Farewell, Muriel Spark
I just this evening learned* that Muriel Spark has died at the age of 88. Dame Spark was an author — an uncommonly good author — of novels, most famous for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Although I haven't read a novel of hers in some 13 years#, her writing and my sense of her reputation are is as vivid in my mind as if I had just finished her latest novel.
Whenever the topic turns to books, and I'm not talking with crime-novel afficianadoes, I always suggest to people that they read something by Muriel Spark. I've read now some interesting remarks about her sense of irony, her relationship with reality, her catholicism's influence on her writing, but I always enjoyed her books really for two reasons: fantastic, fabulous stories and the uncommon grace of her writing. She is the author about whom I say every sentence is a treat to savor, and the paragraphs are great, too.
Those things were evident in the first book of hers that I read,$ Loitering With Intent. Exactly what it was about escapes me after all these years, but I can remember the thrill of uncovering the irony when the book's protagonist, talking about having her publicity photo taken for the jacket, suddenly seemed instead to be talking about the book I was holding in my hand. The book instantly became delightfully self-referential and transported me to a literary hall of mirrors — a bit disorienting but still great fun. My response was to whip the book shut and stare for some time at the picture of Muriel Spark on the back of the jacket. I felt for a brief moment a very intimate and uncanny connection with the author; calling her a "stylist" doesn't come close to the effect her words can have. Halfway through my first book and I think I was a fan devoted for life.
From a remarkable obituary by Ian Rankin+ — another Scottish author I'm very fond of reading — I learned a number of things about Dame Spark I hadn't known. Among them: that she started out writing as a poet, which no doubt has something to do with her extraordinary use of words. Here are the first and final two sentences of Rankin's remembrance:
MURIEL Spark was the greatest Scottish novelist of modern times, the irony being that she departed Scotland as a teenager and returned thereafter only for brief visits.
[…]
My own admiration for her contribution to world literature knows no bounds. She was peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent – the crème de la crème.
No equivocation necessary: she was the best.
———-
*Thanks to Maud Newton. See a delightful photograph of Spark there.
#According to my Book of Books, I've read these books by Spark, in this order (first to last):
- Loitering with Intent
- Memento Mori
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
- The Mandelbaum Gate
- Not To Disturb
- The Bachelors
- The Only Problem
- Territorial Rights
%Serendipity plays its part: I happen to see the book on a remainder table and the title and jacket appealed to me — probably the price did, too.
+ Ian Rankin, "Dame Muriel Spark dies aged 88", The Scotsman, c. 15 Apirl 2006.