A Cup of Tea

A significant figure in the early modernist literary scene, Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp was born to a middle-class family in 1888 and raised in Wellington, New Zealand, though she also received partial education at Queen’s College in London. Her cherished time spent in England inspired her eventual relocation there in 1908. In 1911, just three years after her move to London, Mansfield published her first collection of stories, In A German Pension, which was based on the time she spent in a German spa town following a miscarriage and the dissolution of her first marriage. Indeed, many of Mansfield’s stories, though seemingly straightforward, delved into theretofore uncharted depths of the human psyche, and she is still celebrated for her thoughtful exploration of class divides, sexuality, gendered power imbalances, and the complexities of interpersonal relationships. In 1919, Mansfield married editor John Middleton Murry, though their marriage was famously tumultuous, and the couple spent most of their time apart. After being diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1917, Mansfield’s health became her primary concern. This led her to travel extensively in search of more favorable climates, and in 1921, she relocated to Switzerland with her friend and rumored lover Ida Baker, seeking respite for her failing health. Even though Mansfield’s final years were largely marked by illness and self-imposed isolation, she produced some of her most renowned work during this period, including “The Garden Party” and “The Doll’s House.” After Mansfield’s tragic passing at 34, Murry posthumously published much of her writing, including short stories, poems, and letters.

As widespread industrialization paved the way for technological and economic advances in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, political and social overhaul inevitably followed. In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to grant women over the age of 21 the right to vote, and by 1903, The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) was formed in the United Kingdom to achieve similar goals. Thus, the suffragette movement in England was born. Banded together beneath the battle cry of sisterhood, these suffragettes engaged in extreme acts of protest and rebellion in the name of gender equality on a legislative scale, spanning from days-long hunger strikes to arson campaigns against their oppressors. At the same time, the UK’s working-class population began vocalizing their own exploitation at the hands of government leaders, highlighting class inequalities and blatant abuses of power by the rich elite. As the modernist literary movement emerged as a direct response to these turbulent events and feelings of social unrest, Rosemary Fell’s supposed belief in “sisterhood” offers a satirical reflection of wealthy English society’s limited understanding of the suffragette movement in the 20th century, where discussions about the intersectionality of class and gender were largely sidelined. Mansfield and other modernist writers frequently employed unreliable narration and satire, delved into themes of human nature and psychology, and used symbolism and stream-of-consciousness techniques to explore and better understand the full complexity of these issues.

Oscar Wilde was one of Mansfield’s foremost literary guides, and she took seriously his advice to risk everything and pour her soul into her craft. In fact, many of Mansfield’s journal entries either address Wilde himself (though he had passed away years earlier) or feature his countless witticisms, as she felt deeply and spiritually connected to the deceased writer, in part due to their shared queer identities. Mansfield held a special reverence for Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray in particular, and she alludes to the novel in her story “The Garden Party.” Virginia Woolf, on the other hand, is often historically portrayed as Mansfield’s literary rival, but their relationship was ultimately one of great complexity and mutual respect. After Mansfield’s death, Woolf is rumored to have compared every novel she would write against the esteemed writing of her former friend and contemporary—though she finally believed she had “beaten” Mansfield upon her completion of Mrs. Dalloway. The legacy of Mansfield’s keen interest in human consciousness and the realistic portrayal of ordinary lives is evident in the works of modernist writers like D. H. Lawrence and Elizabeth Bowen, as well as more contemporary authors like Raymond Carver and Alice Munro.