Katherine Mansfield, born in Wellington, N.Z.d on Oct. 14, 1888.

After her education (in Wellington and London), Katherine Mansfield left New Zealand at the age of 19 to establish herself in England as a writer. The death of her soldier brother in 1915 shocked her into a recognition that she owed what she termed a sacred debt to him and to the remembered places of her native country. Prelude (1918) was a series of short stories beautifully evocative of her family memories of New Zealand.

In the next two years Mansfield did her best work, achieving the height of her powers in The Garden Party (1922), which includes “At the Bay,” “The Voyage,” “The Stranger” (with New Zealand settings), and the classic “Daughters of the Late Colonel,” a subtle account of genteel frustration. Her final work (apart from unfinished material) was published posthumously in The Dove's Nest (1923) and Something Childish (1924).

Katherine's last five years were shadowed by tuberculosis. She died in the Gurdjieff Institute, near Fontainebleau, France on Jan. 9, 1923.