The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield With Commentary

[@MartiWilliams-r2z]

Touching, moving story. Vivid narration. Wise, thought-provoking, compassionate commentary . Thank you for mentioning the difficulties of being on the spectrum, ADHD, CPTSD in a neurotypical world. Thank you very much Tony

[@summergotschall]

Thank you so much Tony - it's got to be 30+ years since I read the story and I liked it, but your narration brought me to tears.

[@Story-Voracious66]

Wonderful. Like looking through the keyhole into the garden beyond, I cried because I couldn't get into it. I could see the bloom of youth that has passed away in my life, and missed it so terribly. Not the opulence, but the feelings; keen, present, crystal bright. Even the trepidation, I envy it. I have never read Mansfield, and I am grateful for the gift of it. Thank you Tony. 🌹🌻🌼🌴

[@ClassicGhost]

It’s a lovely story. If we believe some people we get to be young again.

[@Story-Voracious66]

​@@ClassicGhost I'll opt for Tir Na Nog given the choice. ❤

[@helendynes2891]

Thank you 😊

[@carolrios9216]

This is such a good one! Love Katherine Mansfield. ❤

[@donaldkelly3983]

Thanks for the Mansfield reintroduction. In college we were told she was just a Chekhov rip off artist. Now hearing it after the passage of a million years, I want to read more!

[@classic-literaturesstories]

She is very good 👍

[@aprilkepler1702]

I enjoyed your commentary. Thank you.

[@babs675]

And yet another well read story. Thank you, Tony x

[@jeanetteshaw4573]

Love the story and the commentary!!! Thank you Tony!

[@spitfire_2]

Laura is young but genuine. She sees things as they are. After having met the working men whose job it was to build the marquee, she immediately realized how down-to-earth they were. She lost her awkwardness around them and even suspected that she may even prefer their company over some of the twats regularly invited to Sunday suppers. She has compassion.

[@rebeccalangsdorf2072]

Love your analysis!

[@classic-literaturesstories]

thank you

[@rameyzamora1018]

This seems to me a snapshot of Laura coming of age when she reaches for the first time that life itself is universally beautiful & precious for its own sake. It's hopeful. She's on her journey of compassionate humanity where the destination is death, another universal condition. But the journey itself can be as beautiful as a garden party.

[@MaggieatPlay]

Excellent story, well narrated. Thank you, Tony!

[@tedismotherman29]

beautifully done!

[@peterbianchi6219]

Similar to your final thoughts, perhaps from the naive point of view of the child on the cusp of adulthood (seeing herself in the mirror) she first saw the party as paradise invaded by death and imagined the walk to the neighborhood of the poor as a walk into hell, but once there realized there was in fact neither and so, denying her tears wept not so much for the dead man as for the loss of innocence and the arrival of understanding... just a thought. Well read, and interestingly commented upon. I enjoy all three of your channels but Satie is by far the best choice of intro/outro.

[@franken-pattern]

This one was so beautiful, I caught myself crying a little when the song came up in the story. Magnificent! Thank you !

[@theresahemminger1587]

Perhaps even more germane to the story than Freud or Jung is the more recent finding that the sense of fairness lies in the amygdala, also called the lizard brain because it is primal and thus about as hard wired as you can get. I suspect that is the source of morality which explains how we can try to create our own morality but the fight is against our own brains so it doesn’t end well. No, I don’t mean religion or social mores. The story shows the girl’s sense of morality in spite of her rearing at an age when people begin to examine their assumptions-what they’ve been taught and accepted-as the amygdala leads them to raise the issue of fairness. It is telling that it is those who love her and whom she loves that try to stifle her conscience not some outside corrupting influence. But,still, her conscience is there presenting her with real life (the workmen-her inferiors-are lovely) and an epiphany at the sight of the dead man, a man her family finds so inferior that his death is insignificant. Somehow, it surprised even me to find that he was so young. Katherine Mansfield is a great short story writer because everyone and everything is essential to the story including inter- generational, multi-class characters. The pubescent girl is at a moment in life when things are felt intensely as her happiness at the coming party reveals.

[@eileenmcgeean6178]

What a great perspective on this story. The Amygdala and acculturation. 2:17

[@mataform]

Thanks for this. I understand why you give the different approaches to the work but honestly, the idea that someone would see it through the lense of critical race theory ...words fail me. Perhaps people should try and see it through the period of the time it was written. In fact wouldn't it be better that this was recognised and applied to all that came before. I am quite sure I could not possibly have held the same opinions as my grandmothere who was born in 1886, but no doubt we did share the same essence of humanity.

[@classic-literaturesstories]

I'm not saying I espouse any of those viewpoints, just throwing them in for the variety

[@denisepeters8551]

Couldn't get into this one .

[@fetlock]

How is critical race theory saying "mine is better than yours"?

[@classic-literaturesstories]

I wouldn’t take what i say very seriously

[@fetlock]

@@classic-literaturesstories Hard to do when your voice is so mellifluous, but I'll try. I so enjoy your commentary. It's like getting to be a member of a weird gentleman's club with no gentlemen. (No offense.)

[@ClassicGhost]

@@fetlockI’m no gentleman. As Childermas says “I am a North Englishman” (awaiting the return of the Raven King)

[@fetlock]

Maybe helping the return to manifest, with all your creativity. When I can afford to Patreon, I can't wait to get access to the goods 😊. (Can't imagine a better way to spend my money!)