Janet Paterson FrameONZCBE (28 August 1924 – 29 January 2004) was a New Zealand author. She is internationally renowned for her work, which includes novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous awards including being appointed to theOrder of New Zealand,[1] New Zealand's highest civil honour.[2][3]
Frame's celebrity derived from her dramatic personal history as well as her literary career. Following years of psychiatric hospitalisation, Frame was scheduled for alobotomy that was cancelled when, just days before the procedure, her debut publication of short stories was unexpectedly awarded a national literary prize.[4] Many of her novels and short stories explore her childhood and psychiatric hospitalisation from a fictional perspective, and her award-winning three-volume autobiography was adapted into the filmAn Angel at My Table (1990), directed byJane Campion.[2][3]
Frame spent her early childhood years in various small towns in New Zealand's South Island provinces ofOtago andSouthland, includingOutram andWyndham, before the family eventually settled in the coastal town ofOamaru (recognisable as the "Waimaru" of her début novel and subsequent fiction[7]). As recounted in the first volume of her autobiographies, Frame's childhood was marred by the deaths of two of her adolescent sisters, Myrtle and Isabel, who drowned in separate incidents, and theepileptic seizures suffered by her brother George (referred to as "Geordie" and "Bruddie").[8]
In 1943, Frame began training as a teacher at theDunedin College of Education, auditing courses in English, French and psychology at the adjacentUniversity of Otago.[9] After completing two years of theoretical studies with mixed results,[10] Frame started a year of practical placement at the Arthur Street School in Dunedin, which, according to her biographer, initially went quite well.[10] Things started to unravel later that year when she attempted suicide by ingesting a packet ofaspirin. As a result, Frame began regular therapy sessions with junior lecturerJohn Money, to whom she developed a strong attraction,[11] and whose later work as asexologist specialising ingender reassignment remains[update] controversial.[12]
Seacliff Lunatic Asylum in theOtago region, where Frame was first committed in 1945.
In September 1945, Frame abandoned her teacher-training classroom at Dunedin's Arthur Street School during a visit from an inspector.[13][14] She was then briefly admitted to the psychiatric ward of the local Dunedin hospital for observation.[15] Frame was unwilling to return home to her family, where tensions between her father and brother frequently manifested in outbursts of anger and violence. As a result, Frame was transferred from the local hospital's psychiatric ward toSeacliff Lunatic Asylum, a fabled and feared mental institution located 20 miles north of Dunedin.[16] During the next eight years, Frame was repeatedly readmitted, usually voluntarily, topsychiatric hospitals in New Zealand. In addition to Seacliff, these includedAvondale Lunatic Asylum, inAuckland, andSunnyside Hospital inChristchurch. During this period, Frame was first diagnosed as suffering fromschizophrenia,[15] which was treated withelectroconvulsive therapy andinsulin.[8][17]
Owls Do Cry. Dennis Beytagh's cover illustration for Frame's début novel, released by New Zealand's Pegasus Press in 1957.
