Literary world tantalised by prospect of more Frame books

With Janet Frame's funeral over, the literary world is waiting to see what she may have left for publication after her death - with speculation there might even be a fourth volume of her autobiography.

Frame published her last novel, The Carpathians, in 1988 and finished the third volume of her autobiography in 1984 - but it traced her life only to the mid-1960s.

She was a compulsive writer of poetry, but had not published a poetry volume since 1967.

Her biographer, Michael King, said she was writing until as recently as three months ago, and was believed to have made a new will in the last few months when she knew she was dying.

"There appears to be work there ... available for publication," King said yesterday.

"But Janet herself wouldn't talk about it because she didn't think writing was anybody's business until it was released for publication."

Frame had said years ago that the ideal arrangement for a writer was to be published posthumously, because she always disliked having her fiction compared with her life, King said. And when she had reached the point where she had sufficient income, she stopped publishing.

"What was important for her was the writing. It wasn't being published."

Emeritus Professor Lawrence Jones, of the University of Otago, said, "It's all speculation. We don't know, but certainly she has been writing something over the years.

"If she left stuff expressly to be published after her death, that would be a huge literary thing."

Canterbury University Associate Professor Patrick Evans said the mystery was typical.

"That's what it's like around Janet Frame. It's a mystery inside another mystery. As to what is left over, Janet herself said at some stage that she intended to write a fourth volume of her autobiography but it would be in the form of poems."

He thought Frame had already published the work she wanted to be published, but he said publishers would be falling over themselves to get hold of anything that remained.

The family did not want to comment, but all is expected to be revealed soon, when the will is read and the identity of the literary executor is known.

"I honestly have no knowledge of what's in Janet's most recent will," King said. "I've had previous discussions with Janet about what the options were, but Janet did not disclose what she had decided to do."

- NZPA