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The Stranger
Mr. Hammond is doing his best to be patient as he waits for the ship carrying his wife to dock—it has been ten months since his beloved Janey left for Europe, and he is eager to see her once again. But in his eagerness, Mr. Hammond is left to wonder what could have caused the ship to be delayed. And once they are reunited, the Hammonds discover the voyage may have changed them both irrevocably.
HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.
HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.
25 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1920
2 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Mansfield
978 books1,206 followersKathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp) was a prominent New Zealand modernist writer of short fiction who wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield.
Katherine Mansfield is widely considered one of the best short story writers of her period. A number of her works, including "Miss Brill", "Prelude", "The Garden Party", "The Doll's House", and later works such as "The Fly", are frequently collected in short story anthologies. Mansfield also proved ahead of her time in her adoration of Russian playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov, and incorporated some of his themes and techniques into her writing.
Katherine Mansfield was part of a "new dawn" in English literature with T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. She was associated with the brilliant group of writers who made the London of the period the centre of the literary world.
Nevertheless, Mansfield was a New Zealand writer - she could not have written as she did had she not gone to live in England and France, but she could not have done her best work if she had not had firm roots in her native land. She used her memories in her writing from the beginning, people, the places, even the colloquial speech of the country form the fabric of much of her best work.
Mansfield's stories were the first of significance in English to be written without a conventional plot. Supplanting the strictly structured plots of her predecessors in the genre (Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells), Mansfield concentrated on one moment, a crisis or a turning point, rather than on a sequence of events. The plot is secondary to mood and characters. The stories are innovative in many other ways. They feature simple things - a doll's house or a charwoman. Her imagery, frequently from nature, flowers, wind and colours, set the scene with which readers can identify easily.
Themes too are universal: human isolation, the questioning of traditional roles of men and women in society, the conflict between love and disillusionment, idealism and reality, beauty and ugliness, joy and suffering, and the inevitability of these paradoxes. Oblique narration (influenced by Chekhov but certainly developed by Mansfield) includes the use of symbolism - the doll's house lamp, the fly, the pear tree - hinting at the hidden layers of meaning. Suggestion and implication replace direct detail.
Katherine Mansfield is widely considered one of the best short story writers of her period. A number of her works, including "Miss Brill", "Prelude", "The Garden Party", "The Doll's House", and later works such as "The Fly", are frequently collected in short story anthologies. Mansfield also proved ahead of her time in her adoration of Russian playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov, and incorporated some of his themes and techniques into her writing.
Katherine Mansfield was part of a "new dawn" in English literature with T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. She was associated with the brilliant group of writers who made the London of the period the centre of the literary world.
Nevertheless, Mansfield was a New Zealand writer - she could not have written as she did had she not gone to live in England and France, but she could not have done her best work if she had not had firm roots in her native land. She used her memories in her writing from the beginning, people, the places, even the colloquial speech of the country form the fabric of much of her best work.
Mansfield's stories were the first of significance in English to be written without a conventional plot. Supplanting the strictly structured plots of her predecessors in the genre (Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells), Mansfield concentrated on one moment, a crisis or a turning point, rather than on a sequence of events. The plot is secondary to mood and characters. The stories are innovative in many other ways. They feature simple things - a doll's house or a charwoman. Her imagery, frequently from nature, flowers, wind and colours, set the scene with which readers can identify easily.
Themes too are universal: human isolation, the questioning of traditional roles of men and women in society, the conflict between love and disillusionment, idealism and reality, beauty and ugliness, joy and suffering, and the inevitability of these paradoxes. Oblique narration (influenced by Chekhov but certainly developed by Mansfield) includes the use of symbolism - the doll's house lamp, the fly, the pear tree - hinting at the hidden layers of meaning. Suggestion and implication replace direct detail.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 21, 2025
Janey was silent. But her words, so light, so soft, so chill, seemed to hover in the air, to rain into his breast like snow.
Can we ever truly know someone?