In 1951, while Frame was still a patient at Seacliff,New Zealand's Caxton Press published her first book, a critically acclaimed collection of short stories titledThe Lagoon and Other Stories.[18] The volume was awarded the Hubert Church Memorial Award, at that time one of New Zealand's most prestigious literary prizes. This resulted in the cancellation of Frame's scheduledlobotomy.[19][20] Four years later, after her final discharge from Seacliff, Frame met writerFrank Sargeson.[21] She lived and worked athis home inTakapuna, anAuckland suburb, from April 1955 to July 1956, producing her first full-length novel,Owls Do Cry (Pegasus, 1957).[22]
Frame left New Zealand in late 1956, and the next seven years were most prolific in terms of publication. She lived and worked in Europe, primarily based in London, with brief sojourns toIbiza andAndorra.[23][24] In May 1958 she legally changed her name toNene Janet Paterson Clutha, in part to make herself more difficult to locate and in part to recognise Māori leaderTamati Waka Nene, whom she admired, and theClutha River, which was a source of creative inspiration.[6][25] Frame still struggled with anxiety and depression, and in September 1958 admitted herself[26] to theMaudsley in London. American-trained psychiatrist Alan Miller, who studied underJohn Money atJohns Hopkins University, proposed that she had never suffered from schizophrenia.[27][28] In an effort to alleviate the ill effects of her years spent in and out of psychiatric hospitals, Frame then began regular therapy sessions with psychiatristRobert Hugh Cawley, who encouraged her to pursue her writing. Frame dedicated seven of her novels to Cawley.[29]
Frame returned to New Zealand in 1963, though not before spending a short period of time living in rural north Suffolk (near the town ofEye) which gave her the inspiration for her 1965 novelThe Adaptable Man. She accepted theBurns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 1965.[30] She later lived in several parts of New Zealand's North Island, including Auckland,Taranaki,Wanganui, theHorowhenua,Palmerston North,Waiheke,Stratford,Browns Bay andLevin.[31]
During this period Frame travelled extensively, occasionally to Europe, but principally to the United States, where she accepted residencies at theMacDowell andYaddo artists' colonies.[32] Partly as a result of these extended stays in the U.S., Frame developed close relationships with several Americans.[33] These included the painterTheophilus Brown (whom she later referred to as "the chief experience of my life"[34]) and his long-time partnerPaul John Wonner, the poetMay Sarton,John Phillips Marquand andAlan Lelchuk. Frame's one-time university tutor/counsellor and longtime friend John Money worked in North America from 1947 onwards, and Frame frequently based herself at his home inBaltimore.[35]
In the 1980s Frame authored three volumes of autobiography (To the Is-land,An Angel at my Table andThe Envoy from Mirror City) which collectively traced the course of her life to her return to New Zealand in 1963.[8] The Australian novelistPatrick White described the first two volumes as "amongst the wonders of the world".[36] Director Jane Campion and screenwriterLaura Jones adapted the trilogy for television broadcast. It was eventually released as an award-winning feature film,An Angel at My Table. ActressesKerry Fox, Alexia Keogh and Karen Fergusson portrayed the author at various ages. Frame's autobiographies sold better than any of her previous publications,[37] and Campion's successful film adaptation of the texts[38] introduced a new generation of readers to her work. These successes increasingly pushed Frame into the public eye.
Frame intended the autobiographies to "set the record straight" regarding her past and in particular her mental status.[41][42] However, critical and public speculation has continued to focus on her mental health.[42] In 2007, after Frame's death,The New Zealand Medical Journal published an article by a medical specialist who proposed that Frame may have been on theautism spectrum,[43] a suggestion that was disputed by the author's literary executor.[44][45][46][47]
During her lifetime, Frame's work was principally published by American firmGeorge Braziller, garnering numerous literary prizes in her native New Zealand, and theCommonwealth Writers' Prize in 1989 for her final novel,The Carpathians.
On 6 February 1990, Frame was the sixteenth appointee to theOrder of New Zealand,[48][1] the nation's highest civil honour. Frame also held foreign membership of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters and, in her native New Zealand, received two honorary doctorates as well as the status of cultural icon.[49] Rumours occasionally circulated portraying Frame as a contender for theNobel Prize in Literature, most notably in 1998, after a journalist spotted her name at the top of a list later revealed to have been in alphabetical order,[50][51] and again five years later, in 2003, whenÅsa Beckman, the influential chief literary critic at the Swedish dailyDagens Nyheter, wrongly predicted that Frame would win the prestigious prize.[52]
Frame's writing became the focus of academic criticism from the late 1970s, with approaches ranging fromMarxist andsocial realist, tofeminist andpoststructuralist. In later years, book-length monographs on Frame were published. These included Patrick Evans’s bio-critical contribution for the "Twayne's World Authors Series,"Janet Frame (1977), Gina Mercer's feminist reading of the novels and autobiographies,Janet Frame: Subversive Fictions (1994), and Judith Dell Panny's allegorical approach to the works,I have what I gave: The fiction of Janet Frame (1992). A collection of essays edited by Jeanne Delbaere was first published in 1978, with a revised edition released under the titleThe Ring of Fire: Essays on Janet Frame in 1992. That same year, Dunedin's University of Otago hosted a conference dedicated to a discussion of Frame's work. Many of the papers were published in a special issue ofThe Journal of New Zealand Literature.
