An Angel At My Table (Autobiography, Volumes 1,2,3)

Description

After being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia as a young woman. Janet Frame spent several years in psychiatric institutions. She escaped undergoing a lobotomy when it was discovered that she had just won a national literary prize. She then went on to become New Zealand's most acclaimed writer. As she says more than once in this autobiography: 'My writing saved me.' Originally published in three separate volumes: To the Is-Land first published in 1982 An Angel at My Table first published in 1984 The Envoy from Mirror City first published in 1985 Contents Virago Modern Classics 533 Also by Janet Frame Copyright Introduction by Jane Campion Volume One: To the Is-Land Dedication 1 In the Second Place 2 Toward the Is-Land 3 In Velvet Gown 4 The Railway People 5 Ferry Street, Wyndham 6 Hark, Hark, the Dogs Do Bark 7 Fifty-six Eden Street, Oamaru 8 Death and a Sickness 9 Poppy 10 OK Permanent Wave 11 The Prince of Sleep 12 Cures 13 The Birds of the Air 14 Pastimes 15 Gussy and the Invercargill March 16 The Athenaeum 17 Clothed in White Samite 18 Picnics 19 A Death 20 Once Paumanok 21 The Hungry Generations 22 The Kingdom by the Sea 23 Scrapers and Bluey 24 Faust and the Piano 25 Marking Time 26 Early Spring Snow 27 ‘That’s Not You, Jasper’ 28 University Entrance 29 Imagination 30 A Country Full of Rivers 31 Leaving the Is-Land, Greeting the Is-Land Volume Two: An Angel at My Table Dedication Epigraph PART ONE: TRICKS OF DESPERATION 1 The Stone 2 Number Four Garden Terrace, Dunedin 3 The Student 4 Again ‘A Country Full of Rivers’ 5 Isabel and the Growth of Cities 6 Willowglen 7 1945 (One) 8 1945 (Two) 9 1945 (Three) 10 1945 (Four) 11 The Boardinghouse and the New World 12 Willowglen Summer 13 Another Death by Water 14 Dear Educated 15 Threading Needles PART TWO: FINDING THE SILK 16 Grand Hotel 17 Mr Brasch and Landfall 18 The Photograph and the Electric Blanket 19 Up North 20 Mr Sargeson and the Army Hut 21 Talk of Treasure 22 The Pine Trees in the Cool of the Evening 23 A Death 24 The Silkworms 25 Miss Lincoln, Beatrix Potter and Dr Donne 26 Advice to the Traveller 27 The Traveller Volume Three: The Envoy from Mirror City Dedication PART ONE: TRIPLE WITNESS 1 Earthless, the Sailing 2 The Gentleman 3 Keats and the Storytellers of Battersea 4 Three 5 A Game of Chess 6 Plaza Roma 7 Calle Ignacio Riquer 8 Soap-New People 9 The Pine Trees 10 El Americano 11 Figuretti’s 12 Andorra PART TWO: AT HOME IN THE CITY 13 London 14 Questions 15 The Investigation and the Verdict 16 Dr Cawley and the Luxury of Time 17 Grove Hill Road and the Life of a Writer 18 Friends in London 19 Meeting the Publisher 20 A Cottage in the Country 21 An Apartment in the City 22 The Return 23 Willowglen 24 Only to Please the Envoy Acknowledgments