At the port in Auckland, the wealthy, middle-aged Mr. John Hammond eagerly awaits the return of Mrs. Hammond, his wife Janey, to fetch her back home after ten months, having visited their eldest daughter in Europe. He is impatient to show her off, boasting on her as his pride and joy to the waiting crowd. He cannot understand why it takes the big liner that is in sight so long to come in and edge at the wharf-side, shaking off a slight unease at the news that the shore doctor who went on board more than two hours ago hasn't returned yet. Slowly dusk is coming, spreading like a slow stain over the water.
When he manages to get on the ship at last, his wife doesn't seem in a hurry to leave, while he is craving to have her all to himself again, to be alone with her in the opulent hotel room he arranged for them, with a cosy warm fireplace, tea, yearning for intimacy and her exclusive attention, undisturbed by others. In every movement and thought he is trying to clutch her, squeezing, clasping, shepherding, enfolding her in his arms, but she gently slips away from his almost desperate grasp, softly withdrawing her hand, having him wondering why she seems distracted and little responsive, trying to reassure himself that she is still the same, unchanged by the journey and the separation. Yet, her elusiveness and his incapacity to tune in to her are nothing new:
And again, as always, he had the feeling that he was holding something that never was quite his — his. Something too delicate, too precious, that would fly away once he let go.
Thirsting for her love, he is aware and anxious that she might not love him with a passion and ardour as unquenchable like his:
But just as when he embraced her he felt she would fly away, so Hammond never knew — never knew for dead certain that she was as glad as he was. How could he know? Would he ever know? Would he always have this craving — this pang like hunger, somehow, to make Janey so much part of him that there wasn’t any of her to escape? He wanted to blot out everybody, everything. He wished now he’d turned off the light. That might have brought her nearer. And now those letters from the children rustled in her blouse. He could have chucked them into the fire.
When Janey eventually reveals what is on her mind, Mr. Hammond feels the ground sink under his feet. Like Annie Ernaux writes about her lover in Simple Passion, he realises that the woman he loves is a complete stranger to him.
First published in 1921, The stranger is an atmospheric, slightly unsettling, and intricately composed short story touching on love, death, freedom and autonomy in which Mansfield evokes the intensity of Mr. Hammond’s feelings by sensorily contrasting light and dark, warmth and coldness and Mr. Hammond’s interior self and outer appearance – a nervous, worrisome, needy soul in disguise of a successful, sound and complacent businessman. Even if shuddering at Mr. Hammond's egoism and proprietorial behaviour towards his wife, it is clear that his flaws harm himself as much as they impact Janey in the cage that is their marriage. Showing Mr. Hammond’s possessiveness in the light of the deep insecurity beneath it, the story reminded me of a cautionary tale that used to be popular at wedding ceremonies, drawing an analogy between love and sand: when held loosely, sand remains where it is, but it trickles through your fingers as soon as you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on.
Or as Dorothy Parker put it more eloquently: Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch is, and it darts away.
Thank you very much Antoinette, for coaxing me back to read Katherine Mansfield by marking The Stranger as one of your favourite stories of hers.
The story can be found here.
Can we ever truly know someone?
At the port in Auckland, the wealthy, middle-aged Mr. John Hammond eagerly awaits the return of Mrs. Hammond, his wife Janey, to fetch her back home after ten months, having visited their eldest daughter in Europe. He is impatient to show her off, boasting on her as his pride and joy to the waiting crowd. He cannot understand why it takes the big liner that is in sight so long to come in and edge at the wharf-side, shaking off a slight unease at the news that the shore doctor who went on board more than two hours ago hasn't returned yet. Slowly dusk is coming, spreading like a slow stain over the water.
When he manages to get on the ship at last, his wife doesn't seem in a hurry to leave, while he is craving to have her all to himself again, to be alone with her in the opulent hotel room he arranged for them, with a cosy warm fireplace, tea, yearning for intimacy and her exclusive attention, undisturbed by others. In every movement and thought he is trying to clutch her, squeezing, clasping, shepherding, enfolding her in his arms, but she gently slips away from his almost desperate grasp, softly withdrawing her hand, having him wondering why she seems distracted and little responsive, trying to reassure himself that she is still the same, unchanged by the journey and the separation. Yet, her elusiveness and his incapacity to tune in to her are nothing new:
And again, as always, he had the feeling that he was holding something that never was quite his — his. Something too delicate, too precious, that would fly away once he let go.
