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Reader's Paradise

RIP Muriel Spark

20 years ago

She died Thursday in Tuscany, aged 88. I have several of her books in my TBR pile, but haven't read anything by her since The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in either high school or college. Time to move them up.

Link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Muriel Spark

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Comments (11)

dido1
20 years ago
I am quite devastated to hear this, though I knew she was quite old.

Oh the last sentence of Jean Brodie is one of the most moving ever written: when Sandy (the nun) is asked what were the major influences on her life, she replies:

'There was a Miss Jean Brodie in her prime.'

It always makes me cry. What a superb book. Then there are 'Girls of Slender Means' which I revisited not long ago; and 'The Bachelors'; 'The Ballad of Peckham Rye'; the short story 'The Black Madonna'; and perhaps my favourite, 'Memento Mori', set in Hampstead in a community of very old people. One of them gets a mysterious phone call from a man saying 'Remember you must die', and soon all hell is let loose. It's hilarious and macabre.

RIP indeed, dear Dame Muriel. You gave, and still give me so much pleasure and food for thought.

Dido
cindydavid4
20 years ago
I've read several by her, including Brodie and Memento Mori, and have loved them. I have a book by her that takes place in Venice called Territorial Rights, its been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while. Think this would be a darn good time to read it.

She certainly lead a long and productive life. She will be missed, but certainly not forgotten
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woodnymph2_gw
20 years ago
"Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is one of my all-time favorites and I periodically re-read it. I agree, Dido, it is quite moving and also I found it laugh-out-loud funny in places. I had not realized Spark was a Catholic convert.
timallan
20 years ago
Though I haven't read a Spark novel in years, she has long been one of my favourite writers. I particularly admire her books The Girls of Slender Means, and Memento Mori.
veer
20 years ago
I heard a report on the BBC news about Dame Muriel Spark saying her books has been described by a critic as "If you had a cat it is the sort of work you might have expected it to have written, with its claws kept just within its paws."
Always a looker-on at events with little room for sentimentality.
Dido is too modest to mention it but she has just had her adaptation of Memento Mori recorded by the BBC. It will be on the air during May. If you have 'realplayer' or similar you should beable to receive it wherever you live.
ccrdmrbks
20 years ago
I just mentioned Sparks on the Pym thread-how sad. Brodie is a favorite of mine.
Dido-congratulations! That's very exciting. will it be on BBC America?
J C
20 years ago
Sad about Sparks and happy for Dido!

I will have to revisit Brodie.
cindydavid4
20 years ago
A tribute to Muriel Spark by Ruaridh Nicholl

Sunday April 16, 2006
The Observer

>There is a moment when an artist matters so much that their death is both a tragedy and an insignificance. For Spark, who loved an empty notebook, her death is insignificant because she filled so many notebooks, yet her death is also a tragedy because, somewhere in her home in Italy, there will be a notebook that will remain empty.
rosefolly
20 years ago
Congratulations to Dido.

You know, I can't remember if I ever read any of Muriel Sparks's books. They've always been around in the background. I do believe it is time to try her.

Rosefolly
carolyn_ky
20 years ago
I have only read a few of her books, but my favorite of those is A Far Cry from Kensington. I just loved it.
mumby
20 years ago
I read this thread wondering why I've never read any of her books - clearly an omission that needs to be corrected.

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