A remarkable input (notevole impulso) to a new way of writing came from New Zealand. Katherine Mansfield – original name Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp – was born in Wellington, into a middle-class colonial family and lived for six years in the rural village of Karori. She published her first text at the age of nine, then, as a first step to her rebellion against her background, she left for London in 1903 to study. Back in New Zealand in 1906, she started studying the cello (clavicembalo), typing and bookkeeping. Her lifelong (amica di una vita) friend Ida Baker persuaded (persuase) Mansfield’s father to let Katherine move back (tornare) to England. There she devoted herself (si dedicò) to writing and never visited New Zealand again. She toured around Europe for a while. In Bavaria she wrote satirical sketches of German characters, which were published in 1911 under the title In a German Pension. During the War she travelled restlessly between England and France. After her brother’s death in World War I K. Mansfield focused her writing on New Zealand and her family. In 1918 she was found (si scoprì) to have tuberculosis. In her last years Mansfield lived much of her time in southern France and in Switzerland, in search of relief (cercare sollievo) from tuberculosis. During her last period of life she wrote much about her own roots (radici) and her childhood. K. Mansfield died on January 9, 1923, and her last words were: “I love the rain. I want the feeling of it on my face.”