Novels and Novelists
Introductory Note
Introductory Note
From April 1919 to December 1920 Katherine Mansfield regularly reviewed fiction for The Athenœum, giving up only when incapacitated by illness.
Her reviews are here printed in chronological order, since any other arrangement would make meaningless her not infrequent allusions to books previously reviewed, or to her previous reviews of books.
For this reason the attempt to make a selection from them has been abandoned. Taken all together, they form a body of criticism unique in its kind. It is to be regretted that accidents of publication, or editorial necessities, prevented her from giving her opinion on certain eminent novelists. The most notable omissions are H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennett and D. H. Lawrence. In order to give some record at least of her admiration for the work of D. H. Lawrence, a little note pencilled in her copy of Aaron's Rod, but not intended for publication, has been included.
J. M. M.