Thirsting for her love, he is aware and anxious that she might not love him with a passion and ardour as unquenchable like his:
But just as when he embraced her he felt she would fly away, so Hammond never knew — never knew for dead certain that she was as glad as he was. How could he know? Would he ever know? Would he always have this craving — this pang like hunger, somehow, to make Janey so much part of him that there wasn’t any of her to escape? He wanted to blot out everybody, everything. He wished now he’d turned off the light. That might have brought her nearer. And now those letters from the children rustled in her blouse. He could have chucked them into the fire.
When Janey eventually reveals what is on her mind, Mr. Hammond feels the ground sink under his feet. Like Annie Ernaux writes about her lover in Simple Passion, he realises that the woman he loves is a complete stranger to him.
First published in 1921, The stranger is an atmospheric, slightly unsettling, and intricately composed short story touching on love, death, freedom and autonomy in which Mansfield evokes the intensity of Mr. Hammond’s feelings by sensorily contrasting light and dark, warmth and coldness and Mr. Hammond’s interior self and outer appearance – a nervous, worrisome, needy soul in disguise of a successful, sound and complacent businessman. Even if shuddering at Mr. Hammond's egoism and proprietorial behaviour towards his wife, it is clear that his flaws harm himself as much as they impact Janey in the cage that is their marriage. Showing Mr. Hammond’s possessiveness in the light of the deep insecurity beneath it, the story reminded me of a cautionary tale that used to be popular at wedding ceremonies, drawing an analogy between love and sand: when held loosely, sand remains where it is, but it trickles through your fingers as soon as you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on.
Or as Dorothy Parker put it more eloquently: Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch is, and it darts away.
Thank you very much Antoinette, for coaxing me back to read Katherine Mansfield by marking The Stranger as one of your favourite stories of hers.
The story can be found here.
May 23, 2024
This short story by Katherine Mansfield follows a man waiting for his wife to return from her trip to Europe.
We see him standing in the crowd on the dock. Minutes separate him from meeting his wife. But she is late, and the man looks worried. The man is finally reunited with his spouse. Everything seems calm. The couple is to spend the night at the hotel before going home to their children. That evening a surprise awaits the husband. There is something his wife has to tell him. Something that happened when she was traveling by ship. Something that spoils not only their evening but may jeopardize their future together. Or is this little episode an indication of deeper problems between the two?
In any case, I think the context of their relationship, of which we know very little, matters here.
I must admit that this story left me indifferent. I did not like it. I did not dislike it. That being said, the writing was really evocative and descriptive, with great attention to detail. It felt as if I were at the port, standing next to the man, and then entering the hotel room together with the couple.
After finishing this story, the reader can ask themselves, who was the stranger in this story, after all?
The Stranger can be read here.
We see him standing in the crowd on the dock. Minutes separate him from meeting his wife. But she is late, and the man looks worried. The man is finally reunited with his spouse. Everything seems calm. The couple is to spend the night at the hotel before going home to their children. That evening a surprise awaits the husband. There is something his wife has to tell him. Something that happened when she was traveling by ship. Something that spoils not only their evening but may jeopardize their future together. Or is this little episode an indication of deeper problems between the two?
In any case, I think the context of their relationship, of which we know very little, matters here.
I must admit that this story left me indifferent. I did not like it. I did not dislike it. That being said, the writing was really evocative and descriptive, with great attention to detail. It felt as if I were at the port, standing next to the man, and then entering the hotel room together with the couple.
After finishing this story, the reader can ask themselves, who was the stranger in this story, after all?
The Stranger can be read here.
April 26, 2025
Mr. Hammond, in his desperate need, read to me of control and possessiveness... it was extremely telling that he never finished his thought of how Janey could be brave as a.... why would you think an object you owned and operated for you had an identity and wants one of her own? Big warm thanks for Ilse for her beautiful review and for sharing the link to this story. I've heard of Mansfield before and the praise for her work and skill....I did consciously shy away because of the reviews I read were of her short stories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2023
What an intriguing little short story. Katherine Mansfield wrote in marvelously flowing sentences about a husband waiting for the arrival of his wife who had been away for a long time. It is, however, not clear whether his sentiments of unease prove to be accurate or not. You, as a curious reader, would have liked to been told the truth in the end, but you are not and that was quite brilliant of Mansfield!
