Citation of Maternal Narratives: A Butlerian Reading of Janet Frame's Autobiography

Gambaudo, Sylvie

Abstract

Narratives express and constrain what we might say about experience. In this paper, I want to explain how Janet Frame (1924–2004) was conditioned by her mother to learn and use pre-agreed narratives of family history, the accurate performance of which became the condition of the author's validity as a family member. Drawing on the work of Judith Butler on the citational self, I aim to show the tension between Frame's desire to become a writer of her own making and the constraint found in her early environment, in particular her mother's wish that her daughter should stick to ritualistic repetitions of established narratives. To do so, I will chronicle Frame's developmental journey, described in her autobiography, and using a Butlerian framework, I will explain how Frame finds a distinctive way to cite her own subjectivity. Beyond tension, beyond the stasis of repeated narrative, the author timidly at first then overtly transgresses the maternal injunction for correct citation.

Citation

Gambaudo, S. (2013). Citation of Maternal Narratives: A Butlerian Reading of Janet Frame's Autobiography. Life Writing, 10(3), 295-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/14484528.2013.802412

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jun 27, 2013
• Deposit Date: Nov 27, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 2, 2014
• Journal: Life Writing
• Print ISSN: 1448-4528
• Electronic ISSN: 1751-2964
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 295-309
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14484528.2013.802412
• Keywords: Biography, Narrative, Citation, Janet Frame, Judith Butler.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1474375