Sheila Natusch
Enough of Jay’s travelogue. I thought of you, well-wishfully, on the day of your
opening, and my heart went out to you where it remains, with visits to Live Oak Inn between gallerysympathising and hoping for the success of your show. It has left me quite heartlessly in the offing.
Soon I shall fly . . . well, it’s just about 3 weeks now.
A mysterious
form, part bird
part man, part
woman,
feathered, skinned,
winged, web-footed,
comes into Focus.
Don’t miss our next instalment. Adventures in Focus. How will Carnie make his discovery known
(when all
is said
and done)
to Paul
and Ned?
Will Carnie’s shrill
voice reach Bill?
The foregoing is my letter
I can’t do better.
I send, however,
an orange and lemon grove
of love to my dear folks
the live oaks, hoping they
will survive this load of corn
blowing their way.
135. Auckland January (handwritten)
Dear inhabitants of Focus,
Hi. I’m just moving, still in imagination only (having left that crumby motel in Offing) out of one horse Focus Town into the pretty little resort of Foreground where I’m staying at the Foreplay Inn before I take the plane to Live Oak Inn. Quite a complicated journey, as complicated as a bee’s dance at the entrance to the hive, at sundown.
So I returned from Wellington this week to find a nice heap of mail including two letters & a lovely photo, all leaving me to feel warmly spoiled (like the dead in the desert) (she said, her eyes narrowing her face lifting . . .)
(Excuse crazy middle-of-the night letter. I had also a nasty letter from my N.Z. publisher & that is keeping me awake.)
By now, B, you will have had your opening, and the party and I’m sure Paul & you are croaking once again (from the Pallid bust of Pallas)c ‘Nevermore!’
‘pallid bust of Pallas’ is a phrase from Poe’s ‘The Raven’
Every success & satisfaction in the show!
Santa Fe sounds lovely & I see what you mean about city prowling & city people because whatever it is it’s on my circuit & I’ve never really understood why J.F. who was brought up as a simple milkmaid among the cows and sheep, delights in the seedy city. It’s a novelist’s attribute I believe (the only novelist’s attribute I have).
I thought you’d be interested in Jim B’s commune & his floor-bed & eel-diet. The week I was in Wellington he was also there, at home, being himself & living his philosophy but also catching up on civilisation (?) by watching tv & having an occasional bath & reciting a lot of poetry & enjoying the attention of his little grand daughter. Maybe he was sorry to have to return to the eels. Though his heart is wrapped up in his Jerusalem project even he seems to need to have one foot, if not in materialism, then in the home comforts of shelter, privacy, warmth, light, and to need the strength of his wife’s presence.
I had a nice infantile week. I also saw a couple of aunts & heard news of my mother’s relatives: of my cousins who own a Bee Farm (my aunt was brought up on an apiary—(this I had not known). The cousins also have an organic farm, on which they grow their wheat, and grind it to make flour; and so on.
I sat down & fingered the organ ? at my aunt’s house. (They hold religious meetings in one another’s homes & each home has an organ.)
So that was Wellington. I return to find my bedroom empty of ants who arrived, however, within a few hours. They’ve made new tracks none of which, fortunately, are in the bedclothes.
Among my nice mail was a letter from the housemaid at Yaddo (I remember telling you about her—of the Miss Gee species (from whom Eleanor Rigby also descended) who had
‘. . .a purple mac for wet days,
A green umbrella too to take,’d
from the poem ‘Miss Gee. A Ballad.’ by W.H. Auden
Her motto (quoted to me as a saying of her Irish grandmother) was—‘Nothing matters, everything passes; and forward look.’
She tells me that Alan Lelchuk (Mr Lelchuk) and Philip Roth (Mr Roth) are at Yaddo during January & how delighted she is to have ‘the gentlemen’. Miss Woods! Her horror at being called Mrs is indescribable (lazy word). ‘Oh no!’ she said one day to one of the ‘gentlemen’. ‘I’m Miss Woods. I’m a virgin.’ She is a dear character.
Well—not many more letters before I fly in. I’ve written so much to you that I won’t have anything to say. How good it will be to be away from New Zealand & how good it is to know that this is a fact which has been demonstrated to me again & again each time I have left New Zealand. It could so easily have been only another of those convenient dreams, half-insights, which are part of a change of place & which turn out to be shoddy imitations of the truth. ‘If only I were away from here & over there, all would be well.’
Next time I write I’ll give again my plane no. & arrival time in LAX. (This is the airline’s abbreviation.)
Jet love, all kinds of warm love to my three live frosted oaks & their household from
Dear Steinway. Hear you soon. Yours, J.
136. Auckland January (handwritten)
Dear Pixies of Live Oak Household,
a page of pre-traveller’s azzy frizzy izzy tizzy love bordered by a last below standard (D-) collage, from the ‘I know’ country—from Jay who flies-flees in to L.A. on Friday Jan 29, ’71 on Air New Zealand (or Flea-t) 566A, arriving 6.10 p.m.
