The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglomerate Network and LitHub Radio.

Hello. She was born in 1888. The same year as T.S. Eliot and Fernando Pessoa.

Six years after James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, who later became her friend and rival.

And about a decade or so before, fellow short storywriters like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway,

and William Fockner. Unlike any of those others, she was born in New Zealand, although she left that country for good at the age of 19.

She wanted to be a writer, a great one, and in fact she did just that, overcoming a chaotic life and a tragically early death to become famous in her day and to help change the course of literary history.

Her writing, Virginia Woolf said in her diary was, quote, the only writing I have ever been jealous of. Probably we had something in common, which I shall never find in anybody else.

End quote. Her name was Catherine Mansfield, and we will have her story along with a reading of one of her masterpieces today on the History of Literature.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the podcast. I'm Jack Wilson here to be your guide for the day. Catherine Mansfield, a New Zealander.

This is a treat. What a great writer. She was, and what a fascinating life. Term oil.

Sturm on Drong. Let's talk first about the large rock that spins around every day. You probably call it home. We can call it Earth.

It's a giant thing. So big. It seems flat to most of us. Little ants. But we know it's round and we know it's about 24,000 miles in circumference. More or less. Let's begin in the morning. A new day is dawning.

We are in New Zealand, and our dear listener, M, is tuning into the podcast. She writes, good afternoon, Jack.

I am a teenage listener of your podcast from out in We New Zealand, and just wanted to contact you to say how much I enjoy your podcast.

I get a daily dose of Servantes or Wordsworth on the bus ride on the way to school. And I know that listening to you talk about literature has sparked a passion in me to and deepened my appreciation for English.

Also, the podcast has been a very good revising material for English exam essays. As a teenager, I think it is very important for young people like myself to have accessible means to understanding.

And at times, complex topic like literature, you have provided that. So thank you. I hope that in the near future, I get to hear an episode on a New Zealand author.

Mansfield would be a good start. Kindest regards, M. What a wonderful email from M. I'm using her initial instead of her name. What a delight.

I'm so glad to hear that she's been listening and that she enjoys the podcast and that she loves literature is very gratifying.

The day is long for her. It stretches out before her. And I love what I hear about New Zealand and from New Zealand. And I hope the future is bright. Thank you and good luck to you.

M was very thoughtful to wish me a good afternoon because it is indeed afternoon where I am when it's morning for hers afternoon for me.

That's how this planet works as it spins and spins and turns its different faces toward the sun.

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