Wrestling with the Angel. The front cover of New Zealand historianMichael King's award-winning biography on Frame, first published in 2000.
In 2000, New Zealand historianMichael King published his authorised biography of Frame,Wrestling with the Angel. The book was simultaneously released in New Zealand and North America, with British and Australian editions appearing in later years.[8] King's award-winning and exhaustive work attracted both praise and criticism. Some questioned the extent to which Frame guided the hand of her biographer,[53][54][55] while others argued that he had failed to come to terms with the complexity and subtlety of his subject.[56] Adding to the controversy, King openly admitted that he withheld information "that would have been a source of embarrassment and distress to her," and that he adopted publisher Christine Cole Catley's notion of "compassionate truth." This advocates "a presentation of evidence and conclusions that fulfil the major objectives of biography, but without the revelation of information that would involve the living subject in unwarranted embarrassment, loss of face, emotional or physical pain, or a nervous or psychiatric collapse." King defended his project and maintained that future biographies on Frame would eventually fill in the gaps left by his own work.[57]
Frame died in Dunedin in January 2004, aged 79, fromacute myeloid leukaemia, shortly after becoming one of the first recipients of theArts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Awards, established to celebrate and acknowledge New Zealand artists who have achieved the highest standards of artistic expression.[58][59] A number of works have been published posthumously, including a volume of poetry titledThe Goose Bath, which was awarded New Zealand's top poetry prize in 2007. This generated a minor controversy among critics who felt the posthumous prize "set an awkward precedent".[60][61] A novella,Towards Another Summer, was also published posthumously, a work inspired by a weekend Frame spent with British journalistGeoffrey Moorhouse and his family.[62][63] In 2008, two previously unpublished short stories set in mental hospitals appeared inThe New Yorker.[64] Another previously unpublished short story was carried inThe New Yorker in 2010.[65] In March 2011, the New Zealand branch ofPenguin Books acquired the rights to publish three new editions of Frame's work. These were:Janet Frame in Her Own Words (2011), a collection of interviews and nonfiction,Gorse is Not People: New and Uncollected Stories (2012) (published in the US asBetween My Father and the King: New and Uncollected Stories), and the novelIn the Memorial Room (2013).
In 2010,Gifted, a novel by New Zealand academic and former Frame biographer Patrick Evans, was published and subsequently shortlisted for theCommonwealth Writers' Prize. The story is a fictionalised account of the relationship between Janet Frame and Frank Sargeson during her time living as a guest on hisTakapuna property in 1955–56[66] – an era recounted in a number of works by Frame and her contemporaries and dramatised in Campion's film,An Angel at My Table (1990).[67] In 2013, Evans' novel was adapted for the stage, premiering at the Christchurch Arts Festival on 22 August 2013, followed by extended tour of New Zealand's north and south islands. While garnering positive critical reviews,[68][69] the promotion and staging of the production drew fierce criticism from Frame's literary executor and niece, Pamela Gordon, who maintained it "was designed to demean Frame."[70][71][72] Gordon, who has also criticised Campion's film for inaccuracies in its portrayal of Frame,[73][74] asserted that Evans' theatrical adaptation presented an unfaithful view of her famous relative.[75] Festival organiser Philip Tremewan defended the play,[76] while director Conrad Newport maintained that Gordon was "overprotective of [Frame's] legacy."[70] Evans generally avoided the controversy, stating, "I have publicised her work and popularised it for two to three generations of students. InGifted, the play and novel, you only have to look at the title to see what my attitude is. I really don't think I have anything to apologise for."[70]
1968The Rainbirds. London: WH Allen. (Published in the US with Frame's preferred original title,Yellow Flowers in the Antipodean Room. New York: Braziller, 1969)
1951The Lagoon and Other Stories. Christchurch: Caxton Press. (Mistakenly dated on first edition as 1952)
1963.The Reservoir: Stories and Sketches. New York: Braziller
1963.Snowman Snowman: Fables and Fantasies. New York: Braziller
1966The Reservoir and Other Stories London: W.H. Allen. Commonwealth edition, selection fromThe Reservoir: Stories and Sketches andSnowman Snowman: Fables and Fantasies.
