Experiments in Narrative: Katherine Mansfield and the Close-up

In the publications dedicated to Katherine Mansfield’s oeuvre, the traces of the cinematic in her narratives and, in particular, the importance of close-up are duly noted. However, despite the fact that the writer’s interest in close-up is earlier than her mature interest in cinema, the discussions do not devote much consideration to the beginnings of the technique visible in Mansfield’s early works. The compara-tive analysis of two stories, i.e., “At ‘Lehmann’s’” and “The Little Governess,” exemplifies, therefore, the development of Mansfield’s close-up technique and, most importantly, describes how exactly the writer develops it. The essay points to the traces of this particular cinematic tool in the writer’s pre-cinematic period and considers Mansfield’s verbal close-ups with a close reading method. The analysis adds to the critical conversations over Mansfield’s cinematic interests and their influence on her narrative technique. It demonstrates how the development of close-up enhances what is to become Mansfield’s central point, i.e., the subject-object relationship, and how it influences the emotional reception of the character