ISSN 2040-2597 (Online) NNEEWSLETTEREEWSLETTERWSLETTERWSLETTER Issue 13 December 2012 Detail from Katherine Mansfield Memorial, Crans-Montana, Switzerland KATHERINE MANSFIELD CELEBRE ECRIVAIN NEO-ZELANDAISE VECUT ICI EN 1921-22 ET Y ECRIVIT SES OEUVRES LES PLUS CELEBRES / THE CELEBRATED NEW ZEALAND WRITER KATHERINE MANS- FIELD LIVED HERE DURING 1921-22 WHERE SHE WROTE HER MOST FAMOUS STORIES Inside: KMS News and Competition Results ………………………………………………………………………... Page 2 Musical Chairs in Quartet Portrait by Martin Griffiths …………………………………………………….. Page 3 End-of-year Report from KMS Vice-Chair by Janet Wilson …….…………………………………………. Page 5 Katherine Mansfield: Masked and Unmasked Update …………………………………………………….. Page 6 An Interview with Sarah Lang (reprinted from Pikitia Press) ……………………………………………….. Page 7 A Sparrow’s Flight by Lesley Sharpe …………………………………………………………………………. Page 10 Photographs from Katherine Mansfield Society Birthday Lecture 2012 ………………………………….. Page 15 Katherine Mansfield’s Thorndon by Kevin Boon …………………………………………………………… Page 16 KM Comes to Glebe by Helen Rydstrand …………………………………………………………………….. Page 19 Katherine Mansfield’s Other Passion by Norman P. Franke ………………………………………………... Page 20 Report on Katherine Mansfield Symposium, Crans-Montana, Switzerland by Alison Lacivita …………. Page 23 Report on ‘Modernist Moves’ Conference, Brunel University by Susan Reid …………………………….. Page 26 Announcement: The Edinburgh Edition of the Collected Fiction of Katherine Mansfield and Katherine Mansfield Studies ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Page 27 Issue 13 December 2012 Page 2 KMS News Welcome to the thirteenth issue of the KMS Newsletter, which also marks our 4th anniversary! To cele- brate, we’ve put together our biggest collection yet of articles, reviews and reports, including an end-of- year update from KMS Vice-Chair Janet Wilson on page 5, which gives an overview of an eventful year for the KMS. Last issue, we covered one of the year’s most exciting developments—the discovery of pre- viously unknown KM stories—and this time round we’re following up on the Trowell family photos that were discovered alongside KM’s stories. Turn to page 3 to read Martin Griffiths’ response to Chris Mourant’s article from the August issue, which adds further intrigue to the matter. On page 20, you can also read Norman P. Franke’s account of Martin’s September concert on the theme of Katherine Mans- field, Cellist, performed in Hamilton, while Helen Rydstrand offers her thoughts on a different KM- inspired performance on page 19—Rosanna Easton’s revival of The Case of Katherine Mansfield at the Sydney Fringe Festival in September. KM continued to provide inspiration for scholars and creative art- ists at a number of KMS events in the last few months, most recently the Third Annual Birthday Lecture, which was held on 14th October in London; turn to page 10 for KMS member Lesley Sharpe’s imagina- tive response to the day’s proceedings, and check out some photos from the day itself on page 15. In Sep- tember, the second KM conference of the year—this time organised by Simone Oettli—was held in the glorious surroundings of Crans-Montana, Switzerland, a full account of which by Alison Lacivita can be found on page 23. Looking ahead to 2013, there will be another opportunity to gather to discuss KM’s writing at ‘Katherine Mansfield: Masked and Unmasked’, a major conference to be held in Wellington in February 2013. The latest update on proceedings can be found on page 6. In addition, you can read Kevin Boon’s account of one of the routes of his KM walks on page 16, and start looking forward to following a similar trail during the conference itself! What’s more, KM continues to make a strong showing at other conferences too, as evidenced by Susan Reid’s report on the ‘Modernist Moves’ conference on page 26. Finally, for something completely different, check out the interview with novelist and cartoonist Sarah Laing on page 7 (reprinted from the website of Pikitia Press), as she looks ahead to her planned graphic novel on KM. And if that’s not enough reading for you, check out the ad for The Edinburgh Edition of the Collected Fiction of Katherine Mansfield edited by Gerri Kimber and Vincent O’Sullivan on page 27— that should keep you busy till the next issue of the KMS Newsletter! Don’t forget to email the editor with feedback and submissions for the April issue of the KMS Newsletter at [email protected]—in the meantime, happy reading! Jenny McDonnell Newsletter Editor COMPETITION Last issue, we offered you a chance to win a copy of Mansfield with Monsters, Matt and Debbie Cowen’s mon- strous rewrites of KM’s short stories published by Steam Press and recently named as one of the New Zealand Listener’s Top 100 books of the year! Thanks to all who entered with their responses to the question posed by Steam Press publisher Stephen Minchin: Which Katherine Mansfield line is most open to monstrous misinterpretation? Congratulations