Paying Attention to Language, Replicas and the Role of the Artist in Janet Frame's Living in the Maniototo

Janet Frame's 1979 novel Living in the Maniototo features a ubiquitous narrator whose multiple personalities are linked by a common interest in creation. This choice of narrative perspective, coupled with the characters and events depicted in the book, provides the basis for an exploration of the related concepts of art, language and replicas. By establishing connections between these elements, this article attempts to unveil the dynamics at work in the novel's multi-layered structure and thus shed light on the role of the artist in the narrative and, by extension, on the author's metafictional strategy.