Society ticket offer for Usher Hall event - 31 January 2018 - all tickets have now gone

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is holding a Spark event at the Usher Hall on 31 January 2018 - Creme de la Creme.  For details - Click here .

Believing that the Society should enjoy exclusive benefits to this event, one of our members has bought ten tickets.

These are all on offer to Society members only and are complimentary.

If any member would like one of these tickets, please contact Gail by email or telephone.

(Gail did ask the EIBF if they would consider including the Society in their discounted ticket deal but their offer was exclusive to their own Patrons and Friends.)

Spark event at the Usher Hall

Usher Hall event Creme de la Creme - Click here

The Muriel Spark Society, through its members, has been a key contributer to the support given to Birlinn/Polygon for the lovely new issues of the novels.  The Society thanks the publishers for accrediting this support in each edition.

The Bottle Imp

Professor Willy Maley of Glasgow University, proud owner of a Muriel Spark Society t-shirt, has sent this link to be shared with members;
https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2017/11/that-promethian-spark/
Click here

The University of Glasgow is holding a two day 'Muriel Spark Centenary Symposium ' on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 February 2018.  (A screening of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is scheduled for the 31st January)
Look out for more details which will be published on this blog when information is finalised.
Our Annual Lecturer Ali Smith will be there.

Spark and Time - with Ali Smith

The Muriel Spark Society Annual Lecture 2017

Ali Smith and Gail Wylie at the 2017 Lecture 

on November 14th

at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Appointment in Arezzo by Alan Taylor review – the truth about Muriel Spark

The Guardian review - click here .

Annual Lecture 2017 and 2018

Ali Smith delighted her audience on Tuesday 14 November with an outstanding lecture which must make us all want to read or re read everything Spark wrote.  Thanks so much Ali - we hope to welcome you again.

Professor Allan Riach of the University of Glasgow will give the 2018 Lecture on her work as a poet.

Members' Visit to Umbria 2018

The visit to Umbria will take place 19-25 March 2018, through 'Learn Italy'.

We will be staying in Citta di Castello and visiting the paintings of Muriel Spark's favourite artist, Piero della Francesca in nearby towns, including Urbino. 

If anyone is interested in joining this trip, please contact Gail. 

Annual Lecture 2017

Tuesday 14th November will be the Society's 16th Annual Lecture and will be given this year by Ali Smith.

All tickets have been taken for this event but interest is still high - so please, if you have a ticket but can no longer attend, would you let the NLS know?

Alan Taylor's 'Appointment in Arezzo'

Alan Taylor's lively and engaging memoir of his friendship with Muriel Spark is to be launched on Thursday 9th November, 6.30 pm at the Saltire Society, Fountain Court, Edinburgh to which all members of the Society are invited.

Alan, a former Chair of the Society,  has generously included the following acknowledgement:

'Thanks, too, are due to the members of the small but perfectly formed Muriel Spark Society, which exists to keep the Spark flame alive.  I recommend joining it to anyone who has an interest in Muriel and her oeuvre.  May it go on its way rejoicing.'

Makars’ Court 2008

The first permanent memorial to Dame Muriel is in Makars’ Court in Edinburgh

- thanks to the members of the Muriel Spark Society.

The stone was laid in 2008 for Dame Muriel's 90th.

See The Scotsman for further details.

Some photos and a video from the event below:

Makars' Court

Eric Dickson, Gail Wylie, Alan Taylor and Lorna Statham from the Muriel Spark Society 

and Deirdre Brock from The City of Edinburgh Council

For the Society blog of 31 May 2008 click here .

