The Singing Lesson

by Katherine Mansfield

Miss Meadows, a singing teacher, bustles into school one day in bad temper. Upon encountering her colleagues and young students, she is cold, bitter, and reproachful. But what could have brought out this sudden irritation and resentment in Miss Meadows?

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Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction

25 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp) was a prominent New Zealand modernist writer of short fiction who wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield.

Katherine Mansfield is widely considered one of the best short story writers of her period. A number of her works, including "Miss Brill", "Prelude", "The Garden Party", "The Doll's House", and later works such as "The Fly", are frequently collected in short story anthologies. Mansfield also proved ahead of her time in her adoration of Russian playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov, and incorporated some of his themes and techniques into her writing.

Katherine Mansfield was part of a "new dawn" in English literature with T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. She was associated with the brilliant group of writers who made the London of the period the centre of the literary world.

Nevertheless, Mansfield was a New Zealand writer - she could not have written as she did had she not gone to live in England and France, but she could not have done her best work if she had not had firm roots in her native land. She used her memories in her writing from the beginning, people, the places, even the colloquial speech of the country form the fabric of much of her best work.

Mansfield's stories were the first of significance in English to be written without a conventional plot. Supplanting the strictly structured plots of her predecessors in the genre (Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells), Mansfield concentrated on one moment, a crisis or a turning point, rather than on a sequence of events. The plot is secondary to mood and characters. The stories are innovative in many other ways. They feature simple things - a doll's house or a charwoman. Her imagery, frequently from nature, flowers, wind and colours, set the scene with which readers can identify easily.

Themes too are universal: human isolation, the questioning of traditional roles of men and women in society, the conflict between love and disillusionment, idealism and reality, beauty and ugliness, joy and suffering, and the inevitability of these paradoxes. Oblique narration (influenced by Chekhov but certainly developed by Mansfield) includes the use of symbolism - the doll's house lamp, the fly, the pear tree - hinting at the hidden layers of meaning. Suggestion and implication replace direct detail.

Reviews

[Duane Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katherine Mansfield never ceases to amaze me. How she can, in such a short story, create such a vivid character with a depth of emotion that many writers could not match in a 500 page novel.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opening lines:
With despair—cold, sharp despair—buried deep in her heart like a wicked knife, Miss Meadows, in cap and gown and carrying a little baton, trod the cold corridors that led to the music hall.

You may read online at Biblioplept.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Дмитрий · Rating 5 out of 5]

Хотя история охватывает только один момент из жизни героини, Кэтрин Мэнсфилд удалось нарисовать всю блеклую картину будущего ГГ с таким женихом. Отличная история.

[Falyn Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the commentary on grief and loss of a relationship this short story provides. I love how the mournful and relatable feeling of hollowness reflects within a broken woman, (who was perfectly portrayed in my opinion). The singing lesson is noteworthy and relatable for anyone who has gone through heartache, and the qualms of an unnoteworthy life.

[Andreashide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una de mis autoras favoritas. Cada uno de sus cuentos es una revelación, por la manera de presentar los personajes y abrir al lector un universo de emociones y pensamientos de maneras inéditas e impactantes. Todas sus historias son maravillosas. Mi favorita fue Felicidad.

[amy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

men are just so pathetic sometimes

[Henrique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ela tem uma escrita sensível, muitas vezes melancólica (do jeito que eu gosto), mas também bastante descritiva (do jeito que eu não gosto). Acho que ela tem uma boa capacidade de arremate do conto. O desfecho de "Feuille d'album" é impagável, o de "Veneno" é excepcional. Um conto brilhante, essencialmente psicológico, meu favorito dessa seleção, é "Um pepino em conserva". Alguns dos seus contos parecem crônicas, e seriam classificadas assim caso isso existisse na Nova Zelândia.