Curious (yellow)
Love from
The Sunshine Lady
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Much gratitude for input, assistance and encouragement is due to the following:
Pamela Gordon, Chair of the Janet Frame Literary Trust, without whose generous cooperation and support this publication would not be possible;
Bill Brown who discussed this project with great enthusiasm before his death and gave his permission to use excerpts from his own letters;
Staff at the Hocken Collections—Uare Taoka o Hkena, Dunedin, where Janet Frame deposited her literary papers;
Andrew Wylie, Tracy Bohan, Jin Auh and Jackie Ko at The Wylie Agency;
Jack Shoemaker, Kelly Winton and the team at Counterpoint Press.
APPENDICES
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
* United States *
Douglas Allanbrook (1921–2003) composer; at Yaddo
Elizabeth Ames (1885–1977) director of Yaddo artists’ colony
Don Bachardy (1934–) artist; partner of Christopher Isherwood
Malcolm Bailey (1947-2011) artist; at Yaddo
Carl Brandt (1935–) literary agent
George Braziller (1916–) Frame’s first American publisher
Kenneth Burke (1897–1993) literary critic Frame met at Yaddo
Josephine Carson (Rider) (1919–2002) writer, married to Mark Rider; at MacDowell
Henry Chapin (1893–1983) wrote epic verse based on American history
Joan Colebrook (1912–1991) writer born in Australia; at MacDowell
Elnora Coleman (–1971) writer; at MacDowell
Dan Curley (1918–1988) US novelist and short story writer; at Yaddo
Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) artist
Arnold Dobrin (1928–) children’s author
Dr Gilbride veterinarian in Santa Barbara
Eunice Golden (1927–) artist and feminist; at MacDowell
Charles Gordone (1925–1995) playwright
Granville Hicks (1901–1982) novelist, editor; director of Yaddo with his wife Dorothy
Christoper Isherwood (1904–1986) British-born novelist, long-time resident
of California
Alfred Kazin (1915–1998) writer and literary critic; at Yaddo
Ann Kazin (1927–1998) writer, second wife of Alfred; at Yaddo
George Kendall (1902–1998) director of MacDowall artist colony 1951-1970
Harrison Kinney (1922–) writer, editor, journalist; at MacDowell
Felix Landau (1924–2003) art dealer
Basil Langton (1912–2003) actor, photographer; at MacDowell
Alan Lelchuk (1938–) novelist Frame met at earlier stay at Yaddo
Wright Luddington (1900–1992) Santa Barbara art collector and philanthropist
Freya Manfred (1936–) poet; at Yaddo
John Marquand (1924–1995), novelist Frame met at earlier stay at Yaddo
Sue Marquand (1931–1977) editor, married to John
Charles Neider (1915–2001) novelist, essayist, nature writer; at MacDowell
Joyce Carol Oates (1938–) novelist
Sylvie Pasche (Elizabeth Roget) (1900-90) writer; at MacDowell
Norman Podhoretz (1930–) neo-conservative writer, editor of Commentary; at Yaddo
Ned Rorem (1923–) composer; at Yaddo
Philip Roth (1931–) novelist Frame met at earlier stay at Yaddo
Eva Marie Saint (1924–) movie actor
May Sarton (1912–1995) novelist, poet, memoirist
Edward Seaver editor at Frame’s New York publisher, Braziller
Hyde Solomon (1911–1982) painter
Joan Tanner (1935–) artist
Katrina Trask (1853–1922) founder of Yaddo, with her husband Spencer
Louise Varèse (1890–1989) biographer, translator
Miss Woods housekeeper at Yaddo
* New Zealand *
Archibald Baxter (1881–1970) WW1 conscientious objector
Hilary Baxter (1949–2013) daughter of Jacquie and James
Jacquie Baxter (J.C. Sturm) (1927–2009) writer, wife of James K. Baxter
James K. Baxter (1926–1972) poet
John Baxter (1951–) son of Jacquie and James
Millicent Baxter (1888–1984) wife of Archibald
Charles Brasch (1909–1973) poet and editor of Landfall literary magazine
Rosalie Carey (1921–2011) actor, adapted and acted in Frame’s A State of Siege
D’Arcy Cresswell, (1896–1960) New Zealand poet who spent his later years in London
Ruth Dallas (1919–2008) poet
Harry Doyle (1893–1971) Sargeson’s long-term partner
Colin Durning dental professor and social activist
Charles Frame (Uncle Charlie) (–1965) Frame’s paternal uncle
George Frame (1921–1989) Frame’s brother
George Frame (1894–1963) Frame’s father
Hannah Frame (Aunty Han) (–1970) Frame’s aunt by marriage
Lottie Frame (1891-1955) Frame’s mother
Ian Gordon (1949–2014) Frame’s nephew, son of June and Wilson
June Gordon (1928–2008) Frame’s sister
Neil Gordon (1951–) Frame’s nephew, son of June and Wilson
Pamela Gordon (1954–) Frame’s niece, daughter of June and Wilson
Wilson Gordon (1916–2007) Frame’s brother in law
David Hall (1918–1971) book reviewer
Michael Hitchings (1924–2010) librarian of Hocken Library in Dunedin
Alan Horsman (1918–) Professor of English in Dunedin
