Critic's Choice: Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark was the grande dame of Scottish letters. A prolific writer, she produced over twenty novels as well as works of poetry, drama, biography, non-fiction and children’s stories.
Spark was born Muriel Camberg in Edinburgh in 1918 and educated at James Gillespie's School for Girls (said to be the inspiration for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, her best known novel). She worked in a succession of jobs before marrying Sydney Spark in 1937. The couple had one son, Robin, and lived in Central Africa for a while. When the marriage ended, Spark moved to London.
Spark’s writing career began early on when she won a prize in school but she first came to the public’s attention when she won a short story competition in the Observer. Since then her work has attracted numerous awards including the James Tait Memorial Prize, the Saltire Society Book of the Year Award and the FNAC Prix Etranger. Her work has been recognised internationally: in 1978 she was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1988 to the L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Muriel Spark moved to Italy in 1967 where she still lives. Her long-awaited and much-acclaimed autobiography, Curriculum Vitae, appeared in 1992. In 1993 she was made Dame of the British Empire. Dame Spark died in her adopted home of Civitella della Chiana, in Tuscany, Italy.
Penguin are re-publishing two of Spark's novels in April 2006: The Ballad of Peckham Rye, with an introduction by William Boyd; and The Driver's Seat, with an introduction by John Lancaster.
- All The Poems
This collection of poetry by Muriel Spark presents the full range of one of Britain's most acclaimed writers. It includes villanelles, ballads and epigrams, as well as freer forms, all marked by her sharp observations and command of her medium. - Curriculum Vitae
An autobiographical account of Muriel Spark's Edinburgh childhood and her life in Africa.
Obituaries for Muriel Spark
- BBC News
- The Herald, Glasgow
- The Scotsman, Edinburgh
- Le Monde, Paris
Critical Essays online
- Geoffrey Heptonstall, "Muriel Spark - The English Novel in the Twentieth Century", Contemporary Review, October 1996
- Gerrard Curruthers, "Beyond Jean Brodie", Association for Scottish Literary Studies, October 1999 [PDF document]
- Eric Dickson, "Inflamed by Sparks", Textualities.net, 2005