Abstract
In 1923 one of the most famous New Zealander writers of the colonial period Katherine Mansfield died. She had gained renown as a modernist storyteller for her symbolic short stories, in which she displayed her admirable mastery in depicting human feelings and psychological tensions, such as internal conflicts. Born in Wellington in 1888, Katherine Mansfield published her first text at the age of nine. She received her education from 1903 to 1906 at Queen's College, London, and then returned to Wellington, where her father frustrated her musical professional ambitions. Thanks to her lifelong friend Ida Baker, her father at least allowed her to move back to England with a pension at the age of 18. There, she decided to dedicate her entire life to writing and started publishing Chekhov-like short stories. She only suggested the main drama by less remarkable occurrences. Through subtle and delicate descriptions of events of everyday life, she managed to analyze social and psychological trauma on a metaphoric mode.
