Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Monday, February 20, 2017

"How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped" by Katherine Mansfield (1910, 2nd Reading)

Katherine Mansfield on The Reading Life





I last read this story nearly eight years ago.  I am currently reading a brilliant just published book Katherine Mansfield The Early Years by Gerri Kimber which has inspired me to begin rereading her stories, especially those set in New Zealand.  (I will post on this book soon.). My posts on these stories as I reread will be brief.

Pearl Button is a ten year or so old girl, the daughter of New Zealand colonists.  One day while she is out for a stroll two women from a nearby Maori tribe take her with them.  We see how the young girl viewed the women.  Mansfield makes wonderful use of color and close observation to help us see the Maori through the eyes of Pearl.  She has no fear of them and they mean her no harm at all.  At the end of the story the Maori tell her they will take her back to the "box houses".

In just a few pages, Mansfield draws us into Colonial New Zealand.

This story can easily be found online.

Mel u

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