‘’God forbid, my darling, that I should be a drag on your happiness.’’

Marriage a la Mode: The loving relationship of a young married couple changes when Isabel falls under the influence of a horrible woman who believes that love is weakness and a hurdle to emancipation. But neglecting your children, desiring riches and servants, and ridiculing your husband by parading your lovers inside the house HE paid for isn’t emancipation. It’s malice and ignorance. If I were William, I’d give her a good piece of my mind...Mansfield’s elegant satire demonstrates everything that is wrong with labels and extremes.

‘’Although it was so brilliantly fine - the blue sky powdered with gold spots of light like white wine splashed over the Jardins Publiques - Miss Brill was glad that she had decided on her fur.’’

Miss Brill: An elderly woman visits the park and watches as life and its ‘’occupants’’ pass her by. Almost imprisoned in her own notions of luxury, propriety and dignity, she fails to notice that the world has changed. A young couple forces her to come to terms with the ‘’modern times’’ that show how respect and politeness have to make way for a ‘’new’’ way of thinking aka. disrespecting everything and everyone.

‘’It seemed to the little crowd on the wharf that she was never going to move again. There she lay, immense, motionless on the grey crinkled water, a loop of smoke above her, an immense flock of gulls screaming and diving after the galley droppings at the stern. You could just see little couples parading - little flies walking up and down the dish on the grey crinkled tablecloth. Other flies clustered and swarmed at the edge. Now there was a gleam of white on the lower deck - the cook’s apron or the stewardess perhaps. Now a tiny black spider raced up the ladder on the bridge.’’

The Stranger: A woman returns to Auckland from Europe. Her husband anxiously awaits for her but all changes when she narrates the tragic death of a stranger in her arms. The green-eyed monster has appeared in a corner of the hotel room and her husband doesn’t seem to ignore it.

Katherine Mansfield’s commentary on relationships, social norms, and the fads of her era is relevant to our modern societies, a time when every kind of proportion, measure and decency has gone down the drain… ( )

It was pure coincidence that I picked No. 72 of Penguin's Little Black Classics out of the box right after finishing No. 48, but it turned out to be a happy pairing. No. 48 is Edith Wharton's “The Reckoning,” and Katherine Mansfield's lonely, dysfunctional characters in the three short stories here – “Marriage a la Mode,” “Miss Brill,” and “The Stranger” -- resonate intriguingly against Wharton's portrayals of women who, while terribly isolated, nevertheless refuse to subside in complete silence. Born about twenty years apart, the women are writing about individuals or couples inhabiting similar milieus, and Mansfield's Miss Brill and Wharton's Mrs. Manstey are particularly alike in the fragile bubbles of little pleasures they have created for themselves. Mansfield's two other stories here offer a starker view of couples hopelessly damaged by selfishness and loss of perspective. Mansfield's Isabel, in “Marriage a la Mode,” is much like Wharton's Julia in “The Reckoning,” but, seen at a different place along her trajectory, appears far less sympathetic (additionally, the dispositions of the women's husbands shows Julia in a softer light). The final story in the Mansfield collection, “The Stranger,” doesn't have a parallel in Wharton's book. It's an interesting story, sad, but also unsettling. ( )

3 short, well written stories that share a bleak and lonely image of age and marriage. ( )

Miss Brill is the perfect introduction to Katherine Mansfield if like me; you’re late to reading her great stories. This Penguin Little Black Classic contains three short stories from The Garden Party and Other Stories, first published in 1922. All three stories (Marriage a la Mode, Miss Brill and The Stranger) have a common theme of loneliness, mis-communication and cross purposes about them. Marriage a la Mode is about a wife who has decided to have a little fun with a set of friends whilst her husband trudges on (I’m thinking the Bloomsbury Set here). Miss Brill dusts off her fur and attends a concert each week, but it’s primarily people watching for her…but what do the other attendees think of her? The Stranger is Mrs Hammond, returning from a long time overseas…Mr Hammond thinks that things will be exactly the same as before she left, won’t they?

The stories reflect personal growth in some characters while other characters languish in the past and memories. The stories are beautifully told, I’m always amazed at how a talented short story writer can fit so much plot, characterisation and detail into so few words. I think Katherine Mansfield is one of the best of them. I’m not normally one for short stories, but these are as well characterised and thought provoking as any novel. Despite being written nearly 100 years ago, the prose feels fresh and the ideas expressed modern.

This was definitely worth the $2 and provides more food for thought than any chocolate bar (chocolate being the same price these days). I’ll happily read more Penguin Little Black Classics as they’re a great read over lunch, while waiting for something or as a break from a longer read.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com ( )