Video courtesy of Sean Groat at www.luxvideo.co.uk

Gail Wylie on the centenary

The Society is delighted to be a supporter of the centenary celebrations including the new publication of all Dame Muriel's novels by Polygon. 
See the Muriel Spark Centenary Editions at www.birlinn.co.uk

For Gail Wylie’s centenary interview for Creative Scotland

Click here

Polygon publishes all the novels

Polygon are publishing all 22 novels over the next year. Edited by Alan Taylor, they each have an introduction by leading writers (including past Annual Lecturers such as Candia McWilliam and Ronald Frame). Each cover is a different colour; the back carries a photograph of Muriel at the age of writing that particular novel; on the cover a quotation from the text and a typewriter keyboard show the order in which the novels were originally published.  This stunning collection is a fitting testament to Spark in her Centenary year.
The Muriel Spark Society was able to help support this initiative through the generosity of its members and we will be acknowledged in each edition.
Visit Polygon's website (www.birlinn.co.uk) or CLICK HERE to find out more.

Annual Lecture 2017: Ali Smith

The Society is delighted to welcome  Ali Smith as our lecturer on November 14 at 6 pm at the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.  The subject of her lecture will be Spark and Time.

This event is free but booking a ticket is essential.  Visit www.nls.uk/events or telephone 0131 623 3734.

(Members contact Eric as there are some places reserved for members of the Society)

This lecture marks the first public event celebrating Muriel Spark's Centenary in 2018.  Further details of all events, exhibitions, publications and much more will be posted here and on the Muriel Spark 100 website.

Successful Lyon and Turnbull sale

The sale of books and a table from the estate of Robin Spark attracted great interest.  In particular, a first edition of 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie', inscribed by Dame Muriel to her son "To Robin, Love and wonkies, Mummy xxx" fetched £21,250 - 42 times its estimate.

Edinburgh International Children's Festival

If any members are interested in helping out at the following Festival, please follow the link.  I'm posting this message on behalf of its organisers who are led by Pamela Walker, previously with the National Theatre of Scotland. 

Volunteering at the Festival

We are looking for enthusiastic and committed volunteers to join the 2017 Festival team during the week of 27 May – 4 June.

Volunteers play an integral part in making the Festival happen each year and we welcome volunteers from all walks of life. Our Volunteers are the public face of the Festival; helping our school, family and delegate audiences at each venue, staffing industry and guest events, and supporting the Festival team behind the scenes throughout the week.

In return for your time and commitment you'll be able to see Festival performances, attend social events, and take part in a hugely exciting, creative and rewarding week.

If you are interested, please apply by forwarding a covering letter and your CV to volunteers@imaginate.org.uk.

0131 225 8050 • www.imaginate.org.uk
30B Grindlay Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9AX­­

Edinburgh International Children's Festival 27 May – 4 June 2017

Imaginate is a company limited by guarantee registered at the above address.
Company No. SC115855 • Charity No. SC016437 • VAT No. 553 3970 29

Promoting and developing theatre and dance for children and young people in Scotland

Annual November Lecture

On the 14th of November at 6 pm the annual lecture at the National Library of Scotland will be given this year by the innovative and acclaimed novelist Ali Smith.
20 seats are reserved for members of the Society.  This lecture is limited to 100 people and is free, but a reserved ticket is essential.
Further details of booking a seat will be made available nearer the time.

AGM June 14th 2017

This year the AGM will be held on June 14th at 7 pm at the Saltire Society, High Street, Edinburgh.
After business, we will be given a short talk by Professor Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow.
We will then proceed to a nearby restaurant for dinner. If you are interested in coming to the dinner please let our Treasurer know by May 31st.

Visit to the Court of the Lord Lyon

Miss Jean Brodie famously told her set, 'If I were to receive a proposal of marriage from the Lord Lyon King of Arms I would decline it.'  The Society is visiting this famous Court on Thursday 23rd of March at 2 pm.  They can accommodate 15 of us, so please put your name down soon.  Email gewylie@btinternet.com for a place. We will meet at the gate of New Register House just before 2 pm. (If you stand at the front door of the Balmoral Hotel and look straight ahead, it's the building ahead of you at the top of the lane.)

