Mansfield, Katherine (1888-1923), a New Zealand-born author, wrote symbolic short stories about everyday human experiences and inner feelings. She has often been compared to the Russian author Anton Chekhov in her mastery of the forms of short fiction. Many of her stories are studies of childhood, based on her early years in Wellington, New Zealand. Mansfield often used herself and her brother as models for the main characters. Her stories were published in In a German Pension (1911), Prelude (1918), Bliss (1920), and The Garden Party (1927). Her Journal (1927) gives a fascinating picture of her mind and the development of her writing.
Katherine Mansfield was born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp in Wellington on Oct. 14, 1888. She began her literary career after moving to England in 1908. She suffered from tuberculosis and spent much of her life in hospitals and sanitariums. Mansfield died on Jan. 9, 1923.
