From Wrestling with the Angel: A Life of Janet Frame by Michael King
"It is the invisibility of the material - ideas, dreams, feelings - that arouses wonder. The inspiration is in the discoveries the writer makes on the imaginative journey - darkened landscapes are suddenly drenched with light, you know how the novel will go and where it will end." pp. 397-98
"Of course one doesn't write unless one is haunted. I don't write unless...and idea haunts me." p. 398
"She now relinquished her pursuit of Catholicism, 'because when it comes to the crunchy crunch I can't be ruled over by an institution...I haven't the energy to submit myself to that kind of house-cleaning...[The] only cleaning which suits me is in the institution of language, spoken, written, unspoken...'" p. 417
"I know my limitations. The only thing I have is a clear way of seeing something. However, my expression falls short. I'm constantly embarrassed by my small vocabulary of vital words." p. 452
"In writing the autobiographies, she said, her 'imagined treasures [had] faded in the light of this world, in their medium of language they have acquired imperfections [and] lost meaning that seemed, once, to shine from them and make your heart beat faster with the joy of discovery of the matched phrase or cadence, the clear insight. Take care. Your recent past surrounds you, has not yet been transformed. Do not remove yet what may be the foundation of a palace in Mirror City.'" p. 469
"Writing was and is so much a means of survival, and anything which interferes with that, which makes me waver, is, for me I feel, quite dangerous. I always feel I have to have this strong sense of being myself. It's not something you get and keep - and you have to keep renewing it." p. 472
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