1983.You Are Now Entering the Human Heart. Wellington: Victoria University Press.
2012.Gorse Is Not People. Auckland: Penguin. Posthumous, previously unpublished and uncollected stories. Published in the US asBetween My Father and the King. Berkeley: Counterpoint.
1969.Mona Minim and the Smell of the Sun. (With illustrations byRobin Jacques.) New York: Braziller (Reissued posthumously in 2005 by Random House, New Zealand, with illustrations by David Elliot).
2006.The Goose Bath. Auckland: Random House/Vintage (Posthumously published); (Released in the UK as a collected edition along with selections fromThe Pocket Mirror under the titleStorms Will Tell: Selected Poems. Bloodaxe Books, 2008)
2017.Parleranno le tempeste. Mendrisio: Gabriele Capelli Editore (Posthumously published); (Released in Italy and Switzerland as a collected edition along with selections fromThe Pocket Mirror andThe Goose Bath). Italian. Translated by Eleonora Bello and Francesca Benocci. Preface by Pamela Gordon (Janet Frame Literary Trust)
1982.To the Is-Land (Autobiography 1). New York: Braziller.
1984.An Angel at My Table (Autobiography 2). New York: Braziller.
1984.The Envoy From Mirror City (Autobiography 3). Auckland: Century Hutchinson.
1989.An Autobiography (Collected edition). Auckland: Century Hutchinson (Posthumously reprinted under the titleAn Angel at My Table, London: Virago, 2008).
1947. "Alison Hendry" inLandfall 2, June 1947. (Published under the penname "Jan Godfrey"; reprinted inThe Lagoon and Other Stories under the title "Jan Godfrey".)
1954. "The Waitress" inNew Zealand Listener, 9 July 1954
1954. "The Liftman" inNew Zealand Listener, 13 August 1954
1954. "On Paying the Third Installment" inNew Zealand Listener, 10 September 1954
1954. "Lolly Legs" inNew Zealand Listener, 15 October 1954
1954. "Trio Concert" inNew Zealand Listener, 29 October 1954.
1954. "Timothy" inNew Zealand Listener, 26 November 1954
1955. "The Transformation" inNew Zealand Listener, 28 January 1955
1956. "The Ferry" inNew Zealand Listener, 13 July 1956.
1956. "Waiting for Daylight" inLandfall (NZ) 10
1956. "I Got Shoes" inNew Zealand Listener, 2 November 1956.
