"The Canary" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

. It was first published posthumously in ''

The Nation and Atheneum ''The Nation and Athenaeum'', or simply ''The Nation'', was a United Kingdom political weekly newspaper with a Liberal/ Labour viewpoint. It was formed in 1921 from the merger of the '' Athenaeum'', a literary magazine published in London since 1 ...

'' on 21 April 1923, and later appeared in '' The Doves' Nest and Other Stories'' (1923).Mansfield, Katherine; Smith, Angela (ed.) (2002) ''Selected Stories'', with an introduction and explanatory notes by Angela Smith, p. 396. Oxford: Oxford University Press Mansfield began writing the story at the Victoria Palace Hotel in Paris in 1922, where a woman who lived opposite the hotel kept canaries in a cage. She finished the story on 7 July 1922, when she and her husband

John Middleton Murry John Middleton Murry (6 August 1889 – 12 March 1957) was an English writer. He was a prolific author, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. ...

were living at a hotel in Randogne (now part of

Crans-Montana Crans-Montana is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Chermignon, Mollens, Montana and Randogne merged to form the new municipality of Crans-Montana. ...

), Switzerland, from 4 June to 16 August 1922. It was the last short story she ever completed.Mansfield, Katherine (2001) ''The Montana Stories'', p. 327. London:

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

(A collection of all Mansfield's work written from June 1921 until her death, including unfinished work.)

Plot summary

The story is told in the first person by a lonely woman. She discusses her pet canary who has died at an unspecified time in the past. She gives him some

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

characteristics, describing his personality and his habits, and the companionship he provided her with. She discusses her three lodgers, who she overhears mockingly calling her "the scarecrow".

Characters in "The Canary"

*A lonely woman *A canary *A Chinaman who sold her the canary *Three young male lodgers. *narrator

Major themes

*Loneliness *Companionship *Grief

Footnotes

External links

Full text
Modernist short stories 1923 short stories Short stories by Katherine Mansfield Works originally published in The Nation and Atheneum {{1920s-story-stub