Katherine Mansfield Course 2025

Katherine Mansfield: stories of Life and Death

Live online course
Wednesdays, 14 May to 18 June 2025
6.00 to 8.00 pm British Time

Katherine Mansfield Course with Claire Davison, Karina Jakubowicz, Gerri Kimber, and Trudi Tate

Join us for a second course on Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), one of the greatest short story writers of the twentieth century. Born in New Zealand, Mansfield lived most of her adult life in England and other parts of Europe. She was friends with Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence and other writers of the period. She was deeply interested in Russian literature and did much to promote interest in Chekhov in English in the early twentieth century.

Mansfield was a shrewd observer of human relations and human betrayals. She brought pioneering, wide-ranging creative energies to the art of the short story, showing how this concise form could convey a wealth of ideas and emotion. She is often described as a writer who says much through what is not on the page. How does this work? Her writing, though often simple to read on the surface, conveys a complexity of meanings.

During this course we will explore Mansfield’s life and work via close readings of many of her stories, revealing her innovative writing techniques, and confirming her reputation as one of the most important early twentieth-century writers.

The course is presented by Mansfield scholars Claire Davison (University of the Sorbonne Nouvelle), Karina Jakubowicz (Florida State University), Gerri Kimber (University of Northampton), and Trudi Tate (University of Cambridge). Six sessions, weekly on Wednesdays, 14 May–18 June 2025. 6.00-8.00 pm British Summer Time.