Katherine Mansfield’s diary, 1919

J. came to bed at ten minutes to twelve. Said he : " Don't go to sleep before the New Year." I lay holding my watch. I think I did go to sleep for a moment. The…

The day the housemaid had to leave because her husband ' didn't want her to work no more ' and, to consolidate his authority, had punched her so hard in the neck…

6 p.m. I wish I had some idea of how old this note book is. The writing is very faint and far away. Now it is May 1919. Six o'clock. I am sitting in my own room…

First comes L.M. I give her orders. Ask her to supervise the maid till Monday. ' Be gentle with her: help her to make the beds ; and just tell her how everything…

Work. Shall I be able to express one day my love of work — my desire to be a better writer — my longing to take greater pains. And the passion I feel. It takes the…

I have discovered that I cannot burn the candle at one end and write a book with the other. Life without work — I would commit suicide. Therefore work is more…

Bateson and his love of the louse for its own sake. Pedigree lice. £ ioo a year from the Royal In- stitute: a large family: desperately poor: but he never notices.…

Tedious Brief Adventure of K.M. A Doctor who came from Jamaica Said: "This time I'll mend her or break her. I'll plug her with serum; And if she can't bear 'em I'll…

Surely I do know more than other people: I have suffered more, and endured more. I know how they long to be happy, and how precious is an atmos- phere that is…

It often happens to me now that when I lie down to sleep at night, instead of getting drowsy, I feel more wakeful and, lying here in bed, I begin to live over…

When I had gone to bed I realised what it was that had caused me to * give way.' It was the effort of being up, with a heart that won't work. Not my lungs at all.…

I'd like to write a long, long story on this and call it " Last Words to Life." One ought to write it. And another on the subject of Hate.

Calm day. In garden read early poems in Oxford Book. Discussed our future library. In the evening read Dostoevsky. In the morning discussed the importance of *…

Long talk over house. Foster said I could walk. Sea sounded like an island sea. Happy. Lovely fire in my bedroom. Succes eclatant avec demon before dinner. Listened…