a wry humour here along with compassion and a relentless gaze, and her attention is to class as well as gender. There's nothing big and dramatic here, but these tales linger well beyond their page footprint. A good starting place if you haven't read Mansfield before.

What a pleasant surprise Katherine Mansfield's collection of short stories is. Strange Bliss is made of a handful of short stories focused mainly on different aspects of women's lives, from the anticipatory stage of a woman interacting with a friend with potential to be more than friends, a housewife discovering her husband's adultery, or a household of three generations of women, among others. First off, I think it's best to address the elephant in the room - some lines and word choices have aged poorly, especially those pertaining to race, but what can one expect from literature from the early 1900s by a white woman. If that's something that you are able to look beyond, Strange Bliss is a real treat in women's literature, searingly honest and raising discussions that are incredibly relevant in the modern day, sometimes even more so. In particular, the thoughts and mental state of Linda, a housewife and mother who appears in the first and last story, is so gripping because her feelings about marriage and motherhood touches upon sentiments that are so rarely talked about openly and typically only ever acknowledged with shame - the resentment of a housewife towards both her husband and her children for being forced by society into a life she never wanted. In addition to the incredibly relevant commentary on womanhood, the writing is impeccable, with equal measures of delightful descriptions and good humor.

How delicious to revisit these stories from the pen of New Zealand's greatest short story writer. Her writing, at its best, is a masterclass in 'showing, not telling', a process writers of today are encouraged to follow. For Mansfield it was probably as natural as breathing; it was all about her acute powers of observation and imagination; memory as well. And of course finding the exactly the right words and arranging them exactly the right way!
For me, a New Zealander raised in a small farming town more than 60 years after Mansfield was a child raised in a similar environment, one of her earlier stories "Prelude" (more of a novella than a short story) and one of her last stories "At The Bay" capture my memories so vividly it is astonishing. Of course the horses and carts of her childhood were trucks in mine, but the sheep are the same, the sheepdogs are the same (sheep and dogs are as acutely understood as people), the baby of the family being left behind are the same (poor little Lottie), and the holiday at the bach (beach bungalow) are the same.

Mansfield's life, tragically so very short, did not lack in richness(!)—it is mind-blowing to even read a list of the lovers, intimates, famous and infamous people she could call her friends (and indeed family), and exotic places she lived. Yet she found time to write herself into history, mostly in a short 5 year period before she died of TB, aged only 34 in January 1922. Her last years were lived in France, not New Zealand, an old-fashioned country that she not surprisingly outgrew very quickly, but which never-the-less seemed to, at some level, hold a special place in her heart.

If you haven't yet read a Katherine Mansfield story, this is a lovely collection with which to start. If you are a writer, whether of long or short fiction, reading these stories is better than any masterclass in writing you could possibly find.

And for those readers who have in mind a trip to NZ one day, if you go into the country, stay on a farm, and rent a cheap basic bach on one of our less touristy old-fashioned beaches! You'll probably find an old dog-eared copy of Katherine Mansfield short stories in the bookcase!

There are 6 short stories here from the New Zealand modernist writer, Katherine Mansfield, at home within the short story format that she makes her own. They are, however, of their time and place, with the social norms and attitudes that prevailed, particularly regarding race and women. The writing is artistic and sublime, as she flits between the light and shadows of the characters, brimming with social and psychological insights, casting her perceptive and observant eye on the subtly nuanced nature of relationships, identity, friendships, nature and the environment, family, marriage, children and women. There is joy, humour, sensitivity, compassion, loneliness and heartbreak, a piercing examination of the intimate, class and privilege, human fallibilities, the hidden depths of the self, loyalties, the yearnings and desires, and the limitations that women chafe at.

The first and last stories, Prelude and At the Bay, feature the same family, beginning with their house move to a more rural area, with 3 generations of women, Linda Burnell is married to Stanley, and whilst she has children, she does not love them and is not close to them, bubbling beneath the veneer are thoughts of the prison that family and marriage can be, condemned to the debilitating process of continuous childbirths, a fate from which there is no escape. There is the dissatisfaction of Beryl, wanting a lover who can see in her what others cannot, but the lover that appears is far from ideal. When Stanley leaves for work, there is a collective sigh of relief from all the women, including Alice, they are now free to be themselves, unburdened, and do what they want. These 2 stories are the longest in the collection, and probably my favourites.

