New anthology of Mansfield’s work

Press, 25 July 1985, Page 17

New anthology of Mansfield’s work

By

MERILYN CHAMBERS

NZPA staff correspondent One of the most recent books of Katherine Mansfield's work to be published internationally, an anthology by Antony Alpers, has received spectacular reviews by British critics. They say it is an outstanding selection of the New Zealander’s writings. "The Stories of Katherine Mansfield," which was made available in New Zealand last year, has been given a reception that even surprised the publisher, Oxford University Press, after its recent release in Britain. Professor Alpers, who completed his second biography of Katherine Mansfield in 1979. was given access to a hoard of manuscripts which were previously unknown yet included drafts of some of her best known stories. His careful research enabled him to establish accurate texts by restoring the original form of the writer’s work. “The Spectator" magazine says. “Professor Alpers’ judgment is sound” and concludes: “His choice of stories, the way in which he has arranged them and his collation of the texts allow

one to follow Mansfield's development more clearly than before." Similarly. “The Times Literary Supplement" review describes his handling of her work as enabling the reader to follow Mansfield's development as an artist to place it in true perspective. The "Sunday Telegraph" reviewed the new collection as “chronologically arranged and scrupulously annotated" to show how Mansfield became master of "the inside voice.” It commented on the earliest pieces in Professor Alpers’ book, which were written in New Zealand when Mansfield was between nine and 20 years old, as "significant for the way in which they are occupied with the subject matter of her best later work." "The Sunday Times." which describes the most prominent features of Mansfield's imaginative w’orld as "gulfs — social, sexual and national," reviews the book as “highlighting (that) Mansfield has a lethal ear for speech. “As this sumptuous, astringent anthology makes clear, rinsing the senses and invigorating the imagination is preciselj- what these stories do.”