Product Description

One of Katherine Mansfield's most important works, Prelude established her reputation as a master of short fiction. Accompanied here by its continuation pieces At the Bay and The Doll's House. Foreword by William Boyd.

A large, seemingly loving family, the Burnells lead an idyllic life, with the children free to play at will, and with enough adults on hand to lavish love upon them. Yet alongside this innocent evocation of childhood bliss, another aspect of the household is delicately and unmistakably laid bare as Mansfield exposes the true nature of the family. Pretensions and insecurities rise to the surface in a series of vivid, all too real impressions of domestic life. The result is an exquisite rendering of childhood, memory, and understanding. A key figure in the Modernist movement, Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) is most remarkable for having perfected the art of the short story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1418162 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Review
"An impressively chosen list." -- Simon Schama

From the Publisher
Since its U.S. launch in 2003, Hesperus Press has enjoyed a growing reputation for its inspired selection of short classic works. Written by illustrious authors, and often unjustly neglected or simply little known in the English-speaking world, these works have been made accessible via a completely fresh editorial approach and new translations. Now, in addition to the Hesperus Classics, Hesperus Press is introducing a new series: Modern Voices. Drawing from the very best of 20th-century literature, Modern Voices will retain the exceptional quality of the Hesperus Classics, with a new series look that reflects the more modern nature of the list. Among the first authors will be Carlo Levi, Katherine Mansfield, and Graham Greene, and Hesperus has already secured prominent contemporary writers like Anita Desai, William Boyd, and Colum McCann to introduce the books—again retaining one of the key successes of the Hesperus Classics. Finally,! 2005 heralds the launch of the Hesperus Contemporary series, opening with The Nightingale Papers, the fiction debut of prize-winning biographer David Nokes.

About the Author
A key figure in the Modernist movement, Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) is remarkable for perfecting the form of the short story. Novelist and Scriptwriter William Boyd is the author of A Good Man in Africa and Armadillo, which was adapted for the BBC in 2001. In all, eight of his screenplays have been filmed, including The Trench, which he also directed, in 1999, and Scoop (1987).