The Voyage (short story)
Encyclopedia
The Voyage is a 1921 short story by Katherine Mansfield
. It was first published in The Sphere
on 24 December 1921, and later reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories.
boat; a stewardess suggests she brings food, which the grandmother brushes away. The latter impresses Fenella by taking the upper berth, thus proving to be rather sprightly. The stewardess comes back to say they are harbouring Cook Strait
; they get off the boat and Mr Penreddy is there to pick them up, in a carriage. They arrive at the grandparents's house, where they are greeted by the grandfather.
of her birth and upbringing.
Katherine Mansfield
Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield left for Great Britain in 1908 where she encountered Modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and...
. It was first published in The Sphere
The Sphere (newspaper)
The Sphere was a British newspaper, published weekly from 27 January 1900 until the closure of the paper on 27 June 1964; the first issue came out at the height of the Boer War and was no doubt a product of that conflict and the public appetite for images...
on 24 December 1921, and later reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories.
Plot summary
At the harbour, Fenella and her grandmother say goodbye to the father. Then they go into their cabin onboard the PictonPicton, New Zealand
Picton is a town in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It is close to the head of Queen Charlotte Sound near the north-east corner of the South Island. The population was 2928 in the 2006 Census, a decrease of 72 from 2001...
boat; a stewardess suggests she brings food, which the grandmother brushes away. The latter impresses Fenella by taking the upper berth, thus proving to be rather sprightly. The stewardess comes back to say they are harbouring Cook Strait
Cook Strait
Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
; they get off the boat and Mr Penreddy is there to pick them up, in a carriage. They arrive at the grandparents's house, where they are greeted by the grandfather.
Characters
- Fenella
- Frank, Fenella's father
- Mrs Mary Crane, Fenella's grandmother
- The stewardess
- Mr Penreddy
- Mr Walter Crane, the grandfather
Major themes
- Travelling
- Awakening(she learns to put the past behind as the story progresses)
Literary significance
The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative.New Zealand setting
While many of Mansfield's works are set in either Europe or are non-specific in their setting, 'The Voyage' 's topographical (and acquatic) references relate to the New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
of her birth and upbringing.