‘The men think us incapable of real friendship –  Jane Austen

 Friendships are complicated, full of conflict, love and, hopefully, lots of fun. They encouraged the sexual escapades of Percy Shelley and Lord Byron and the riotous drinking excursions of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tragically the relationships between literary women have been side-lined. However, like the scientific whisper networks discussed in week seven, female authors sought to be challenged and emotionally supported by their peers, famously Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield. 

Picture of a Bloomsbury Group picnic, of which both Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield were a part of

1902 image of Virginia Woolf

Short story writer Katherine Mansfield formed a complicated relationship filled with jealousy, admiration, and romance with the mad mother of modernism, Virginia Woolf. Friends with a foundation in rivalry, Mansfield’s works were ‘the only writing I [Virginia] have ever been jealous of’. When the pair met in 1917, Mansfield was much more successful in the literary world than Woolf. Both writers had similar artistic aspirations and ideas of how literature should present the world. These similarities led to friction and conflict between them, often misinterpreted as having malicious intent. Particularly when Woolf described Mansfield as an ‘utterly unscrupulous character’. Despite the tempestuous nature of their relationship, Woolf and Mansfield had a high degree of appreciation for each other and their writing. Woolf was the first person that Mansfield considered her ‘intellectual equal’ and the writers both benefited from the professional rivalry. Woolf reciprocated this regard, and when Mansfield’s collection Prelude received little critical attention, Woolf defended it, claiming that Mansfield ‘is the very best of women writers’. Each writer’s personality influenced the other’s writing style. For example, in Mansfield’s homoerotic short story Bliss the main character Pearl Fulton shares some of Woolf’s most prominent characteristics. The namesakes of Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Mansfield’s Miss Brill both perform acts that affirm the patriarchal definition of their gender identity. Through the use of extreme isolation, readers are warned against unwittingly adhering to patriarchal expectations of gender. Invariably both writers were drawn to themes of mental illness, feminism, and homosexuality, exposing the social hierarchies of the early 1900s.

A painting imagining one of Mrs Dalloway’s lonely parties

Woolf’s and Mansfield’s relationship was also romantic …

Woolf’s and Mansfield’s relationship was also romantic, acting beyond just challenging the other to improve. Woolf’s diary demonstrates the depth of romantic attachment between the pair. In a very relatable fashion, Woolf overthought and questioned all aspects of their relationship. Pining away as she asked: ‘did she care for me? Sometimes she would say so – would kiss me – would look at me as if her eyes would like always to be faithful’. Unable to fully understand her sexual feelings towards Mansfield, Woolf referred to them as ‘the chaste and the unchaste’. Although frequently ignored or simply forgotten, the Sapphic nature of their friendship is undeniable. 

Photo of Katherine Mansfield

Consistently creative collaborations between women have been neglected. In a world where women have been oppressed, snubbed and ignored, friendships provide a vital outlet for discussion and improvement. Due to their friction and conflict, Woolf and Mansfield pushed each other, fostering the creation of gorgeous, flowing modernist works. Hence, conflict is not bad nor inherently negative. Rather conflict combined with support and freethinking is essential to creative expression.

Note: all quotations were found in A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Elliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeny. Give it a read if you’re interested!