Parodic Translation: Katherine Mansfield and the ‘Boris Petrovsky’ Pseudonym

This chapter examines the fraudulent ‘translations’ that Mansfield composed under the pseudonym ‘Boris Petrovsky’ for the little magazine Rhythm. Suggesting the possible origins of this imagined name, the article reads these poems within the original material contexts of publication, situating Mansfield’s ‘translations’ within a network of exchange between Rhythm and The New Age. Examining the specific political-historical contexts that inform the poems, the article also highlights Mansfield’s identification with a literary tradition of resistance to imperial hegemony, understanding ‘parodic translation’ as a tactic of critique and subversion. Appreciating these contexts allows us to consider the extent to which Mansfield’s other poetry contributions to Rhythm were shaped by an awareness of the equivalence between the literary canon and the structures of imperialism.