Muriel Spark (1918–2006)
Autor(a) de O apogeu de Miss Jean Brodie
About the Author
Muriel Spark has been called "our most chillingly comic writer since Evelyn Waugh" by the London Spectator, and the New Yorker praised her novel Memento Mori ri (1959) as "flawless." Her fiction is marked by its remarkable diversity, wit, and craftsmanship. "She happens to be, by some rare mostrar mais concatenation of grace and talent, an artist, a serious---and most accomplished---writer, a moralist engaged with the human predicament, wildly entertaining, and a joy to read" (SRSR). She became widely known in the United States when the New Yorker devoted almost an entire issue to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961). Set in Edinburgh in the 1930s, this is the story of a schoolteacher, her unorthodox approach to life, and its effect on her select group of adolescent girls. Though their idol turns out to have feet of clay, she leaves an indelible mark on their lives. The Girls of Slender Means (1963), also warmly praised, is a sardonic look at the vivacity of youth and the anxieties of young womanhood. Reviewing The Mandelbaum Gate (1965) for the New Republic, Honor Tracy wrote: "There is an abundance here of invention, humor, poetry, wit, perception, that all but takes the breath away. . . . The story, in fact, is pure adventure, with the suspense as artfully maintained as anywhere by Graham Greene, but this is only one ingredient. There are memorable descriptions of the Holy Land, fascinating insights into the jumble of intrigue and piety surrounding the Holy Places, and penetrating studies of Arabs. . . . In each of [Spark's] novels heretofore one of her qualities has tended to predominate over the others. Here for the first time they are all impressively marshaled side by side, resulting in her best work so far." The daughter of an Englishwoman and a Scottish-Jewish father, Spark was born and educated in Edinburgh. After her marriage in 1938, she lived for some years in Central Africa, a period rarely reflected in her work. During World War II, she returned to Britain, where she worked in the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office after the breakup of her marriage. She has been a magazine editor and written poetry and literary criticism. Spark has lived in London's Camberwell section, the setting of The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960), but now makes her home in New York. Her novels reflect her conversion to Roman Catholicism. (Bowker Author Biography) Writer Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh on February 1, 1918. In 1934-1935 she took a course in commercial correspondence and précis writing at Heriot-Watt College. After her marriage in 1937, she lived for some years in Central Africa. During World War II, she returned to Britain, where she worked in the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office after the breakup of her marriage. After the war, she began her literary career. She became General Secretary of the Poetry Society, worked as an editor and wrote studies of Mary Shelley, John Masefield and the Brontë sisters. Her first book of poetry, The Fanfarlo and Other Verse, was published in 1952 and her first novel, The Comforters, was published in 1957. She wrote over twenty books including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Finishing School. She won numerous awards and honors including the 1965 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Mandelbaum Gate, the 1992 U. S. Ingersoll Foundation T. S. Eliot Award, the 1997 David Cohen British Literature Prize for Lifetime Achievement, and in 1993 she became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her services to literature. The Scottish Arts Council created the Muriel Spark International Fellowship in 2004. She died on April 13, 2006. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos
Obras por Muriel Spark
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie / The Girls of Slender Means / The Driver's Seat / The Only Problem (2004) 350 exemplares
The Fanfarlo & Other Verse 3 exemplares
Tribute to Wordsworth: a Miscellany of Opinion for the Centenary of the Poet's Death (1950) — Editor — 3 exemplares
The Portobello Road [short story] 2 exemplares
You Should Have Seen the Mess 2 exemplares
Spark Muriel 1 exemplar
The ballad of Peckham Rye, with, The bachelors; The go-away bird, and, Robinson [4 books] 1 exemplar
HLa Ifinestra francese e altri racconti 1 exemplar
The Leaf-Sweeper 1 exemplar
Miss Pinkerton's Apocalypse 1 exemplar
Associated Works
First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers (1994) — Contribuidor — 183 exemplares
The Second Penguin Book of English Short Stories (1972) — Contribuidor, algumas edições — 119 exemplares
The Smiles of Rome: A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers (2005) — Contribuidor — 57 exemplares
Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights (2021) — Contribuidor — 47 exemplares
Letters of John Henry Newman: A Selection Edited and Introduced by Derek Stanford and Muriel Spark (1957) — Editor — 21 exemplares
