Feuille d'album tells the story of a young man, he's a drawer, and his name is Ian French. He refuses the advances that women make to him. And then he falls in love with a woman he doesn't know. What is relevant in this story is the tone and rhythm that Mansfield uses to create a humoristic and satirical atmosphere.
The story is very short, only five pages, but Mansfield manages to create a coherent set and true-to-life characters as she only describes the essential things and what is really relevant. We can divide this story in two distinct parts. First the presentation of the character of Ian French and the description of his studio, then the real plot of the story, that is to say his meeting with the girl who lives in the house facing his window, and the way he first approaches her. The presentation of Ian French is really strictly organised. There is no surprise about him; the story begins with "He was really an impossible person". As soon as it begins we know who we will deal with. Then, an accurate physical description, with funny comments of the external narrator such as "How could one resist him?" The description puts the emphasize on the way he looks childish with " the grey jacket that the sleeves are too short" and on the fact he tries to look like an artist adventurer, a sort of figure of the misunderstood artist. Then there are three anecdotes of women's attempts to seduce him and a description of his apartment which will contribute to the satirical aspect of the story.
This aspect is created through different devices such as comedy of repletion when the three different women try to seduce him, one is maternal, the other tries to force him to fall in love and the last one tries to get him drunk. But those three attempts have the same conclusion, which is the word "hopeless". Ian French has principles in life and he doesn't want "giggling women". He appears as a sort of romantic figure lost in the triviality and the materialism of the...