Short-story writer and poet, Katherine Mansfield, a pseudonym for Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp was born in 1888, in Wellington, New Zealand. She came back to London in 1908, married George Bowden (a musician), March 2, 1909, separated from him the same day, and afterwards gave birth in Bavaria to a stillborn baby by Garnet Trowell, another musician. This led to her first volume of fiction, In a German Pension (1909). Katherine Mansfield's practice was suddenly to spend several days in writing poetry, and then to abandon poetry wholly for months and years together. After meeting John Middleton Murry in 1911, they lived together until she divorced Bowden and married Murry on May 3, 1918. Mansfield lost Lesley Beauchamp, her brother, to a wartime accident in 1915. This death led to some of her greatest stories. Suffering from tuberculosis, she died from the disease in January 9, 1923.

Katherine
Mansfield
(1888-1923)

Few Rules for Beginners

coal: fossil fuel (carbón)
grimaces: contorted facial expressions; make funny faces
roll: move vigorously
black their faces: show anger or resentment or hostility
pointing: indicating something with his/her finger
rude: socially incorrect in behaviour; not polished
still: quiet and calm, not in physical motion
if they're able = if they can (eat by themselves)
though = although
it's known = everyone knows
by = nearby, very close to them

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