Something Childish, and other stories, by Katherine Mansfield

Most of the stories and sketches in this collection were written in the years between the publication of Katherine Mansfield’s first book, “In a German Pension,” in 1911 and the publication of her second, “Bliss and other Stories,” in 1920. There are a few exceptions. The first story, The Tiredness of Rosabel, was written in 1908 when Katherine Mansfield was nineteen years old, and the three stories following also were written before “In a German Pension” was published: while Sixpence and Poison were written after Bliss had appeared. Sixpence was excluded from “The Garden–Party and Other Stories” by Katherine Mansfield because she thought it “sentimental”; Poison was excluded because I thought it was not wholly successful. I have since changed my mind: it now seems to me a little masterpiece.

I have no doubt that Katherine Mansfield, were she still alive, would not have suffered some of these stories to appear. When she was urged to allow “In a German Pension” to be republished, she would always reply: “Not now; not yet — not until I have a body of work done and it can be seen in perspective. It is not true of me now: I am not like that any more. When the time for a collected edition comes —” she would end, laughing. The time has come.

The stories are arranged in chronological order.