Katherine Mansfield’s diary, 1916

Now, really, what is it that I do want to write? I ask myself, Am I less of a writer than I used to be? Is the need to write less urgent? Does it still seem as…

I have written practically nothing yet, and now again the time is getting short. There is noth- ing done. I am no nearer my achievement than I was two months ago,…

1 begin to think of an unfinished memory which has been with me for years. It is a very good story if only I can tell it right, and it is called " Lena." It plays…

I have broken the silence. It took long. Did I fail you when I sat reading? Oh, bear with me a little. I will be better. I will do all, all that we would wish.…

1 found " The Aloe " this morning. And when I had re-read it I knew that I was not quite " right " yesterday. No, dearest, it was not just the spirit. " The Aloe "…

I am sad to-night. Perhaps it is the old forlorn wind. And the thought of you spiritually is not enough to-night. I want you by me. I must get deep down into my…

Jinnie Moore was awfully good at elocution. Was she better than I? I could make the girls cry when I read Dickens in the sewing class, and she couldn't. But then…

Nastasya Filipovna Barashkov (" The Idiot"). Page 7. She is first mentioned by Rogozhin in the train and she is immediately * recognised ' by a man with a red nose…

Our house in Tinakori Road stood far back from the road. It was a big, white-painted square house with a slender pillared verandah and balcony running all the way…

I thought and thought this morning but to not much avail. I can't think why, but my wit seems to be nearly deserting me when I want to get down to earth. I am all…