Elizabeth von Arnim and Katherine Mansfield – Literary Connections, Friendships and Influence (July 19-20, 2017)

The poster for the July 2017 "Elizabeth von Arnim and Katherine Mansfield: Literary Connections Friendships, and Influences" conference was inspired by a California orange crate label.

“There is a kind of turn in our sentences which is alike but that is because we are worms of the same family.” (Katherine Mansfield)

From critiques of anti-Semitism in von Arnim’s Mr. Skeffington to narrative “roomlessness” in Katherine Mansfield, the first joint conference between the Elizabeth von Arnim Society and the Katherine Mansfield Society had it all.  Held at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California on the 19 and 20 July 2017 the conference ranged widely in its presentations.

The conference sought to explore the literary connections, friends and influence that the two writers shared.  Attendees traveled from Australia, China, the UK and the USA to share the latest research on these two significant writers.

The conference featured two keynote speakers. On Wednesday, July 19, Bonnie Kime Scott, Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies, San Diego State University and Professor Emerita of English, University of Delaware gave her talk “Tracing Garden Networks: Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth von Arnim, et. al.” And on Thursday, July 20, Christine Froula, Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Gender Studies, Northwestern University, spoke on “Imaginary Gardens with Real Writers in Them: Elizabeth von Arnim, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf.”

The conference attendees were treated to free access to the beautiful and extensive Huntington gardens and a museum exhibit curated by Huntington archivists of the letters exchanged between the two writers.  Many scholars also used the opportunity to view the personal papers of Elizabeth von Arnim in the Countess Russell archives prior to the conference.

The lively conference dinner at the El Portal Restaurant meant that conversations could continue well into the evening and conference attendees could experience beautiful Mexican cuisine.  Other significant attendees were Gayle Richardson, one of the conference organizers and chief Countess Russell archivist who has extensive and intimate knowledge of the archives.

By Rachel Galvin, Elizabeth von Arnim Society Steering Committee member

Conference Programme

Open Full Conference Programme in PDF Format

Wednesday, 19 July 2017:

Huntington Library Ahmanson Room

8:30am Registration

9:00am Introductions and Welcome by the Organisers

9:30am Panel 1: Connections Chair: Todd Martin

  • Cheryl Hindrichs, Boise State University:
    “‘The Fly’ in the Spikenard: Mansfield, Woolf, and Lawrence”
  • Chloe Oram, University of Chichester:
    “Morrell, Mansfield & von Arnim: the Relationship of Three Women to the Bohemian Literary Landscape of the Twentieth Century”
  • Isobel Maddison, University of Cambridge:
    “‘Marriage a la Mode’: von Arnim, Mansfield, and Woolf”

11:00am Break

11:30am Panel 2: Displacement Chair: Isobel Maddison

  • Gerri Kimber, University of Northampton:
    “‘Six-shilling Novels’: Katherine Mansfield and the Short Story Cycle”
  • Ruchi Mundeja, University of Delhi:
    “Rooms Not Quite Their Own: Two Colonial Itinerants, Katherine Mansfield and Jean Rhys, and Narratives of ‘Roomlessness’”
  • Richard Cappuccio, Independent Scholar:
    “‘It’s No Fun Travelling Alone in Germany if You’re a Woman’: Katherine Mansfield’s and Elizabeth von Arnim’s Artists in German Pensions”

1:00pm Lunch

2:00pm Keynote Address Chair: Noreen O’Connor

  • Bonnie Kime Scott, Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies, San Diego State University and Professor Emerita of English, University of Delaware: “Tracing Garden Networks: Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth von Arnim, et. al.”

3:00pm Break

3:30pm Panel 3: Masculinities Chair: Juliane Römhild 

  • Carol M. Chappell, Independent Scholar:
    “Implications of Narcissism in the Works of Elizabeth von Arnim”
  • Elizabeth Floyd, University of California Santa Barbara:
    “The Devil and the Angel: English Masculinity Abroad in Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April and E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India
  • Yvonne Cook,  Independent Scholar:
    “So You Want to be a Silent Film Extra?”

7.00pm Conference dinner: El Portal Restaurant (Vanessa’s Room) 695 E. Green Street, Pasadena

Thursday, 20 July 2017

Huntington Library Ahmanson Room

9:30am Panel 4: Influences • Chair: Yvonne Cook

  • Katie Jones, University of Nottingham: “‘Did you ever read the life of Oscar Wilde?’: Katherine Mansfield and the ‘Wilde’ Influence”
  • Charlotte Fiehn, University of Cambridge: “‘Passionate, magnificent prose’: Tracing the Brontës in the Friendship and Writings of Elizabeth von Arnim and Katherine Mansfield”
  • Rachel Galvin, University of Western Australia: “The Pastor’s Wife: Entrapment, Domestic Violence and Strange Uses of the Gothic”

11:00am Break

11:30am Panel 5: War & Politics • Chair: Rachel Galvin

  • Noreen O’Connor, King’s College: “‘I Like Jews’: Warner Bros. Studio and the Critique of Anti-Semitism in Mr. Skeffington
  • Ann Herndon Marshall, Independent Scholar: “Clover Fields: An Interlude in the Travels of Elizabeth von Arnim, March-April, 1917”
  • Juliane Römhild, La Trobe University: “‘Mein Liebes Kleines’ – the Letters of Elizabeth von Arnim to Beatrix von Hirschberg”

1:00pm Lunch

2:00pm Panel 6: Perspectives • Chair: Tracy Miao

  • Todd Martin, Huntington University: “From Sentimental to Tragic: The Evolving World of Katherine Mansfield’s Children”
  • Tracy Miao, Xi’an International Studies University: “‘Silent Reflex of the Soul’ and Literary Cloaks: ‘Dressing’ Katherine Mansfield and her Characters”
  • Richard Hancuff, Misericordia University: “‘They were all on the stage’: Performance and Public Space in ‘Miss Brill’”

3:30pm Break

4:00pm Keynote Address • Chair: Gerri Kimber

  • Christine Froula, Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Gender Studies, Northwestern University “Imaginary Gardens with Real Writers in Them: Elizabeth von Arnim, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf”