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Crans-Montana 2012

 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KATHERINE MANSFIELD

Hosted by the British Residents Association and the English Department of the University of Geneva, together with the Katherine Mansfield Society

CRANS-MONTANA, SWITZERLAND

22-23 SEPTEMBER 2012

To be introduced by the New Zealand Ambassador

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Witi Ihimaera, Angela Smith, Gerri Kimber

FINAL PROGRAMME FOR THE KATHERINE MANSFIELD SYMPOSIUM

In 1921 and 1922 Katherine Mansfield was in search of a cure for tuberculosis, travelling to both Switzerland and France. She spent two separate periods in Switzerland during this time, totalling approximately twelve months. For four of these she stayed in hotels in Montreux and Sierre, and the remainder of the time she and her husband John Middleton Murry rented the Chalet des Sapins in Montana-sur-Sierre (now known as Crans-Montana). There she wrote some of her most celebrated stories, including ‘At the Bay’, ‘The Doll’s House’ and ‘The Garden Party’. It was also in Switzerland that she read the book Cosmic Anatomy, whose esoteric philosophy would ignite a desire for a spiritual cure from the physical symptoms of her tuberculosis, leading her ultimately to Gurdjieff’s community in Fontainebleau, where she would die in January 1923, aged just 34.

UPDATE

The symposium was an enormous success and Simone Oettli created an unforgettable weekend of events for the delegates, enriching our knowledge and understanding of Katherine Mansfield's life during the months she spent in Switzerland.

Photos