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ClassicsOnline Home » MANSFIELD, K.: Bliss and Other Stories (Unabridged) > Review List
One of Katherine Mansfield’s finest short stories, Bliss, introduces us to Bertha, who experiences a sense of rapture as she reflects on her life. On her walk home one day, she is overwhelmed by a sense of bliss and contentment. However, her joy later turns to disappointment as she discovers her husband is having an affair with her new friend Pearl. Katherine Mansfield became well-known for her focus on psychological conflicts and complex characters; and Bliss displays these qualities brilliantly, exploring themes of marriage, adultery and duplicity. This set also contains five other short stories by Katherine Mansfield—Mr Reginald Peacock’s Day, Pictures, The Little Governess, Feuille D’Album and A Dill Pickle.
Before there were minimalist writers, there were great miniaturists such as Katherine Mansfield, whose work has deceptive power, so cannily and quietly did she craft her scenes. In Mansfield's stories the level of detail is astonishing, and each central character so fully present that when the climax comes, the listener draws a breath of surprise and simultaneous recognition of the necessary and often painful truths of life. This recording presents six of the thirteen stories originally published together in the 1920s—how lucky we are to have even these six. Each is served up by Juliet Stevenson as a rare delicacy, each character brought forth with perfect accent and timbre, each tale with full awareness of every nuance. The result? The listener is blessed with the good fortune of hearing two great storytellers working in concert, and it is absolute bliss. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award