ISSN 2040-2597 (Online) NNEEWSLETTEREEWSLETTERWSLETTERWSLETTER Issue 12 August 2012 Inside: KMS News and Competition Results Page 2 ‘From the Archives: Trowell Family Photos’ by Chris Mourant Page 3 Announcement: The Edinburgh Edition of the Collected Fiction of Katherine Mansfield and Katherine Mansfield Studies Page 6 ‘The Real Alice’ by Margaret Tait Page 8 Announcement: Registration details for the Crans-Montana Symposium Page 11 ‘For my mother…’ by Jane McCready Page 12 Report: Katherine Mansfield Menton Lecture, Wellington, May 2012 by Sue J Jamieson Page 15 Announcement: KMS Birthday Lecture Page 16 Conference Report: Katherine Mansfield and Continental Europe, Slovakia, June 2012 by Louise Edensor Page 17 CFP: Katherine Mansfield: Masked and Un- masked Page 19 Images from Leslie Beauchamp’s grave by Martin O’Connor Page 20 A photograph of a young Garnet Trowell Books Page 21 Reproduced with kind permission of the King’s College London Archives Announcement: KMS Essay Prize Page 23 Issue 12 August 2012 Page 2 KMS News Welcome to the latest issue of the Katherine Mansfield Society Newsletter, which is so chock-full of goodies that there’s barely enough space to introduce them all! It’s been a hugely exciting few months in KM-world, not least because of the dramatic discovery of new KM material just before a new edition of the stories was due to go to press. We lead with this news, so turn to page 3 to read Chris Mourant’s discussion of some of the material unearthed in the King’s College London Archive (including a collection of Trowell family photographs, kindly reproduced here with the permission of the King’s College Lon- don Archives); you’ll also find more information on how to order the forthcoming Edinburgh Edition of the Collect- ed Fiction of Katherine Mansfield on page 6. There’s more from the archives elsewhere in this issue, which includes two KM-related genealogies—on page 8, Margaret Tait writes about her grandmother Alice Platt, the real-life model for Alice the maid in stories such as ʻPrelude’ and ʻAt the Bay’, while Jane McCready writes about her mother Gill Ageros, who was related to KM on her grandmother’s side (page 12); continuing on the theme of KM’s relatives, on page 20 you’ll find Martin O’Connor’s images from Leslie Beauchamp’s grave in Belgium. What’s more, the KMS recently held another hugely successful conference in Slovakia in June, so turn to page 17 for Louise Edensor’s con- ference report, as well as a selection of images from the event. Congratulations to Janka Kaščáková and her team for putting together such a wonderful few days! KM scholars and fans also gathered in Wellington in May for the Kathe- rine Mansfield Menton Lecture—you can read Sue J Jamieson’s report on page 15. There’ll be more chances to come together and discuss KM’s work in the coming months, and you’ll find information on upcoming conferences in Wellington (page 19) and Crans-Montana (page 11), as well as October’s Birthday Lecture in London (page 16); rounding the issue out, we also have details about the KMS Essay Prize (page 23) and our Books page (page 21), which includes a review of Mansfield with Monsters. As ever, please get in touch with feedback and submissions for the next issue of the KMS Newsletter, which will be published in December—just email the editor at: [email protected] Jenny McDonnell Newsletter Editor COMPETITION Thanks to all who entered our previous competition, which proved to be a real head-scratcher! The question posed by author Linda Lappin was as follows: While at the Prieure, KM was befriended by an eminent Jungian who was to become a pioneer in holistic medicine. Who was that person? The answer we were looking for was Dr James Carruthers Young (or just Dr James Young). Well done to all of the correct entrants, and special congratulations go to our winner Simone Oettli. A copy of the new edition of Linda’s novel Katherine’s Wish will be with you shortly. This issue’s competition ties in with the publication of Mansfield with Monsters by Steam Press, a recently established New Zealand publisher that specialises in speculative fiction. A collaboration between writers Matt and Debbie Cowen and one Katherine Mansfield, this collection rewrites several of Mansfield’s stories to in- clude a range of monstrous transformations and macabre events. The publisher Stephen Minchin has kindly offered a copy of the book as this issue’s competition prize, as well as posing the following question: Which Katherine Mansfield line is most open to monstrous misinterpretation? To get the ball rolling, here’s one of my choices, from ‘Je ne parle pas français’: ‘I’d rather like to dine with her. Even to sleep with her afterwards. Would she be pale like that all over? But no. She’d have large moles. They go with that kind of skin. And I can’t bear them. They remind me somehow, disgustingly, of mush- rooms.’ To be in with a chance of winning, please send your suggestions for monstrous Mansfield lines to the editor: [email protected] The winning entry will be announced in the next issue of the KMS Newsletter. Published by the Katherine Mansfield Society, Bath, England Issue 12 August 2012 Page 3 From the Archives: Trowell Family Photos Photographs reproduced with kind permission of the King’s College London Archives The following photographs of Arnold and Garnet Trowell were found in the King’s College Lon- don Archives in the collection for ADAM International Review, a literary magazine edited by Miron Grindea. The photographs were given to Grindea in August 1973 by Oliver Trowell (son of Arnold) along with photocopied manuscripts of four song-poems by Katherine Mansfield dat- ed 1908. This material was acquired in preparation for a special issue of ADAM commemorating fifty years since Mansfield’s death. Grindea was particularly interested in Mansfield’s relation to music; in a let- ter to Ida Baker also sent in August 1973, he notes that ‘most K.M. enthusiasts would like to know more about the role music played during her formative years […] I very much doubt whether even Alpers’ enlarged version of his biography will deal satisfactorily with this vital as- pect.’ Grindea sought to learn more about the Trowell twins in order to fill this per- ceived gap in Mansfield’s biography and he collected various documents such as newspaper articles and concert pro- grammes to support this research. The photographs of the Trowell twins map neatly on to their biographies. Born in 1887, Tom (who became known as Arnold only after moving away from New Zealand) and Garnet were the sons of Thomas Trowell. At their Wellington home on Buller Street, the twins were trained by their father for the professions he had chosen for them: Arnold as cellist and Garnet as violinist. In the family por- trait we can see the twins sat either side of their father. On the right stands Lindley Trowell, the older brother of the twins Trowell family portrait (left to right): who died at the age of 10. Tom (Arnold), Thomas, Garnet, Lindley When the Belgian cellist Jean Gér- ardy toured New Zealand in 1901, he was so struck with Arnold’s talent that he gave him some lessons and strongly urged that he be sent to Europe to continue his studies. In 1903 the Trowell twins travelled to Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany, Garnet to study under Hugo Heermann and Arnold under Hugo Becker. In the group photograph of musicians (overleaf), taken at Frankfurt- am-Main and dated 1903, Heermann can be seen on the far left, Garnet Trowell second from the left and Becker on the far right. Issue 12 August 2012 Page 4 Frankfurt-am-Main, 1903 (left to right): Hugo Heermann (first), Garnet Trowell (second), Hugo Becker (fourth) After studying in Frankfurt, the twins proceeded to Brussels to study for three years at the Conservatoire. The portrait of a young Arnold Trowell is dated July 1905 and shows him as a student in Brussels. By 1907, Arnold had won the first prize for cello at the Conservatoire and had made his public début in Brussels to great critical acclaim. A newspaper article in New Zea- land reported how Arnold had ‘acquired honours in the musical world such as no native of the colony has previously touched, and has been hailed as “the magician of the ‘cello” by the Bel- gium press, which augurs a triumphal musical career wherever he and his ‘cello may wander.’ In 1907, the twins moved to England to join their family, who had relocated to St. John’s Wood in London. Mansfield fell in love with Arnold Trowell in 1902. She dreamed of becoming a musician and learned to play the cello. After the twins left New Zealand, Mansfield continued to visit the Trowell household in order to play compositions for piano trio sent by Arnold back home to his father. In a supplement to the New Zealand Herald (Saturday February 3, 1923), Millie A. Parker recalled how she would play piano, Mans- field cello and Thomas Trowell violin in weekly sessions that con- tinued between her and Mansfield even when the Trowell family relocated to England: ‘I think of her dressed in brown, for she had a fancy to play in a frock that “toned” with the ‘cello, as though with a de- sire to merge herself with the instrument and that indeed was an understanding characteristic of her clever playing.’ Parker also recalled how Mansfield would bring flowers to their practice sessions every week and how they would spend time nam- ing each: a ‘great rich brown satin’ tulip and ‘a smart little scarlet bud, thin and perky’ were named ‘Dignity and Impudence’.