Stereotypes in Katherine Mansfield's 'In a German Pension'

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, Ruhr-University of Bochum (Anglistik), course: National & Ethnic Stereotypes, language: English, abstract: This research paper is concerned with the image of stereotypes in selected short stories of Katherine Mansfield. Especially the German stereotype in In a German Pension will be analyzed. 'In a German Pension' is Mansfield's first published work of fiction (published in 1911) and takes place in a enviroment that Mansfield has visited herself. She does not value most of the stereotypes she imputes to her characters, but because of her special way of carrying it to the extremes, she manages to convey her views about German stereotypes to the reader. These views will be analyzed later on. By repeating these stereotypes in the different short stories in this collection, they become especially apparent and shift into the centre of the discussion. Even if Mansfield herself feels ashamed of her work, which she has written in her younger years, it is definitely an important piece of literature, speaking of German stereotypes.