Snowman Snowman; Fables and Fantasies Book

This book is an interesting collection of Janet Frame's attempts to write outside of the realistic novel tradition. About half of it is a single novelette, Snowman, Snowman, and the other half a collection of mostly short (2-3 page) vignettes. While there is some lovely writing here and there, I unfortunately found Frame's attempts to free her writing up (or so these texts seemed to me) to work only occasionally better than, or even as well as, her fabulous novels. Could be a matter of taste, but I felt that the resistance to straight realism and narrative here rather fell more often toward medieval allegory or Aesopian fable, when I would have preferred a more experimental, surreal approach. Often the texts struck me a silly rather than suggestive, even if Frame, as she usually does, hit on some lovely turns of phrase, some wonderfully profound human sentiments, and a few dramatic situations as well. Guess I will put this in the "Frame aficionados Only" file.

One thing that does hold the collection together--other than each text's attempting in some way to use fable, personification, or non sequitur to push the boundaries of narrative prose--is a reoccurring theme of death. It's as if death marks a boundary not only thematically, but formerly as well, marking a place beyond which even the absurd cannot pass. My favorite of the texts here was the penultimate, "One Must Give Up." Only there did the form transcend older forms and actually seem to create a bit of experimental frisson.