Editing Janet Frame (section)

=== 1990–2000 ===
On 6 February 1990, Frame was the sixteenth appointee to the [[Order of New Zealand]],<ref>"Honours and Awards" (15 February 1990) 23 ''[[New Zealand Gazette]]'' 445 at 446.</ref><ref name = "DPMC" /> the nation's highest civil honour. Frame also held foreign membership of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] and, in her native New Zealand, received two honorary doctorates as well as the status of cultural icon.<ref>{{cite web|title=The New Zealand Edge|url=http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/frame.html|publisher=Nzedge.com|access-date=2012-10-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227164728/http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/frame.html|archive-date=27 December 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rumours occasionally circulated portraying Frame as a contender for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], most notably in 1998, after a journalist spotted her name at the top of a list later revealed to have been in alphabetical order,<ref>MacLeod, Scott. "Reclusive Frame tipped as leading Nobel candidate." ''New Zealand Herald''. 2 October 2003.</ref><ref>[[#refKing2000|King 2000]], pp. 456, 470, 497, 514.</ref> and again five years later, in 2003, when [[Åsa Beckman]], the influential chief literary critic at the Swedish daily ''[[Dagens Nyheter]]'', wrongly predicted that Frame would win the prestigious prize.<ref>Fox, Gary. "Sth African J M Coetzee awarded Nobel prize for Literature, dashing hopes of NZ writer Janet Frame." ''IRN News''. 3 October 2003</ref>

Frame's writing became the focus of academic criticism from the late 1970s, with approaches ranging from [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist]] and [[Social realism|social realist]], to [[Feminist theory|feminist]] and [[poststructuralist]]. In later years, book-length monographs on Frame were published. These included Patrick Evans’s bio-critical contribution for the "Twayne's World Authors Series," ''Janet Frame'' (1977), Gina Mercer's feminist reading of the novels and autobiographies, ''Janet Frame: Subversive Fictions'' (1994), and Judith Dell Panny's allegorical approach to the works, ''I have what I gave: The fiction of Janet Frame'' (1992). A collection of essays edited by Jeanne Delbaere was first published in 1978, with a revised edition released under the title ''The Ring of Fire: Essays on Janet Frame'' in 1992. That same year, Dunedin's University of Otago hosted a conference dedicated to a discussion of Frame's work. Many of the papers were published in a special issue of ''The Journal of New Zealand Literature''.

[[File:WrestlingWithTheAngel.jpg|right|thumb|''Wrestling with the Angel''. The front cover of New Zealand historian [[Michael King (historian)|Michael King]]'s award-winning biography on Frame, first published in 2000.]]

In 2000, New Zealand historian [[Michael King (historian)|Michael King]] published his authorised biography of Frame, ''Wrestling with the Angel''. The book was simultaneously released in New Zealand and North America, with British and Australian editions appearing in later years.<ref name=FrameAutobio/> King's award-winning and exhaustive work attracted both praise and criticism. Some questioned the extent to which Frame guided the hand of her biographer,<ref>[[Harry Ricketts|Ricketts, Harry]]. "A life within the frame." ''[[The Lancet]]'' [UK] 10 November 2001: 1652.</ref><ref>Wilkins, Damien. "In the Lock-Up." ''Landfall'' 201 [NZ] May 2001: 25–36</ref><ref>Evans, Patrick. "Dr. Clutha’s Book of the World: Janet Paterson Frame, 1924–2004." Journal of New Zealand Literature 22: 15–3.</ref> while others argued that he had failed to come to terms with the complexity and subtlety of his subject.<ref>Wikse, Maria. "Materialisations of a Woman Writer: Investigating Janet Frame's Biographical Legend" Bern (SW): Peter Lang, 2006.</ref> Adding to the controversy, King openly admitted that he withheld information "that would have been a source of embarrassment and distress to her," and that he adopted publisher Christine Cole Catley's notion of "compassionate truth." This advocates "a presentation of evidence and conclusions that fulfil the major objectives of biography, but without the revelation of information that would involve the living subject in unwarranted embarrassment, loss of face, emotional or physical pain, or a nervous or psychiatric collapse." King defended his project and maintained that future biographies on Frame would eventually fill in the gaps left by his own work.<ref>King, Michael. "The Compassionate Truth" ''Meanjin Quarterly'' 61.1 (2002) 34
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