The Stranger is a 1921 short story by Katherine Mansfield.
Contents |
Plot summary
In Auckland, Mr Hammond is waiting for his wife, back from Europe. After talking to some other people waiting at the harbour, she lands in but takes her time, leading him to wonder if she was sick during the voyage - she was not. In the hotel, Hammond says they will spend the next day sightseeing in Auckland, before going back to Napier, where they live. She then appears distant, and eventually reveals that she took a while to leave the ship because a man had died onboard, and she was alone with him when that happened. The husband is put off.
Characters
- Mr Scott
- Mrs Scott
- Jean Scott, their daughter.
- Mr John Hammond
- Mrs Janey Hammond, back from Europe.
- Mr Gaven
- Captain Johnson, the harbour master.
Major themes
- love
- death
Literary significance
The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative.
Trivia
It was first published in the London Mercury in January 1921, and later reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories.[1]
Footnotes
- ^ Katherine Mansfield, Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics, explanatory notes
External links
| Katherine Mansfield |
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| Short stories |
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Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding | The Woman At The Store | How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped | Millie | Something Childish But Very Natural | The Little Governess | Revelations | The Escape | An Indiscreet Journey | The Wind Blows | Prelude | Mr Reginald Peacock's Day | Feuille d'Album | A Dill Pickle | Je ne parle pas français | Sun and Moon | Bliss | Psychology | Pictures | The Man Without a Temperament | The Stranger | Miss Brill | The Daughters of the Late Colonel | Life of Ma Parker | The Young Girl | Mr and Mrs Dove | Her First Ball | The Singing Lesson | Bank Holiday | An Ideal Family | The Lady's Maid | Marriage à la Mode | At The Bay | The Voyage | A Married Man's Story | The Garden Party | The Doll's House | The Fly | A Cup of Tea | The Canary |
