I first met Janet Frame when I was a baby and she came to stay at our home in Northcote, on the North Shore of Auckland. She was my mother's sister. This was in 1955. She had already made a name for herself by winning a major New Zealand literary prize for her first book. She had also published poems and stories, and had read a story over the radio. I doubt whether I understood anything about fame then, and I'm only just beginning to register the extent to which being related to someone famous can affect one's life.
1 comment:
Hi Pamela - just wanted to say thanks for your interesting blog entries! I'm yet another academic writing on J.F. - not in a snooping biographical or diagnostic way though! I'm writing on a number of Kiwi fiction writers whose novels address the writing process, so am looking at The Carpathians and Living in the Maniototo - looking at the sly sense of humour in them and the way they show a profound interest in language for its own sake. Anyway it's refreshing to read your remarks on the mis/representations of Janet. Is it okay if I cite a couple of things you've said? I'm especially trying to pinpoint her narrators' sense of humour and the sort of bemused irony one sees in their responses to pretension.
Her grins during the Michael Noonan interview probably say it all...
Best regards,
Matt Harris
Massey University
Albany
Auckland
email: m.j.harris@massey.ac.nz
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