Interview with Katherine Mansfield Entertainment Tonight

L:   Well hello Ms. Katherine Mansfield. Just let me say what an honor it is to meet you! You are a very phenomenal writer in the Imperialism Era. I’m so glad that you took the time out to answer some questions, and give us more knowledge and information about you!

K: Well it’s a great honor and a privilege to talk to you, I mean really it is!

L: So Katherine tell me, What events in your life made you get so interested in the arts?

K: Hmm…that’s a nice question. Well I feel when I was younger I just fancied the love of writing. I wrote in my journal a lot and just wrote about how I felt alienated to some extent in New Zealand. I played on the cello for a while. But even though I stopped, I returned to playing it once more.

L: Very interesting! So what role did mentors play in helping you develop the interests and talents you have as an artist?

K: Well I remember in my college years playing the cello again and working with the newspaper. I had many mentors or as you say role models that help me develop where I am today. Like, the works of Oscar Wilde. He was a very great English writer indeed. I guess you could say he showed me the gateway to wonderful writing. He very much inspired me to write with his English text and very well written words that caught my eye.

L: Wonderful, wonderful, so what was the world of art like in your particular art field when you entered it?

K: The world of writing was rather hard; I had a miscarriage from an affair. I was to marry a man I barely even knew only for about three weeks and I left him the night after. After all the hardship happened I still was able to write. Now when I say this, I mean that the events took me into many directions with my writing. The mood was rather dark because of what happened. But later on the world of my art changed. I soon met John Middleton Murry, the editor of a literary magazine. We had stayed close and wrote a small journal, The Blue Review that folded after only three issues. In 1918 I Had granted a divorce from Bowden, and soon after me and Murry married.

L: Well isn’t that wonderful Katherine. How did the major cultural, economic and political situations of the time impact your work?

K: Well in the Era that I was living in the most difficult thing that happened was when I was getting very ill. I didn’t get much help, and the illness just felt like it was killing me very slowly, this is really what slowed down my career but I kept writing. As of having an illness in this Era, there wasn’t much medical service that I could get. The place that I lived in, in the Imperialism Era was undergoing an unequal economic, political between countries.  This very much affected my work.

L: Wow now that’s very deep Ms. Mansfield.

K: It really was…. but next question please.

L: O yes, you’re very right…um what were your major accomplishments and the methods you used in your art?

K: Well Prelude was my first one, but I truly feel that the major one was The Garden Party. (http://www.amazon.com/) The methods I used were very straightforward in all of my writing. I wanted to tell a story, a story that spoke of sadness, truth, love, but most of all life. I felt that my writing inspired many people because it gave them the true reality of things that I wanted to just put out there.

L: Wow that makes me feel inspired just by listening to you say that Katherine! What key opportunities did you have that led to turning points in your life and in your art?

K: Well I don’t know if you believe me or not but I really feel that when I met Murry my life and my writing just turned around two folds. He gave me the feel of writing was able to try again, you know. When we were working with each other on the journal and other works of writing, I felt that he led me to the path of love. When I was sick and ill he was there to heal my heart and help me write. I continued to love life because of him and continue to work hard as well.

L: That’s very touching! But what personal choices did you make to become successful?

K: I felt that I took a chance by putting my writing out there in the first place because there was a possibility that I would make it or not. I took a chance to love again!

L: What hardships or roadblocks did you have to overcome in order to be an artist?

K: Well I feel like I already said it in the beginning of this interview a few questions ago, but I’m all right in saying it again. I feel that the biggest hardship was becoming pregnant and having a miscarriage. I was just heartbroken you know and also when I got very ill it just slowed me down, but you know what I still was able to go on and write!

L: Amazing Katherine! What kind of limitations did you run into as both an artist and as a person?

K: Well the limitation I had was to pick which magazine or which book to put my ideas, my thoughts and most of all my writing. In the media they can either make you look good, or they can make you look bad. I just went to where I felt would help me be known in a positive way. They always say, there are many opportunities out there to be in, but there are only a few that can really help you in your career. Another one was to of course love again. I knew if I fell in the same hole again my life would never change. I didn’t want to get hurt again and I didn’t want to lose my heart. I wanted to try one more time, in hope of finally getting the right guy, as you children would say these days.

L: Well said if I do say so myself…. but last question Katherine. What personal stories (anecdotes) best illustrate how you became in the arts?

K: Here was a young little girl from New Zealand who wrote out her feelings on paper. A young girl who could play cello and went to a wonderful college, that stirred her into the right direction. But even though this little girl had some obstacles. This young girl became a woman who became a great writer and married a wonderful man named Murry who made my life much better! Her work became known in the world, and gain success. Even after her death, her work still touched many people. This was truly a little story that became a wonderful possibility!

L: Ms. Katherine Mansfield that was a wonderful interview and an engaging talk. I really apprentice you coming out tonight.

K: I enjoyed every moment with you my darling.

            Bibliography

Mansfield , Katherine. The Garden Party. 1922. Print.

N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kmansfi.htm>.

"Amazon." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://www.amazon.com/>.

N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://www.katherinemansfield.com/mansfield/>.

"Today in Literature." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://www.todayinliterature.com/biography/katherine.mansfield.asp>.

"MAORILAND: NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE 1872–1914." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-StaMaor-t1-body-d5.html>.

"A Celebration of Women Writers." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mansfield/bliss/story.html>.

Mansfield , Katherine. Bliss. 1920. Print.

Mansfield , Katherine. The Daughters of the Late Colonel. 1921. Print.

"Encyclopedia: Mansfield, Katherine ." Web. <http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/MansfielK>.