Thursday, May 9, 2013

"quite perfectly posthumous" (LiteraryMinded)

Author Angela Meyer of Australian blog LiteraryMinded has written about her experience of reviewing Janet Frame's In the Memorial Room for The Australian newspaper.

She says "it felt like a weighty task", but: "as soon as I began reading the novel, it was like sitting down very comfortably with an old friend; a very smart, witty, entertaining old friend."

In the comments thread, Meyer shares an interesting insight:

"With the dead writer character Frame is also exploring the glory afforded to authors (good or mediocre) after their death; the way they are picked over, used, in a way; the way the meaning of their life and work changes. And with full knowledge that in life one can hardly control one’s public image, let alone in death, by releasing a posthumous novel Frame is at least a part of the conversation on her own status as a dead author, if you get my drift. It’s wonderfully clever."

The post on Literary Minded can be found here.

Angela Meyer's review can be found here

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