Aspects of imagery in the work of Katherine Mansfield

Abstract

The motivation to this study was my strong interest on recurring images which came up as I read “Bliss”, a short story by New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield. Such repeated images were the color silver, a shower of sparks, and a pear tree in bloom. From the reading, a number of questions came up. What would the images mean? Why would Mansfield choose such symbols and how do they contribute to the story? Are the symbols in the short story related to the author in an autobiographical sense? Such questions led to deeper research on the author’s life and work, which helped shed light on the subject. Surprisingly, a number of elements in the short story and in Mansfield’s life overlapped in a way that invited me into investigating some coincidences that became prominent and should be worth at least some discussion. This study aimed to explore and tentatively explain recurrent symbols in Mansfield’s “Bliss”, as well as if and how they relate to the author’s style. My intention was to describe how such elements appear in the short story, how they are used in the discursive setting, as well as some possible meanings. There was an exploratory reading of the images, based on the book Dictionary of Literary Symbols, by Michael Ferber and on the literature on the subject. As for the data on Mansfield’s life, a research was carried out through the use of autobiographical material by the author. After extensive research on the subject, the initial questions have been answered, at least in part. The images related directly to the text, reinforcing the effect contrived by Mansfield. Moreover, it is possible to see the connections between the person and the author in Mansfield, due to the use of autobiographical information in her works – mostly in an allegorical fashion. However, being that Mansfield never went on record as to the creative process of “Bliss”, one can only appreciate the connections with its protagonist, Bertha.