“Nation Loses Its Voice” ran the obituary headline in

The Australian

newspaper after Janet Frame died on 29 January 2004. This depth of national bereavement seems extraordinary for an intensely reserved writer of opaque novels who once described herself, to Geoffrey Moorhouse, as “just a refugee”. Yet it was Frame’s commitment to marginality that eventually led to national and international celebration of her creative integrity. Frame’s life story and aesthetic practice attest to the view that those who are displaced within social systems see their operations and exclusions most clearly, an insight that Frame extends to normative accounts of language and consciousness itself.

Frame’s passage to writing is widely-known through her three-part autobiography (1982-1985), Jane

2719 words

Citation: Lawn, Jennifer. "Janet Frame". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 June 2005; last revised 20 March 2008. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1610, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1610 Janet Frame 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.