"The Daughters of the Late Colonel" by Katherine Mansfield

"The Daughters of the Late Colonel" by Katherine Mansfield (1921-34 pages)

The Reading Life Katherine Mansfield Project

"The Daughters of the Late Colonel" by Katherine Mansfield (1888 to 1923-New Zealand) was first published in 1921 in The London Mercury.     It was reprinted in a collection of her stories, The Garden Party and Other Stories in 1922.    It is one of her better known stories.

The primary characters in the story are the two adult unmarried daughters of the Colonel, a widower who served in Ceylon where his son Benny still lives.   The story does a brilliant job of capturing the daughters'  feelings about their father, his death and their lives.   It is told from several points of view and does not follow a strict time narrative.    I thought the conversations between the daughters were wonderfully done.    Both daughters come very much alive for us.   The account of the relationship of the maid to the family was very interesting.

This is an excellent example of a modern short story.    

Mel u