About the Author

Katherine Mansfield (1888 1923) was a short story writer. John Middleton Murray (1889 1957) was a British writer. Cherry A. Hankin is an editor."

Reviews

The New Zealand-born writer Mansfield (1888-1923) and her husband, Murry, the English editor and literary critic, exchanged hundreds of passionate, probing letters during their tempestuous 11-year relationship. Their correspondence reveals Mansfield's fiercely independent spirit, as well as her intense need for understanding from Murry from the time she met him at the home of a friend in London in 1912 until a few days before her death from tuberculosis in 1923. ``I'm a writer first,'' she tells him. ``You are dearer than anyone in the world to me--but more than anything else--more even than talking or laughing or being happy I want to write.'' Their letters also show that Murry was capable of more love than Mansfield gave him credit for, even during their periods of separation. The last missives find Mansfield at the Gurdjieff Institute in Fontainebleau; there she received hopeful letters from Murry about being reunited. This illuminating volume, collated by the editor of The Letters of John Middleton Murry to Katherine Mansfield , provides a fascinating glimpse into the characters of two people who strove to lead lives free of convention and restraint. (Apr.)