Janet Frame’s World of Books: (8 Studies in World Literature)

This study investigates how Janet Frame weaves together literary sources from her extensive reading to create a web of intertextual relationships. Patricia Neville traces Frame’s passion for books beginning with her childhood and earliest published work in the Otago Daily Times. Drawing on new research and through close readings of Frame’s novels, she discusses the effects of Frame’s borrowings from the Bible and Shakespeare and from writing from New Zealand, Britain, France, and the USA. A fascinating read not only for scholars, but for all admirers of Janet Frame’s fiction.

About the Author :
Patricia Neville, PhD, read English Literature for her first degree at London University, Goldsmiths’ College, and then became a teacher of English in secondary and adult education. She first encountered Frame’s novels while on a holiday in New Zealand and was inspired to embark on her own study of Frame’s reading patterns and literary borrowings. Her doctoral study on Frame’s novels for the Open University took her back to New Zealand for archival research. This book is the outcome of her explorations, scrutinies, and analyses.

Review :
"Patricia Neville has lit up Frame’s writing world for me more vividly than any of the many who have tried to write about this complex, challenging writer. Everything becomes new in her fresh approach, making this the only place to start for old Frame hands and young ones, too. All this by answering a simple question: 'What did this writer read?'"—Patrick Evans, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand "From the moment she could read, Janet Frame had been engaged in a constant dialogue with those who, like her, had chosen to live in 'the City of Words.' Janet Frame’s World of Books picks up almost one by one all the many-layered borrowings and echoes so delicately woven into the rich fabric of her novels. It also examines a large number of translations of her work and their critical reception. An insightful and richly-documented study, Patricia Neville's book will delight not only scholars, but all the admirers of Frame’s fiction."—Jeanne Delbaere, Professor Emerita of English Literature, Free University of Brussels, Belgium “In referencing and analysing both the well-known and lesser known echoes that reverberate all through the author’s work, Neville offers the first extensive view of Janet Frame in conversation with other authors, making Janet Frame’s World of Books a welcome contribution to contemporary criticism.”―Cindy Gabrielle, Independent Scholar, Liège, Belgium "Not only is Neville very familiar with Frame’s writings, but she also displays impressive erudition in her knowledge of French, German, American writers, poets and critics as well. She has excavated a mine. This is a very complete, fascinating, innovative and timely work, written in excellent style by a critic who is also undeniably, and like Frame herself, a lover of words. Neville’s work contributes to renewing criticism on Frame which has tended up to now to neglect this crucial aspect of her work."—Claire Bazin, Commonwealth Essays and Studies, 43.1 | 2020