The autobiography of New Zealand's most significant writer
New Zealand's preeminent writer Janet Frame brings the skill of an extraordinary novelist and poet to these vivid and haunting recollections, gathered here for the first time in a single volume. From a childhood and adolescence spent in a poor but intellectually intense railway family, through life as a student, and years of incarceration in mental hospitals, eventually followed by her entry into the saving world of writers and the "Mirror City" that sustains them, we are given not only a record of the events of a life, but also "the transformation of ordinary facts and ideas into a shining palace of mirrors."
Frame's journey of self-discovery, from New Zealand to London, to Paris and Barcelona, and then home again, is a heartfelt and courageous account of a writer's beginnings as well as one woman's personal struggle to survive.
GMD | BOOK |
Classification | F FRA |
Publisher | Virago Press, 2010 |
Subject | Novelists, New ZealandAutobiographyBIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHYBiography & AutobiographyBiography & Autobiography / Cultural HeritageBiography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirspersonal memoirsBiography & Autobiography / LiteraryArt & LiteratureMental HealthPoetry |
Description | "One of the great autobiographies of the twentieth century ... A journey from luminous childhood, through the dark experiences of supposed madness, to the renewal of her life through writing fiction. It is a heroic story, and told with such engaging tone, humorous perspective and imaginative power." Michael Holroyd, Sunday Times
"One of the most beautiful and moving books I have ever read ... A masterpiece ... Janet's autobiography had an enormous effect on me. She struck a blow right to my heart." Jane Campion |
ISBN | 9781844086238 |
Additional ISBN | 1844086232 |
URL |