The Man Without a Temperament
The Man Without a Temperament is a 1920 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in in Spring 1920, and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.[1]
Plot summary[]
Mrs Jinnie Salesby has tea with her husband, Robert. She receives a letter from Lottie, ill with neuritis, who says it is snowing in London. Then The Honeymoon Couple come back from fishing. The Salesbys go for a turn; she stops and sits while he goes on for a longer walk. He comes upon the Countess and the General in a carriage; they spurn him. He then walks on, imagines he is going back home for dinner, with Dennis and Beaty as guests. Instead, he gets back to his wife and they return to the dining-room for dinner, with all the other couples.
Characters[]
- Mr Robert Salesby
- Mrs Jinny Salesby; she suffers from a heart disease.
- The Two Topknots
- The American Woman, and her pet Klaymongso
- the servant-girl
- Antonio, a servant.
- Lottie
- The Honeymoon Couple
- The Countess
- The General
- Dennis
- Beaty
Major themes[]
- married life
Literary significance[]
The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative.
References to other works[]
- Alexander Pope's Satires, Epistles and Odes of Horace, Satire I, Book 2, is quoted.[2]
Footnotes[]
External links[]
- Modernist short stories
- 1920 short stories
- Short stories by Katherine Mansfield
- Works originally published in literary magazines
- 1920s short story stubs