Honours List 2017

Congratulations to Sandy Wylie (Lord Kinclaven) on receiving an OBE in today's Honours List.  This is for 'the introduction of the Scottish Legal System in schools.'  To read more about Sandy's initiative (also known as MiniTrials) go thepaisleysnail.blogspot.com

'The Real Muriel Spark'

The Scottish Review of Books has an excellent new website:
scottishreviewofbooks.org
The most recent issue (Vol 11, Number 4, 2016) has an article well worth reading by Alan Taylor, 'The Real Muriel Spark', on the relationship between Muriel and her son Robin, who sadly died earlier this month.

Stewart Conn talks about Muriel Spark's poetry

Stewart Conn will deliver the Poetry Association of Scotland's John Masefield Lecture, 'Mistress of Unease: The Poetry of Muriel Spark' in a joint event with the Muriel Spark Society. 

Wednesday 14 September 2016 at the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton's Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT

Tickets at the door (no booking required) £5 or £4 concessions.

Wine reception from 6.30 - 7 pm.  The talk will begin at 7 pm and last about one hour.

Stewart Conn, well known for his lyrical poetry in collections such as 'The Touch of Time', was Edinburgh's inaugural Makar from 2002 to 2005.

Curator's talk: Sparkiving: Loitering with Intent to Catalogue

This excellent talk is available to listen to on the National Library of Scotland's recorded webcast.
Visit http://www.nls.uk/player
Saved webcast: Thursday 23 June, at 18.00

Members' Book Group 7 September and Annual lecture 16 November 2016

Dear Members

You are cordially invited to our Book Group meeting on 7 September at the Saltire Society, at 7pm.

The book for discussion is "The Takeover", and I wish you happy reading or re-reading.

Please also note our annual lecture is on 16 November at 6pm at the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge.

Dr Jim Lawson (University of Edinburgh) will give a talk on Spark and Renaissance art, particularly Piero della Francesca.

Places should become bookable in September (around the time of the book group). We have arranged some dedicated places for Society members. I will send out a reminder nearer the time.

          If you would like to join the Society to come to either of these events please follow the email     link on the blog home page.

New Books

Two new books of interest. .

Continuing his alphabetical titles, and following his last book 'Life-like' Toby Litt's new book 'Mutants' is a collection of twenty-six essays, one of which, 'Spark' is based on the excellent lecture he gave for the Society in 2006.
Litt is a writer Muriel Spark particularly liked and in 'Spark' he returns the compliment: 'I will begin with straightforward affection: I love Muriel Spark's books'.  (Seagull Books, London, 2016) £19.50

Carcanet have reissued Spark's biography (first published in 1953) of John Masefield, another of her favourite writers.
'I feel a large amount of my writing on him can be applied generally.  It is in many ways a statement of my position as a literary critic and I hope some readers will recognise it as such.'
(Carcanet, 2016) £14.50

Jean Brodie Walk

On Sunday 15th May, members and friends will be following the walk Jean Brodie took her class. We'll be starting from Makars' Court outside the Writers' Museum at 2 pm and finishing with afternoon tea in Bruntsfield.

Advocates' Library, Edinburgh

Members of the Society are visiting this prestigious library, and Parliament House, in Edinburgh tomorrow.
With thanks to Andrea Longson, we very much look forward to our exclusive visit.

The Driver's Seat

For anyone in London there is a superb window display in Waterstone's Piccadilly featuring Lise.
And on Saturday 23 April Januce Galloway is giving a masterclass there on Spark. Spaces are limited so contact the branch beforehand.
Thanks Waterstones for all the thought you've put into this.

Tweet by WaterstonesPicc on Twitter

	WaterstonesPicc (@WaterstonesPicc)
22/04/2016, 09:24 @gewylie1 Sure! Our windows are big. We have Lise in the window, I made her a special outfit #TheDriversSeat pic.twitter.com/SBzso5gcE1

Muriel Spark the Poet

(The following is a brief piece I was asked to send to the BBC in January when the programme 'The Poetic Spark' was being devised.)