April 18, 2025
Cool story. Realistic. Unexpected. Sad.
May 19, 2024
THE STRANGER
BY: KATHERINE MANSFIELD
About 3.5 ⭐ Stars!
I wanted to say a huge thank you to a wonderful friend for providing the link to this short story by Katherine Mansfield, so I didn't have to go searching through my two collections by this author. I didn't think that it was as dazzling as an essay as that same kind friend posted that has generated some very stimulating feedback in her thread about selflessness and selfishness. I have this beautiful friend's astute and intelligent mind to thank also for reminding me of how much 💖😊 I love this author who I read her work many decades ago.
There has been some interesting comments on this site about this author being compared to Antov Chekhov. Some people think that Katherine Mansfield work pales in comparison and I personally don't have anything innovative to add except that both Good Reads and Amazon's synopsises of her collections do state that Katherine Mansfield has been compared to Antov Chekhov. Antov Chekhov is in my humble opinion the greatest short story writer in all time. Just a bit of trivia to add is that Andre Dubus has been compared with Antov Chekhov. He was tragically killed while helping someone change a tire and was killed by a passing car that struck him accidentally. Andre Dubus III, is a great writer like his Dad whom I knew from being introduced by my friend Jesse who was his personal trainer at the gym we all belonged to.
This short story, "The Stranger," is about a man who is waiting on the dock for the ship returning with his wife to disembark. His name is John Hammond and his wife's name is Janey. It was written in 1920, but it is a representation of how timeless Katherine Mansfield's many talents are in her writing, One reason why I love her work is that she effectively has mastered the past to feel modern and contemporary as if the story was written today. Her work never sounds like it was written over a century ago. She also evokes themes that are stimulating and relatable without archaic dialogue or characterization.
John Hammond is anxious and looking forward to reuniting with his wife, Janey. Something happened while she was aboard the ship that she tells him that will irrevocably affect their marriage.
Katherine Mansfield has deliberately been ambiguous about not providing the exact details of what causes the husband's reaction to what Janey has told him. One thing is certain though she doesn't seem as anxious as her husband to give him the undivided attention to which her husband is eager. John Hammond feels more excited towards their reunion in which he has arranged for them to rest and have dinner in the hotel he has made arrangements for both of them.
The hotel room is a temporary place for this married couple to take temporary lodging and have dinner before returning home. You're guessing at what Janey tells John may seem obvious, but Katherine Mansfield leaves it up to the reader to interpret. I quite appreciated how she purposely ends her short story by tempting those who care to give it more thought that it does or doesn't necessarily give a straight forward answer to Janey's experience.
BY: KATHERINE MANSFIELD
About 3.5 ⭐ Stars!
I wanted to say a huge thank you to a wonderful friend for providing the link to this short story by Katherine Mansfield, so I didn't have to go searching through my two collections by this author. I didn't think that it was as dazzling as an essay as that same kind friend posted that has generated some very stimulating feedback in her thread about selflessness and selfishness. I have this beautiful friend's astute and intelligent mind to thank also for reminding me of how much 💖😊 I love this author who I read her work many decades ago.
There has been some interesting comments on this site about this author being compared to Antov Chekhov. Some people think that Katherine Mansfield work pales in comparison and I personally don't have anything innovative to add except that both Good Reads and Amazon's synopsises of her collections do state that Katherine Mansfield has been compared to Antov Chekhov. Antov Chekhov is in my humble opinion the greatest short story writer in all time. Just a bit of trivia to add is that Andre Dubus has been compared with Antov Chekhov. He was tragically killed while helping someone change a tire and was killed by a passing car that struck him accidentally. Andre Dubus III, is a great writer like his Dad whom I knew from being introduced by my friend Jesse who was his personal trainer at the gym we all belonged to.
This short story, "The Stranger," is about a man who is waiting on the dock for the ship returning with his wife to disembark. His name is John Hammond and his wife's name is Janey. It was written in 1920, but it is a representation of how timeless Katherine Mansfield's many talents are in her writing, One reason why I love her work is that she effectively has mastered the past to feel modern and contemporary as if the story was written today. Her work never sounds like it was written over a century ago. She also evokes themes that are stimulating and relatable without archaic dialogue or characterization.