The other stories are significantly shorter, the stilted and limited lives of Constantia and Josephine in The Daughters of the Late Colonel, and the young Pearl Button happily goes off with the 'dark' women, until the little blue men appear. In Psychology, the seemingly perfect relationship between a man and woman turns out not to be so, Bliss outlines 30 year old Bertha's inexplicable feelings of connection to Miss Pearl Fulton, a woman her husband dislikes, but is everything as it appears? These are exquisite stories to savour, vibrant and astute, with wonderful imagery, and if you have never read Katherine Mansfield before, this collection is a great place to start. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

What’s there it say? Mansfield is a gem and the writing here is superb. Very glad to have read this to share with my library customers

I’ve wanted to read Katherine Mansfield’s short stories for a long while and was very happy to receive advance copy of Pushkin Press new collection, Strange Bliss.

There are six stories in the collection, all beautifully observed and nuanced. The stories reflect social attitudes of the times (early 1900s), dealing with race, class and especially with limits placed on women. Mansfield’s women yearn for freedom, love or just being seen for themselves. The first (and the longest story), Prelude and the last, At the Bay focus on the same family, the Burnells, first moving to a new house, later on holiday. They are wonderfully evocative of time and place and I do wander whether Mansfield would have worked them into a longer episodic novel had she not died young. Sisters Linda and Beryl are the central characters, one exhausted by four childbirths feels imprisoned while the other fears she will become an old maid for lack of opportunity to meet anyone. Two sisters also feature in another story, The Daughters of the Colonel. Having spent all their lives under the roof of their strong-willed father, they are completely lost when he dies. I also particularly liked Bliss, where Bertha’s seemingly perfect marriage is revealed as anything but over the course of a dinner party.

I loved the stories and thought this new collection a great introduction to Katherine Mansfield’s writing. Highly recommended.

My thanks to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Strange Bliss.

This is such a wonderful collection of stories about women, relationships between women, sisterhood and girlhood. Katherine Mansfield is an underrated author and this collection is a great place to start if you're new to her writing. There are long stories and short stories, familiar characters and new. It's a quick, elegant read.

I loved the six stories and thought this new collection a great introduction to Katherine Mansfield’s writing. Highly recommended.

There are 6 short stories in this collection first published 1912-22 set either in New Zealand or London. Mansfield writes wonderful characters who on the surface seem to be happy and living their lives in socially accepted ways and then she gives us a glimpse into their inner selves putting everything else into question. Beautifully observed stories of children playing, women as friends or family or lovers and wondering on what else could be possible. My favourite here would be “Psychology”. A woman meets her lover (maybe he’s not her lover yet) and ponders all the complications and fallout from that relationship developing. “Bliss” is almost a drug induced dream. Is Bertha really as happy as she seems to be or is there something more she’s craving? There’s also the gentle satire of the bohemian lifestyle in the dinner guests. A lovely little collection from this great short story writer.

Strange Bliss is a collection of short stories about the solitude and internal monologues of women living in the 1900s. The stories describe the suppressed states of women and how they go about navigating their thoughts, emotions and relationships through it. The most intriguing aspect of these stories for me was the slightly sinister nature of the women portrayed in each of the story. Katherine Mansfield very tactfully manages to showcase the dark interiors of a life which otherwise appears to be rosy and happy on the outside. Each story according to me seemed loosely interconnect which also kept me hooked throughout. The author has covered a vast array of topics ranging from motherhood, love, marriage and old age told from a perspective that was not entirely expected from women living in that era, at least according to me.

Definitely a must read!

Mansfield's stories are written in a highly aesthetic manner and are rich with depth and melancholy; the imagery and the descriptions of nature, as well as the acute observations of human nature makes for an amazing short story collection, one that I will definitely read again.

I love this book. The stories were smart, funny, and full of rich, vivid characters that stayed with me long after I had finished reading it. I would highly recommend it and, indeed, will be buying it for all of my friends as soon as I can.

4★
“What can you do if you are thirty and, turning the corner of your own street, you are overcome, suddenly, by a feeling of bliss—absolute bliss!—as though you’d suddenly swallowed a bright piece of that late afternoon sun and it burned in your bosom, sending out a little shower of sparks into every particle, into every finger and toe?...

Oh, is there no way you can express it without being ‘drunk and disorderly’? How idiotic civilization is!

Why be given a body if you have to keep it shut up in a case like a rare, rare fiddle?”

Ah, thirty! Bertha is thirty and feeling on top of the world. She’s preparing for a small dinner party, making everything perfect. She pushes her way into the nursery and fairly snatches up her baby for an impulsive cuddle, annoying the nanny’s supper routine.

Katherine Mansfield has strong opinions about privilege and the self-centred attitudes of the wealthy. This particular young wife is riding for a fall, as the saying goes, and it’s rather satisfying to watch her build herself up beforehand. But I have to admit to some pangs of sympathy later.

This is from the title story, ‘Bliss’. There are six stories in the collection, and when I found that a couple felt familiar, I thought to check one of the first e-books I bought, which was a collection of Mansfield’s short stories. Sure enough, there they were. I had no idea they’d made enough of an impression on me, but they had.

I won’t attempt to itemise them. They all take place in the early 1900s, when people with money travelled by horse-drawn carriages and had servants. Mansfield does not poke fun at them, rather, she reveals their underlying insecurity and discomfort. She makes you want to shake the characters and tell them to wake up!

The story ‘Psychology’ is so poignant it made me squirm with frustration.

“When she opened the door and saw him standing there she was more pleased than ever before, and he, too, as he followed her into the studio, seemed very very happy to have come.”

That’s promising, right? She says she’s not busy, in fact, she’s just about to have some tea and invites him in to join her. Meanwhile, we hear each of them thinking to themselves how fond they are of each other. But what do they do? They talk about nothing, then books, then silence, then some current event, then silence.

It is beyond awkward – it is nerve-rackingly tender.

“There was another way for them to speak to each other, and in the new way he wanted to murmur: ‘Do you feel this too? Do you understand it at all?’ . . . Instead, to his horror, he heard himself say: ‘I must be off; I’m meeting Brand at six.’ What devil made him say that instead of the other?”

Yes, and what makes her answer and say he must hurry or he will be late?

“‘You’ve hurt me; you’ve hurt me! We’ve failed!’ said her secret self while she handed him his hat and stick, smiling gaily.”

A Mansfield story can appear to be a simple comedy of manners, but there is always something more. Sometimes it’s obvious, as in the example above where we hear the characters’ thoughts, but often it’s the irony in how her people behave in the situations she puts them in. There is some laugh-aloud humour, too - it's not just dry ‘literature’.

The characters and the settings may be dated, but the humanity is universal. Well worth a read. Thanks to Pushkin Press for publishing this collection and to NetGalley for the copy for review.

Included in this new compilation of Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) works are stories where women are at the center. These 6 stories were previously published between 1910 and 1922, one of which, Prelude, was published by Hogarth Press, owned and operated by Virginia Woolf, who was a great friend and competitor of Mansfield; Woolf said of Mansfield, "The only writing I have ever been jealous of"
Mansfield, born in New Zealand, was a high-ranking Modernist, as well as a master crafter of the short story with Chekhov’s influence being felt.
These stories reflect the literary rule breaking that was happening as writers who had lived during the Victorian period were facing fast-paced changes in the world around them with industrialization, technological advancement, and eventually, two world wars.
Two of these stories, Prelude and At the Bay are connected in that they both involve the same family and were inspired by Mansfield’s childhood in New Zealand.
Reading these stories can feel awkward in the beginning because Modernist work is much different from anything being written today, and the societal standards and mores are, of course, very different; therefore, the reader might want to do a little preparatory reading/research before delving in so as to not be caught off guard and to better appreciate the intent of Modernism.
I did feel, and rather enjoyed, the story Psychology, in that even today, some nearly 100 years later, men and women still have conversations with each other out loud and in their thoughts.
#StrangeBliss #NetGalley
Thank you, Pushkin Press and NetGalley for an ebook version in exchange for my honest review.

'Katherine Mansfield's life straddled the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
She is credited along with James Joyce as a creator of the modern short story. and was something of a rival of Virginia Woolf The New Zealand-born Englishwoman embraced a Bohemian lifestyle and became involved in a series of scandalous relationships, which greatly influenced some of her most significant work.' Her stories suggest someone writing in a vastly different era, one which makes some younger readers find intolerable and unreadable. What is clear to this older reader is that the best way to deal with the disturbing limitations of past norms is to listen to those who lived there and pushed the boundaries. This is a new collection of Mansfield's stories centered on relationships between women and girls in a male dominated era. Enjoy and be enlightened!

The six stories in this collection from Katherine Mansfield were written between 1912 and 1922 and demonstrate her ear for and understanding of domestic relationships and (dis)harmonies. All of the characters appear dissatisfied with their lives in some way though, possibly because it was the early 20th century, no one was yet acting out. In “The Daughters of the Late Colonel,” on the death of their tyrannical father, two women are belatedly seeming to realize that they have missed out on a life. In the bookend stories, “Prelude” and “At the Bay,” the characters are searching for something other. A mother finds she has no feelings for her children and wishes her husband to be the romantic he used to be. Her husband, meanwhile, has become a man obsessed with accomplishments but not happy with anything.

Mansfield exposes some misogyny, racism, sexism, paternalistic attitudes of her time (and some still present in our time) in very well written stories that have also aged well. I recommend this book to short story readers.



A copy of this book was provided by Pushkin Press through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Mansfield is such an incredible author and this collection is organized to show the best of her. I really liked the focus on relationships between women. Wonderful. Necessary.