1957. "Face Downwards in the Grass" inMate (NZ) 1
1957. "The Dead" inLandfall (NZ) 11
1957. "The Wind Brother" inSchool Journal (NZ) 51.1
1958. "The Friday Night World" inSchool Journal (NZ) 52.1
1962. "The Red-Currant Bush, the Black-Currant Bush, the Gooseberry Bush, the African Thorn Hedge, and the Garden Gate Who Was Once the Head of an Iron Bed" inMademoiselle April 1962
1963. "The Reservoir" inThe New Yorker 12 January 1963 (reprinted inThe Reservoir: Stories and Sketches)
1953. "A Letter to Frank Sargeson" inLandfall 25, March 1953
1954. "Review of Terence Journet'sTake My Tip" inLandfall 32, December 1954
1955. "Review ofA Fable by William Faulkner" inParson's Packet, no. 36, October–December 1955
1964. "Memory and a Pocketful of Words" inTimes Literary Supplement, 4 June 1964
1964. "This Desirable Property" inNew Zealand Listener, 3 July 1964
1965. "Beginnings" inLandfall (NZ) 73, March 1965
1968. "The Burns Fellowship" inLandfall (NZ) 87, September 1968
1973. "Charles Brasch 1909–1973: Tributes and Memories from His Friends" inIslands (NZ) 5, Spring 1973
1975. "Janet Frame onTales from Grimm" inEducation (NZ) 24.9, 1975
1982. "Departures and Returns" in G. Amirthanayagan (ed.)Writers in East-West Encounter, London: Macmillan, 1982 (Originally delivered as a paper at the International Colloquium on the Cross-Cultural Encounter in Literature, East-West Center,Honolulu, October 1977).
1984. "A last Letter to Frank Sargeson" inIslands (NZ) 33, July
1951: Hubert Church Prose Award (The Lagoon and other Stories)
1956: New Zealand Literary Fund Grant
1958: New Zealand Literary Fund Award for Achievement (Owls Do Cry)
1964: Hubert Church Prose Award (Scented Gardens for the Blind); New Zealand Literary Fund Scholarship in Letters.
1965: Robert Burns Fellowship, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ
1967: "Buckland Literary Award." (The Reservoir and Other Stories/A State of Siege)
1969: New Zealand Literary Fund Award (The Pocket Mirror: Poems)
1971: Buckland Literary Award (Intensive Care); Hubert Church Prose Award. (Intensive Care)
1972: President of Honour: P.E.N. International New Zealand Centre, Wellington, NZ
1973: James Wattie Book of the Year Award (Daughter Buffalo)
1974: Hubert Church Prose Award (Daughter Buffalo); Winn-Manson Menton Fellowship.
1978: Honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt. Honoris Causa) University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ
1979: Buckland Literary Award (Living in the Maniototo)
1980: New Zealand Book Award for Fiction (Living in the Maniototo)
1983: Buckland Literary Award; Sir James Wattie Book of the Year Award (To the Is-Land); C.B.E. (Commander, Order of the British Empire)
1984: Frank Sargeson Fellowship, University of Auckland, NZ
1984: New Zealand Book Award for Non-Fiction (An Angel at My Table); Sir James Wattie Book of the Year Award (An Angel at My Table); Turnovsky Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts
1985: Sir James Wattie Book of the Year Award (The Envoy from Mirror City)
1986: New Zealand Book Award for Non-Fiction (The Envoy from Mirror City); Honorary Foreign Member: The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
1989: Ansett New Zealand Book Award for Fiction; Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (The Carpathians)
1990: O.N.Z. (Member, Order of New Zealand)
1992: Honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.), University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ
1994: Massey University Medal, Massey University, Palmerston North, NZ
^King, Michael. "Janet Frame: Antipodean phoenix in the American chicken coop."Antipodes: A North American Journal of Australian Literature 15:(2): 86–87; December 2001.
^Frame, Janet. "My Say." Interview with Elizabeth Alley. Concert Programme. Radio New Zealand, Wellington, NZ. 27 April 1983. RptIn the Same Room: Conversations with New Zealand Writers. Ed. Elizabeth Alley and Mark Williams. Auckland: Auckland UP, 1992.
^"gifted". Victoria.ac.nz. 18 June 2008. Archived fromthe original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved23 October 2012.
^See: Sargeson, Frank.More than Enough: A Memoir (1975); King, Michael.Frank Sargeson: A Life (1995); Stead, CK.All Visitors Ashore (1985); Frame, Janet.An Autobiography (1989); King, Michael.Wrestling with the Angel: A Life of Janet Frame(2000).
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