Mansfield as 'Man Alone?' Katherine Mansfield's Reading Experiences in Wartime Britain and France

Abstract

John Mulgan's novel Man Alone (1959) has perpetuated the iconic Kiwi myth of masculine identity founded on isolation, solitude, and rugged individualism. However, the novel is replete with descriptions of Johnson's reading practices connecting this man 'alone' to the world around him. From his first arrival in Auckland to his departure for Spain, newspapers play a key role, linking Johnson to job opportunities and workers' rights, informing him of events beyond New Zealand, situating him in the here and now. Reading provides moments of distraction from the stultifying routine on Stenning's farm and frames his employer's death. And from a store of old magazines and illustrated papers, reading aloud becomes a defining act of sociability that links Johnson to the old loner Bill Crawley. Johnson may warn his reader against spending too much time alone, but it is a solitude punctuated by print and one that, through print, defines his relationship to others and the world at large.