Lawrence Jones (1934–) American-born Professor of English in Dunedin
Rodney Kennedy (1909–1989) Dunedin art patron and theatre producer
Iona Livingston (1921–2010) Frame’s cousin by marriage
Colin McCahon (1919–1987) artist
Bill Manhire (1946–) poet
John Money (1921–2006) New Zealand born sexologist at Johns Hopkin University in Baltimore
O.E. Middleton (Ted) (1925–2010) writer
Sheila Natusch (1926–) writer and artist on natural history themes
John Pascoe (1908–1972) writer on mountaineering
Frank Sargeson (1903–1982) writer
C.K. Stead (Karl) (1932–) poet and novelist
Raymond Ward (1925–2003) British born New Zealand poet
Jean Watson (1933–2015) writer
Jack Whewell (1903–1978) friend of Sargeson
Dorothy White (Ballantyne) (1915–1995) children’s librarian and author
Jess Whitworth (1874–1972) writer (married to Ernest)
Phillip Wilson (1922–2001) writer
* Other Countries *
Robert Cawley (R.H.C.) (1924-1999) psychiatrist at Maudsley Hospital in London
David Kozubei (1932-2006) writer in London
Lili Krause (1903-1986) concert pianist born in Hungary, briefly settled in New Zealand
John Lehmann (1907-1987) English writer and editor
Stan Ostoja-Kotkowski (1925-1995) Polish-born Australian painter and multi-media artist
Dominique Sion French post-graduate student in Dunedin in 1970
CONCEPTS AND NICKNAMES
A Malibu Sweater
a sweater that Bill gave to Janet
Baby Table (B.T.)
table at MacDowell where Bill and Janet dined
Basil the Gloom
morose; perhaps based on Basil Langton
Battery
energy level
Bee
Bill (William Theophilus Brown) (1919-2012)
Carnie
Carnivorous Plant
Dame Frame Clutha
Janet (who had changed her surname to Clutha by deed poll)
Dame Mary Margaret
Paul (after a character from Faces in the Water)
Fly
a character borrowed from Emily Dickinson’s poems
Evans Street
street where Frame lived in Dunedin
Feelie
sensitive person
Fred
female cat; frequent visitor at Hermosillo Drive
Focus
goal
Hermosillo Drive
Bill and Paul’s address in Santa Barbara, California
Jay, Jaybird
Janet Frame (1924-2004) also known as Janet Clutha
Kennel
potential room or studio for Janet at Bill and Paul’s place
Kiddies’ Page
(also Pixie Pages) collages and jokes etc.
Landfall
prominent New Zealand literary journal
Live Oaks Inn
name for Hermosillo Drive house
Miss Nostalgia Tarantula Piecemeal
Janet
My Mortal Enemy
the work in progress (after title of a Willa Cather novel)
Ned
Bill & Paul’s cat (also known as En)
Omicron
haven (from the name of a studio at MacDowell)
Peanut-butter patio
patio at Hermosillo Drive
Pee
Paul Wonner (1920-2008)
Peedauntal
device strapped to leg to afford relief during long social events
Pornograph
phonograph
Stars
asterisks marking a section-break in a letter / marks for merit
Surcingles
stripes on bee’s abdomen (from Emily Dickinson poem)
Steinie
Steinway piano owned by Bill
The Offing
the future
Thinkie
intellectual
Three Live Oaks
Bill, Paul and Ned the cat (derived from Walt Whitman poem)
The Tender Alternative
favourable option (from a poem and poet unknown)
The Stone Bees
moulded reliefs of bees on the front of a Dunedin building
Wax-Eye City
Dunedin (wax-eye is a small bird)
QUOTATIONS
Frame had a well-stocked mind from which she often drew appropriate quotations, p
araphrases and parodies, mostly of poetry, ranging from traditional rhymes and songs to the literary classics as well as contemporary poems. Rilke, Auden, Dickinson and Whitman were among her favourites. The following list respectfully notes living and recently dead authors of lines quoted. Well-known rhymes and allusions to older works are left for the reader to recognise. Some longer quotations have been omitted as noted in square brackets in the relevant place in the text (for instance, passages by Thom Gunn, James K. Baxter and Frank Sargeson). All best efforts have been made to identify and acknowledge the authors of quoted material that is still in copyright, and to obtain permission in the case of substantial quotes. Copyright owners are invited to contact the publisher if there has been any inadvertent omission.
W.H. Auden is quoted on p44 (from ‘Miss Gee. A Ballad’); p157 (from ‘Horae Canonicae: Lauds’); p191 (from ‘Lady Weeping at the Crossroads’); p201 (from ‘Letter to Lord Byron’); p218 (from ‘The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare’s The Tempest’); pp384-5 (from ‘Miss Gee. A Ballad’); p290 (from ‘Lullaby’); p317 (from ‘Culture’). Acknowledgement is made to W. H. Auden Collected Poems, edited by Edward Mendelson, Random House, New York and Faber & Faber, London (2007).
Josephine Carson is quoted on p121 (a limerick sent by private communication).