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  • Published: 2 August 2010
  • ISBN: 9781742287331
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
Categories:

Katherine Mansfield: Story-teller




'I was jealous of her writing – the only writing I have been jealous of.'
—Virginia Woolf
Widely acknowledged as New Zealand's finest writer, Katherine Mansfield holds a special place in the hearts of New Zealanders. A new biography is a significant literary event.
Katherine Mansfield: The Story-teller is the first new biography of Mansfield for a quarter of a century. It is published at a time when interest in Mansfield and her work is increasing throughout the world.
Kathleen Jones gives a vivid portrayal of Mansfield, correcting previous misinterpretations of her illnesses and relationships, and weaving a compelling drama from the detail. The story extends further still, beyond Mansfield's death in 1923, to include the subsequent life of her husband, John Middleton Murry, shedding fascinating new light on the way Murry controversially manipulated the publication of some of Mansfield's unpublished work.
Drawing astutely on Mansfield's own letters and journals, biographer Kathleen Jones, using the present tense throughout, has crafted a text unusually sparkling and intimate, providing a new kind of picture of this brilliant, original yet fragile writer.
This is a major work, and a worthy addition to our understanding and appreciation of New Zealand's greatest writer.

  • Published: 2 August 2010
  • ISBN: 9781742287331
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
Categories:

About the author

Kathleen Jones

Raised on a farm in the English Lakes District, Kathleen Jones went on to study law and English literature at university, before specialising in early women writers. She then spent several years in Africa and the Middle East – where she worked in English broadcasting – before returning to Europe. Her published work includes radio journalism, articles for magazines and newspapers, short fiction and eleven books – a mixture of biography, general non-fiction and two poetry collections.

Her other biographies include: A Glorious Fame (1988), the life of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle; Learning not to be First (1991), a life of the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti, which was Doris Lessing's 'book of the year'; A Passionate Sisterhood (1997), an account of the lives of the women who lived with the 'lake poets', described as 'a fascinating, marvellous, utterly absorbing book' (Sue Limb, Independent on Sunday); and a biography of  Catherine Cookson (1999).

Kathleen has taught creative writing in a number of colleges and universities and is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. She divides her time between England, Italy and New Zealand. www.kathleenjones.co.uk