Muriel Spark stated: 'I write as a poet...my novels come under the category of poetics rather than fiction...' 
'Although most of my life has been devoted to fiction, I have always thought of myself as a poet.  I do not write 'poetic' prose, but feel that my outlook on life and my perception of events are those of a poet.  Whether in prose or verse, all creative writing is mysteriously connected with music and I always hope this factor is apparent throughout my work.'
(Spark, Tuscany, 2003: Preface to All the Poems, Carcanet, 2004)

Certainly, her novels carry the signatures of poetry: they are concise, allusive, elusive and open to a variety of readings and interpretations.

When I was asked to give a talk at the Tramway, Glasgow, for the National Theatre of Scotland's production of The Driver's Seat in 2015,  I emphasised the influence on her development as a writer of reading Scottish ballads at her school, James Gillespie's in Edinburgh.

Border Ballads were the real spark for Spark.  Aged ten, she called them her favourite reading material: 'In Edinburgh [they] are best read in the long dark winters...They were cruel and lyrical at the same time and I think they had a great effect on my later literary work.' ('When I was Ten', The Golden Fleece, ed Jardine, Carcanet, 2014)  She entitled one of her novels The Ballad of Peckham Rye, probably as homage to their influence.  The ballads are the very stuff of a Spark novel with their sense of the macabre, their time shifts, their violence, their short, sharp and enigmatic dark narratives written with a deceptively light touch.  The ballads are dispassionate and leave the reader to work out their hidden messages: why was the twa corbies' knight so casually abandoned?  Why was Lord Randall poisoned?

To conclude: in my opinion, the poetry of Spark is more self-revealing than her novels.  She described herself as 'a constitutional exile' and it is in poems such as 'Abroad', 'Communication', 'Standing in the Field', 'Hats' and 'Edinburgh Villanelle' among others that you find this sense of dislocation and exile but, importantly, not unhappiness.

The inscription on her gravestone, translated there into Italian, comes, appropriately, from her poem 'Canaan':

'Not a leaf

Repeats itself, we only repeat the word.'

Gail Wylie

April 2016

The Poetic Spark

To mark 10 years since Muriel Spark's death A L Kennedy presents a programme on Muriel Spark's poetry on Sunday 10 April at 4.30 pm on BBC Radio 4.  Contributors include Alan Taylor and Penelope Jardine.
More information can be found on the websites of BBC Radio 4 and Carcanet

Rome 2016

The Society's trip to Rome (15 - 20 March 2016) was a huge success.
Martin Gray of Learn Italy and our incomparable guide Agnes Crawford of @understandrome gave the 17 Society members an unforgettable visit.
Agnes had gone out of her way to research Muriel Spark's residences in Rome's Centro Storico from the Hotel Raphael to the Palazzo Taverna.  We all had an excellent day walking in this fascinating part of Rome.
Agnes had also found the exact site of the setting of 'The Takeover' in Nemi - a small town in the hills outside Rome, and the farmer on whose land much of the novel is set (including Diana's Temple) gave us glasses of his own wine and bread with his own olive oil. We were delighted to be joined for lunch in Nemi by Penelope Jardine, Airdrie Armstrong and their friend Alison.
We also visited Ancient Rome, Keats' grave, the Catacombs, and much more. One evening we were joined for dinner by Ivan Castiglione, an actor in last year's National Theatree of Scotland's production of 'The Driver's Seat'. 
On our free day some of us went to the newly excavated (and work in progress) Domus Aurea, Nero's Golden House; some visited the Forum and the Palatine Hill; others went to the Vatican City or the Piazza Campidoglio.  Rome is a city which offers something for everyone.  We learnt so much - and we also had a great deal of fun.
On our final morning we went to the superb gallery at the Villa Borghese.
We stayed at the friendly Lancelot Hotel, by the Colosseum, whose attentive staff added to our great experience.  Our thanks to all at the hotel, to Martin, to Agnes and to our accomplished coach driver Giuseppe.
It was a visit which offered first time vistors special insights into Rome, reminded those of us who had been before what a wonderful city it is, and let us all understand exactly why Muriel Spark chose to live there.

