The concept of Bergsonian time in mansfield's 'Miss Brill'

Abstract

Katherine Mansfield is a well-known writer in short fiction genre in English. Miss Brill is one of her most widely discussed stories which explores the concepts of alienation, loneliness, isolation and consciousness through the characterization of the protagonist. Like those of many modernist writers, Mansfield's literary style was influenced by Henri Bergson whose philosophy is grounded on the concept of time. Both the form and content of her stories are reflections of Bergsonian time. Specifically, this study deals with Mansfield's story entitled Miss Brill and analyses it in terms of the concept of duration as proposed by Bergson.