i was jealous of her writing the only writing i have ever been jealous of virginia woolf virginia woolf was not the only writer to admire mansfields work thomas hardy d h lawrence and elizabeth bowen all praised her stories and her early death at the age of thirtyfour cut short one of the finest shortstory writers in the english language this selection covers the full range of mansfields fiction from her early satirical stories to the subtly nuanced comedy of the daughters of the late colonel and the macabre and ominous a married mans story the stories that pay what mansfield calls a debt of love to new zealand are as sharply etched as the european stories and she recreates her childhood world with mordant insight disruption is a constant theme whether the tone is comic tragic nostalgic or domestic echoing mansfields disrupted life and the fractured expressions of modernism this new edition increases the selection from 27 to 33 stories and prints them in the order in which they first appeared in the definitive texts established by anthony alpers