Brightness

A sensational story about an author and the necessity of writing.

Brightness is a historical fiction about the New-Zealand writer Janet Frame, whom the Nobel Prize was proposed to, but who died before being able to receive it.

In Janet’s home there is a room where the dead used to wait for their funerals. Two of her sisters have lied there and her brother Geordie could land there as well. He has epilepsy and drinks too much. Her family is poor and her mother writes poems and sells them in the neighborhood.

Janet herself has bright red hair and disturbing thoughts in her head. But when she gets a pen in her hand and a paper in front of her, everything changes: for a moment, the world becomes beautiful and understandable.

Riitta Jalonen’s novel creates a fascinating picture of the New-Zealand writer Janet Frame, a highly intuitional and exceptional individual who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and locked up in psychiatric hospitals, but became famous around the world for her novels. Jalonen describes Janet’s time at the hospital and the electroshock therapy she received, whereas the only real healing for her was writing – and the recognition associated with it.

Brightness is a manifestation of the power of art, of how language and words can save a life

A sensational story about an author and the necessity of writing.

Brightness is a historical fiction about the New-Zealand writer Janet Frame, whom the Nobel Prize was proposed to, but who died before being able to receive it.

In Janet’s home there is a room where the dead used to wait for their funerals. Two of her sisters have lied there and her brother Geordie could land there as well. He has epilepsy and drinks too much. Her family is poor and her mother writes poems and sells them in the neighborhood.

Janet herself has bright red hair and disturbing thoughts in her head. But when she gets a pen in her hand and a paper in front of her, everything changes: for a moment, the world becomes beautiful and understandable.

Riitta Jalonen’s novel creates a fascinating picture of the New-Zealand writer Janet Frame, a highly intuitional and exceptional individual who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and locked up in psychiatric hospitals, but became famous around the world for her novels. Jalonen describes Janet’s time at the hospital and the electroshock therapy she received, whereas the only real healing for her was writing – and the recognition associated with it.

Brightness is a manifestation of the power of art, of how language and words can save a life

info

  • Year of publication

    2016

  • Original title

    Kirkkaus

  • Page count

    352

  • Original publisher

    Tammi

  • Original language of publication

    Finnish

Reviews

  • Keskipohjanmaa Newspaper

    “The text’s rhythm is like a peaceful flow of thoughts, full of emotions and strong, somewhat strange associations – the world consists of awful and beautiful things. At times the narration is both descriptive prose and mystical poetry. The afterimage is pure beauty and brightness.”

  • Päivänlehti Newspaper

    ”Frame’s tragic life and the power of her books have been waiting for the right moment to be written in a story that Riitta Jalonen has now with incredible sensitivity and empathy come up with.”

  • Helsingin Sanomat

    ”When it comes to Janet Frame, [writing] meant pouring out herself on the paper, telling about memories that prick the body, brightening. This Riitta Jalonen conveys in her strong novel as only an experienced writer can do.”

  • Kirsin kirjanurkka Blog

    “How could I write about a book that shocks you, cuts your breath? […] I am voiceless, speechless, impressed, moved. Touched. Troubled and comforted.”

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