Day 1 at the Caracalla Baths

                                           

Day 1 at a part of the aquaduct at the Via Appia

                                  

One of many lively and delicious meals

One of Muriel Spark's flats in the Centro Storico

Another location near one of  Muriel Spark's flats

Ivan Castiglione joining us for dinner

The Hotel Raphael, Spark's first port of call in Rome

Agnes telling us about the Palazzo Taverna

Palazzo Taverna - Spark lived in one of these apartments

'The Takeover' setting: The Temple of Diana

'The Takeover' setting: The Devil's Grottoes

At 'The Takeover' setting: enjoying Signor de Santis' wine

The Lake at Nemi

Arrivederci Roma!

David Bowie's top 100 books

'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' is included in Bowie's favourite 100 books. 
To see the full list, go to http://gu.com/p/3j7a2/sbl

Review of The Golden Mean by John Glenday (Picador, 2015)

The final poem of Glenday’s previous collection, Grain, states:

                Not one of us will live forever
               The world is far too beautiful for that.

His new collection, The Golden Mean, picks up this thread of cherishing transcience and weaves it into an intriguing narrative of what it means to be alive.  By using the four elements, he takes us on journeys through fire and air, on roads and tracks, on and into the sea and rivers in a search for life’s ‘golden mean’, that perfect balance of proportions. 

However, like the donkey in ‘The Flight into Egypt’ who is ‘on a pointless journey he knows has barely begun’, the poet alerts his readers to the impossibility of finding that balance. So destinations become far less important than the very journeys themselves.  Glenday takes us  ‘somewhere’ where ‘everywhere’s possible’: whether that’s the flight of Noah’s ravens or an imaginary city: ‘Let’s head for a place, neighbouring and impossible’  (Abaton). 

The frequent motif of birds, including his favourite skylark, move from the ground to the air; space, lightness, translucence are the essence of Glenday’s poetry.   The mind’s eye of the reader looks upwards to stars (‘Constellation’) – in other poems to light, to sails, fire, seedheads and skies.  And even within each poem, many of which are short, lie those important spaces which reveal what is missing. 

The spaces in the lines (a post-script note informs this form is a Viking ballad-metre) of ‘The Lost Boy’ serve to highlight the son who is no longer there:

                If fine rhymes        rang like iron
                hammered bright,       hot with meaning
                they might weigh        more in my heart.
                Brave songs don’t       bring the dead home.

As contrast, the earthbound poems reveal harsher realities.  To be bound to the earth, or caged, or imprisoned is the worst thing that can happen to us. The dark fable ‘Ill Will’ is mired in soil both literal and metaphorical; the ‘Humpback Embryo’ never stood a chance:  to bury the séance books in ‘Our Dad’ ‘felt worse/ than burning somehow – imagine words gasping for air.’  The doomed soldiers on the eve of the Battle of the Somme (The Big Push) also imagine gasping for air:

                …Just for a while to have no weight, to go drifting
                clear of thought and world, was utter bliss. 

Glenday wrong-foots us with all his allusions to escape and journeying.  He is not an advocate of looking elsewhere for balance simply because there is too much to appreciate in the world around us. The title of this collection ‘The Golden Mean’ does not simply allude to that perfect balance of proportions.  Glenday celebrates the ‘mean’ – the humble, the ordinary, the common things in life and want us to recognise these as golden.  Keeping clear of ‘rich soil’ because ‘a grain of truth’ will  ‘grow poorly’ there, and behind the apparent flippancy of  ‘This world is nothing much’, his insistence on observing and honouring the ordinary makes it exceptional. British pearls, dismissed by Tacitus as being ‘exceptionally poor’ are worn by ‘their women…as if winter were a jewel.’  There are no poems about large showy flowers,  but primroses or ‘Fireweed’; instead of  grand architecture there’s a dockyard;  no polished marble but a simple ‘White Stone’ or ‘Rubble’; no grand paintings but ‘Self Portrait in a Dirty Window’: no heroic warriors, but the names of the world’s unknown or overlooked soldiers whose names make their own poetry (Lest We Forget):  ‘so many brief, important things’  (My Mother’s Favourite Flower).