to the winner Rachel Bernard, who offered the following selection from KM’s Journal: ‘L.M. is also exceedingly fond of bananas. But she eats them so slowly, so terribly slowly. And they know it―somehow; they realise what is in store for them when she reaches out her hand. I have seen bananas turn absolutely livid with terror on her plate―or pale as ashes’. Your prize is on it way! This time round, we’re offering you a chance to win a copy of Martin Griffiths’ cd Music by Arnold Trowell 1887-1996. To be in with a chance, simply answer the following question, set by Martin himself: Who was Katherine Mansfield’s cello teacher in New Zealand? Please email your answer to the editor at: [email protected] Closing date: 31st March 2013 Published by the Katherine Mansfield Society, Bath, England Issue 13 December 2012 Page 3 Musical Chairs in Quartet Portrait Chris Mourant is to be congratulated on unearthing photos and documents relating to Kathe- rine Mansfield and the Trowell family at King’s College in London as detailed in his article ‘FromThe Archives: Trowell Family Photos’ in the KMS Newsletter, Issue 12, August 2012. While several of these images are duplicated in the Alexander Turnbull Library in Welling- ton (PA1-q-983 and PA1-q- 984) some are viewable for the first time and Mourant correctly identifies the Trowell twins and other family members. However, he is probably mistaken regarding the persons in the photo of the string quartet reproduced on page 4. With the ex- ception of Garnet, the other musicians remain unidentified. The Frankfurt Quartet Photograph courtesy of die Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany Ref: S36_F03768 If Hugo Becker and Hugo Heerman are in the photograph as Mourant contends, they appear to have swapped chairs and instruments: Becker seems to be sitting on the left with a violin (he was a cellist), and Heermann has a cello on the right. (See the photo of the Frankfurt Quartet above.) Why would these artists play musical chairs for the camera? Given that the image may be a souvenir with Garnet posing for the real second violinist one should not be surprised if the others decided to join the charade. After all the Belgian Jean Gerardy (who was, like Arnold Trowell, a cellist and favourite of Katherine Mansfield) exchanged seats with George Ellwood for a similar portrait (see the photo overleaf). Issue 13 December 2012 Page 4 Jan van Oordt Jean Gerardy and George Ellwood Van Oordt was teaching assistant to César Thomson Ellwood was a New Zealand cellist and studied with at the Brussels Conservatoire between 1905 and Gerardy from 1911 1906 Photograph courtesy of the Hocken Library, Photograph courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Dunedin. Library, Wellington Alternatively the photo, which Mourant states was taken in 1903, may have been taken in Belgium from 1905 to 1906 or London in 1907-1908. The violinist on the left resembles Jan van Oordt (see above right) who was a close associate of Garnet and an assistant pro- fessor of violin at the Brussels Conservatoire. The cellist may be Francois Bouserez or Ar- nold Godenne, who were both assistants to Edouard Jacobs, Arnold Trowell’s teacher at the same institution. Unfortunately without portraits of either, it is impossible to make a posi- tive identification at this stage. The Turnbull Library has a variation of this photograph without the unidentified man stand- ing in the background. In my estimation this man, who has a knowing smirk on his face, is the most intriguing figure of them all. Was he the real fourth member of the quartet whose seat Garnet has temporarily taken or just the photographer? Given the male-dominated mu- sic world in Europe, then and now, it is intriguing also to postulate on the identity of the woman playing the viola. Martin Griffiths Hamilton, New Zealand Issue 13 December 2012 Page 5 End-of-year report from KMS Vice-Chair This has been an outstanding year for the KMS and for Mansfield studies in particular, with two KMS international continental conferences, one held at Ruzomberok in Slovakia in June (organised by KMS member Dr Janka Kaščáková) and another at Crans-Montana in Switzerland in September (organised by another KMS member Dr Simone Oettli). I also presented on Mansfield at the ‘Modernism, Christianity and the Apocalypse’ Conference held in Bergen, Norway in late July. There were TWO panels of papers on Mansfield at the ‘Editing Modernism in Canada’ Colloquium on ‘The Exile’s Return’ held at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and a Mansfield presence at the inaugural conference of the New Zealand Studies Network (UK and Ireland) held at Birkbeck in early July, with papers by Gerri Kimber and Aimee Gasston, a doctoral student at Birkbeck. What is exciting is to hear the work of the new and emerging scholars like Aimee and Elizabeth Welsh, who spoke at the Paris conference, and who are moving into quite new areas in their research.