'Why haven't I got a real "home"?': Katherine Mansfield's Divided Self

• Published in: Journal of New Zealand literature Vol. 31; no. 31; pp. 66 - 83
• Main Author: Martin, W. Todd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wellington, NZ English Programme, School of Arts, University of Waikato 01.01.2013; Victoria University of Wellington; Victoria University of Wellington, School of English, Film, Theatre, and Media Studies
• Subjects: 1888-1923; Attitudes; Authors; Authors, English; Beryl; Biography; Bourgeois; Children; Desire; Essays; Family relationships; Feminism and literature; History and criticism; Homes; Homes and haunts; Letter writing; Letters; Lifestyle; Mansfield, Katherine; Mansfield, Katherine (1888-1923); Middle class women; Mothers; Psychological aspects; Psychology; Sons; Victorians; Women authors; Women authors, English; Woolf, Virginia (1882-1941); Working women; Works; 1888-1923; New Zealand; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 0112-1227

Katherine Mansfield left Wellington to escape what she perceived as the cultural vacuity so solidly entrenched in the provincial bourgeoisie who peopled the city - especially her family. She returned to London in 1908, where she lived for a time the life of a reckless bohemian, seeking artistic freedom and acceptance among the literati. Unlike her Modern male counterparts, though, the middle-class mentality that she hoped to abandon by fleeing her home included not only religion and politics, but also a prescribed identity for women, namely that any sensible woman sought fulfillment as a wife and mother. Yet, what early on appears to be a clear rejection of her family's middle-class values becomes more ambiguous later in her life. Toward the end of her short life, Mansfield acquiesced to a more conventional existence, even confessing a more traditional view of marriage.