[Paola]

- la lezione di canto
- sulla baia
- la donna del magazzino
- sun e moon
- la "garden party"
- la mosca
- la piccola istitutrice
- mezzo scellino
- storia di un uomo
- il vento soffia
- prendendo il velo
- "feuille d'album"
- la bimba
- "dill pickle"
- la giornata di reginaldo peacock
- rivelazioni
- veleno
- istantanee
- psicologia

[Sinta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Katherine Mansfields characters are astounding. I am always taken aback at the pang she evokes in me - there is always a point of sudden, deep empathy. She gets to the core of being human

Here, it is that universal experience of deluding yourself into sacrificing your own contentment to do something that will allow you to hold on to the respect of others

[Sharone Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this short story, Katherine Mansfield vividly illustrates the tie between emotion and music. A music teacher's emotions change abruptly in one day and the music she chooses for her young students to sing is a clear reflection of her thoughts and feelings. What a delightful tale!

[Marcele · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is really delightful, a great short story. But I couldn't avoid to feel bad for the poor girl having their singing lesson.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note stonate impercettibili nascoste in sinfonie grandiose. Storie che scorrono via lasciando una scia nera. Personaggi (stra)ordinariamente tossici. Magistrale.

[Joy Gutiérrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un cuento cortito sobre una maestra de canto que, tras recibir una agria carta de su prometido, llega al colegio donde trabaja de mal humor. Mientras imparte su lección, hay un monólogo interno en el que expresa los pensamientos y emociones que le han causado leer esa carta. Escuché el audiolibro (¿audiocuento?) con un excelente narrador. Jamás había leído/escuchado nada de Katherine, pero quedé impresionada con el ritmo, su forma de escribir y cómo le dio en tan pocas páginas una gran profundidad a la protagonista. Fue breve pero sustancioso. 🫶🏼

[Elephanthefy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un cuento conmovedor de los altibajos del amor y la angustia de sentirse abandonado por aquel que amas. Mansfield muestra una historia de esperanza y desilusión a través de los ojos de la señorita Meadows, cuya clase de canto se convierte en un escenario para su propio tormento interior.
Me encanta porque, aunque sea un relato corto, podemos sentir la tensión en el aire y percibir la esperanza y la desesperación en el corazón de la señorita Meadows

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Miss Meadows begins a practice lesson with her girls school choir, she is mired in misery - her heart broken, and so unexpectedly too. The music she chooses this day reflects her emotions perfectly.
Short but speaks volumes!

[Alyssa Vanskyock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Liked the intercepts going between her inner dialogue and what she is doing in reality. Not too sure why this was included on a playlist of scary stories though...

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed the language in this short tale. It is quite precious writing.

[Mommy's lil gal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katherine Mansfield was such a phenomenal writer I could say. She lived only for 34 years, hope she could have lived more and amaze readers more.

[⋆˚࿔ ashmita ࣪ ִֶָ☾. · Rating 1 out of 5]

🙄

[belu · Rating 3 out of 5]

basil homosexual

[Renata Silveira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this for my English Literature class, and 'til now it was my favourite of the lot.

[gayatri · Rating 4 out of 5]

katherine mansfield the woman u are

[Gregoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un bonito cuento, lleno de palabras hermosas y también de sentimientos, sería bueno no involucrar los problemas personales en el trabajo ya que afectan a los demás.

[˙⋆.˚ ᡣ;ᴀɴɴÉ˙⋆.˚ ᡣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the narrative and vibrant gloominess of protagonist. That tells a lot of the message lying in The Singing Lesson. A 4.8 for me!

[Louis Swagboy Galore · Rating 5 out of 5]

now that's a story! (jazz hands)

[Azzurra Santoro · Rating 5 out of 5]

-Ed ecco immediatamente il tradizionale "accecante bagliore, accompagnato da assordante frastuono. Immensi rottami nell'aria (confesso ch'io amo i rottami)...e quando le dense nubi di fumo dileguano..." Ma questo non potrà mai accadere; e io non potrò mai vederlo. Sarà trovato in fondo al mio cuore "intatto", come dice (...)-
da Storia di un uomo

[Smita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Music teacher's personal life impacts her lesson and, by extension, her students. Her romantic ordeal changes her perception of the music she teaches: self-absorption in times of grief causes one to ignore one's public persona.

[Michelle (Witchy Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stars:3

I liked this short story. It's about this music teacher (Ms.Medows) who's fiance broke off their relationship and her thinking about the letter he wrote her while shes teaching a singing lesson.