Portrait Of - Tumblr Posts

photo by Dmitri Kasterine, James Baldwin, France, 1979

“As a child she was described as having the eyes of a half-tamed creature, being drawn to the unnatural, with a penchant for improvising tempestuous fairy stories.”

— Patti Smith, in her Introduction to Wuthering Heights

Hi Pauline! I just started reading a collection of short stories by Katherine Mansfield, and I was curious as to wether you’ve read any of her work and what your opinion on it is? Thanks :)

I haven’t read her enough for sure, but I have worked on her short stories in literature and translation classes, and I find her very lovely. I think there’s a purity to her style, a sober, clean, harmonious simplicity which ripples like clear-water, yet veils an astounding number of subtile subversions and nimble hints right under the seemingly transparent surface. Yes. And the fluidity. Especially in her ponctuation work and her interweaving of internal narration and free indirect speech. She’s a delight to analyse—her writing makes for long spells of contemplation ; of putting down the book and mulling over what you just read, and what you just experienced.

Bergman Unpublished: Demons (2018) prod. by Marie Nyreröd (x)