The Other voice : Scottish women's writing since 1808 : an anthology (1988) — Contribuidor — 9 exemplares
My Best Mary: The Selected Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley — Editor — 4 exemplares
The Teaching Experience: An Introduction to Education Through Literature (1976) — Contribuidor — 1 exemplar
Modern Choice 2 — Contribuidor — 1 exemplar
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome legal
- Camberg, Muriel Sarah
- Outros nomes
- Camberg, Muriel Sarah (birth)
Spark, Dame Muriel Sarah
Stanford, Muriel Sarah Spark
Cavallo, Evelyn - Data de nascimento
- 1918-02-01
- Data de falecimento
- 2006-04-13
- Localização do túmulo
- Oliveto, Tuscany, Italy
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- UK
- País (no mapa)
- Scotland, UK
- Local de nascimento
- Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- Local de falecimento
- Florence, Tuscany, Italy
- Locais de residência
- Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Rhodesia
Rome, Italy
Civitella della Chiana, Tuscany, Italy
New York, New York, USA
London, England, UK - Educação
- James Gillespie's High School for Girls
Heriot Watt College - Ocupações
- novelist
poet
literary critic
essayist
editor
short-story writer (mostrar todos 9)
children's book author
biographer
playwright - Relações
- Taylor, Alan (friend)
Jardine, Penelope (Companion) - Organizações
- Royal Society of Edinburgh
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
Society of Authors
Authors Guild
PEN
Poetry Review (editor) - Prémios e menções honrosas
- Royal Society of Literature Companion of Literature
David Cohen Prize (1997)
Order of the British Empire (Officer, 1967|Dame Commander, 1993)
American Academy of Arts and Letters ( [1978])
L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (1988)
Golden PEN Award (1998) (mostrar todos 11)
Campion Award (2001)
T. S. Eliot Award (1992)
Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (1988)
Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (1996)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1965) - Agente
- Bruce Hunter (David Higham Associates) - Estate
Membros
Discussions
Group Read, October 2021: Memento Mori em 1001 Books to read before you die (Outubro 2021)
BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE NOVEMBER - SPARK & BOYD em 75 Books Challenge for 2015 (Dezembro 2015)
Muriel Spark Reading Week (23-29 April) em Virago Modern Classics (Maio 2012)
Críticas
"Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life." The unconventional Miss Brodie teaches "her girls" things not in the standard curriculum of the Marcia Blaine School, with far-reaching, unforeseen consequences. Set in Edinburgh in the 1930's. Insightful, disturbing, very well done. Brilliantly dramatized by Maggie Smith and Gordon Jackson, among others, in 1969.
Reason read: Reading 1001, botm. I like the previous books I've read by Ms Spark and expected to like this one. I also like the subject matter. Old people exploring death. A group of people start receiving anonymous phone calls and tell them to "know that they will die". Which is a true statement but can also be quite sinister. This is not a mystery and we never know who is making the calls. One of the characters surmises that it is "Death" that is calling. I liked it but felt like it could use a rereading.… (mais)
A perfect amalgamation of the corruption and absurdity of power. I had never thought about the political nature of religious hierarchies until I watched The Young Pope. Here, Spark weaves Watergate into the fabric of this story, a passing knowledge of which I think is necessary and heightens the story itself. This was a rich mine of literary, religious, political allusions. I can only hope that someone has categorised and explained all the ones that I have surely missed. Even without a full dissection, as with all her books that I've enjoyed without full understanding, this was another topnotch Spark for my shelf.… (mais)
Listas
Women's Stories (1)
1970s Thrillers (1)
AP Lit (1)
Teens (1)
Franklit (1)
Nifty Fifties (1)
Backlisted (1)
Europe (1)
Big Jubilee List (1)
United Kingdom (1)
1950s (1)
Review 3 (1)
Book Club 2021 (1)
Female Author (2)
1960s (2)
A Novel Cure (3)
Five star books (3)
Booker Prize (3)
Unread books (1)
Folio Society (1)
Short and Sweet (1)
AlphaKIT: Brown (1)
Prémios
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Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 92
- Also by
- 51
- Membros
- 20,046
- Popularidade
- #1,081
- Avaliação
- 3.7
- Críticas
- 693
- ISBN
- 747
- Línguas
- 26
- Marcado como favorito
- 100
Life begins to imitate art as members of the association begin to act out events already recorded in Fleur's as yet unpublished manuscript Warrender Chase, and the skull-duggery and derring-do that fairly races through the pages is quite reminiscent of a '50's farce. In fact the 1950s are well-painted, as are the characters, from the deliciously loopy Lady Edwina, Quentin's mother, to the many and varied men in Fleur's life.
This is a crisply written book, with a plot that fairly zips along. It's something of a period piece, which I enjoyed, but was happy enough to finish and set aside in favour of some plainer fare.… (mais)