John Hammond is anxious and looking forward to reuniting with his wife, Janey. Something happened while she was aboard the ship that she tells him that will irrevocably affect their marriage.
Katherine Mansfield has deliberately been ambiguous about not providing the exact details of what causes the husband's reaction to what Janey has told him. One thing is certain though she doesn't seem as anxious as her husband to give him the undivided attention to which her husband is eager. John Hammond feels more excited towards their reunion in which he has arranged for them to rest and have dinner in the hotel he has made arrangements for both of them.
The hotel room is a temporary place for this married couple to take temporary lodging and have dinner before returning home. You're guessing at what Janey tells John may seem obvious, but Katherine Mansfield leaves it up to the reader to interpret. I quite appreciated how she purposely ends her short story by tempting those who care to give it more thought that it does or doesn't necessarily give a straight forward answer to Janey's experience.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2016
A lively crowd waits on the dock for the vacation cruiser's passengers to come ashore. The focus is on one man who is awaiting his wife. The passengers are late coming ashore, and the man worries. He is a well-dressed man and has every appearance of confidence, but inside, he is afraid of something about his relationship to his wife. Author Katherine Mansfield explores his mind, exposing the doubts that plague the man as he waits.
Could his doubts be warranted? What is wrong with him? Why does he lack confidence?
Could his doubts be warranted? What is wrong with him? Why does he lack confidence?
May 29, 2013
Forse troppo breve. Mi ha lasciato una sensazione di incompiuto, non pienamente sviluppato.
Scriverò un'eresia, ma ho come l'impressione che l'autrice abbia affibbiato al signor Hammond una personalità, un sentire un tantino femminile.
Non mi ha convinto pienamente.
Scriverò un'eresia, ma ho come l'impressione che l'autrice abbia affibbiato al signor Hammond una personalità, un sentire un tantino femminile.
Non mi ha convinto pienamente.
October 9, 2019
I completely needed an analysis to explain to me what was actually going on... and even after reading it, I'm not feeling much, I'm just meh. but I liked how this short story shows a woman who is trying to be her own person, not her husband's.
November 30, 2020
Непонятная история. Наверное, критики в ней лучше разобрались, но мне сюжет показался неубедительным.
June 5, 2022
It was a short story but an impactful one. It explores the various themes of women's position in the society in the old times. It talks about lack of independence of a woman, an insecurity of the husband and his obsession with his wife.
In such a story, the author managed to explore so many themes which was fascinating to me. As a whole, the story wasn't something extraordinary but the execution of the story was brilliantly done.
In such a story, the author managed to explore so many themes which was fascinating to me. As a whole, the story wasn't something extraordinary but the execution of the story was brilliantly done.
February 25, 2021
Really well-written - especially the descriptions of longing when you seemingly have no reason to want. Minus one star because I don’t think the ending was as effective as it could have been, but maybe I just didn’t get it.
May 1, 2021
Portrait of a marriage. A husband anxiously awaits his wife's return from a trip. She has had an unusual encounter while on the ship coming home.
Who is the stranger? Is it the wife? Or maybe the man she met on the ship? Or could it be the husband? Audible edition.
Who is the stranger? Is it the wife? Or maybe the man she met on the ship? Or could it be the husband? Audible edition.
April 25, 2023
A man awaits at the port for the arrival of his wife after a European tour. He becomes anxious as time passes, but eventually there she is, ashore at last. However, the wife is very distant and clearly thinking about something else - an event that took place aboard the ship!
July 19, 2019
A ball of curiosity meanders through obvious life scenes which will eventually lead to a dark, shocking and incredible climax.
February 20, 2020
"I wan' my tea, mammy!" she wailed.
November 23, 2023
i finished this ages ago but i forgot lol
July 11, 2025
Interesante relato, a pesar de que leí una traducción bastante mala. Me impresionaron los objetos: la ropa, los materiales.
Creí incluso haber podido escuchar el aleteo de las gaviotas.
Creí incluso haber podido escuchar el aleteo de las gaviotas.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews