Time and Space in Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party

Abstract

In spite of the general tribute to the artistic achievement of “The Garden Party,” the question of its structural unity has been one of the recurring themes in Mansfield criticism. The present article approaches this question by means of an analysis of two important elements of the story's narrative composition: time and space. The analysis suggests that the story's unity is of a dialectic nature. On a temporal level, it falls into two major phases, the time before and after the party, while the party itself is virtually insignificant. Whereas the first phase, which relates the preparations for the party, shows a hectically accelerated time‐pace, resembling the time‐lapse camera in film; the second phase, which relates Laura's encounter with death, shows a deceleration of the narrative pace, resembling the slow‐motion camera. With these two phases, two different kinds of movements in space are correlated. The activities in the Sheridans' house convey an impression of chaotic disconnectedness, of a confusing simultaneity of different aims and directions, while the story gains a clear aim and direction in space in the second phase with Laura's visit to the dead workman's house, linking the two opposing worlds in her ‘transcendent’ experience.