The Political Katherine Mansfield

Ideologies that have been superseded by more enduring political discourses and literary figures who have been succeeded by greater authors are frequently relegated to the footnotes of cultural scholarship. But sometimes these lesser-known subjects of literary history, properly attended to, provide unique opportunities for a richer understanding of aesthetic developments. The study of British modernism, in particular, can benefit from a willingness to examine forgotten political-cultural relationships. Indeed, the period's extreme ideological complexity and cross-fertilization has served to mask the important political roles played by less celebrated artists in the formulation of modernist aesthetic doctrine. This is particularly true of Katherine Mansfield.