‘The Walkers’ of the final poem, those ghosts who cross water, follow dirt roads, return ‘grieving for all the things we could never hold again’  to ask ‘if you might heal the world’.  ‘The Golden Mean’ reminds us of the fragility of life; his recurring motif of hands alerts his readers to hold on to, and cherish, the ordinary, humble, mean things which provide the transcient, overlooked beauty of the world we live in.

Gail Wylie                                                                                  October 2015

New poetry collection from John Glenday

John Glenday's eagerly awaited fourth collection of poetry, The Golden Mean (published by Picador), will be published on Thursday 10th September.   This comes six years after the highly acclaimed Grain which was a Poetry Book Society recommendation and shortlisted for the 2010 Ted Hughes Award and Griffin International Poetry Prize. 

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie goes digital

Canongate has just announced that it is to be the digital publisher of nine of Spark's novels, beginning with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.  The Bachelors will follow in December 2015, and The Finishing School in Spring 2016.  Other novels to be published as e books will be: The Abbess of Crewe, Not to Disturb, The Only Problem, Robinson, The Takeover and Aiding and Abetting.

The Driver's Seat - an introduction

Click here

Thanks to the National Theatre of Scotland for sending us this link to a video trailer of the director and cast discussing The Driver's Seat.

Muriel Spark wrote:

'I have always claimed that I write as a poet, that my novels come under the category of poetics rather than fiction.'  (from the essay 'The Art of Verse', 1999)

National Theatre of Scotland

Exciting news - the National Theatre of Scotland are to bring 'The Driver's Seat' to the Lyceum in Edinburgh and the Tramway in Glasgow this summer.  Directed by Laurie Sansom, the daring and innovative style of the NTS will suit perfectly this darkest of Spark's novels.  The Muriel Spark Society welcome this initiative and look forward immensely to seeing this on stage.

http://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

Twitter

Muriel Spark Society - now on Twitter.
Click here

Guardian interview with Penelope Jardine

by Susanna Rustin in last Saturday's (5 July) Guardian here

"The last of two great women writers - Muriel Spark and Sybille Bedford"

An Evening Standard review by David Sexton of the recently published collection of Muriel Spark's essays The Golden Fleece ..."It's an absolute treasure trove".   He also reviews Sybille Bedford's Pleasures and Landscapes.   Both authors died in 2006 and the reviewer cites Evelyn Waugh's admiration for them..

The Ballad of Peckham Rye...

...at this year's East Dulwich Literary Festival.   Professor Martin Stannard will be giving a lecture on this early novel by Muriel Spark on Monday 30th June at 7.30 pm.   Professor Stannard will also have an early BBC Radio recording of the book.   Tickets are £2.50 and are available from Rye Books in East Dulwich (Tel: 020 3581 1850) or can be reserved by contacting David Workman at D.Workman@harrisdulwichgirls.org.uk

Follow this link for further details about the lecture and to find out more about the Festival itselfwhich will host a variety of events including a reading and discussion by Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales on 1st July.

A book review in the London Evening Standard...

 ...that mentions Muriel Spark's 'sweet singing voice'.   The review is of Lynn Barber's autobiography A Curious Career.   Fascinating reading anyway, covering a wide range of her celebrity interviews, but it might be worth trying to find the original interview with Muriel Spark online somewhere?

"You have to live with the mystery"...

says Muriel Spark, quoted in this post by Parul Seghal on yesterday's New Yorker website.

Penelope Jardine on Woman's Hour

Here is a link to a podcast of yesterday's (27th March) BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour (available for download for a further 29 days) where Penelope Jardine discusses The Golden Fleece essays.

Ian Rankin portrait...

...gifted to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery;  the link to the BBC news story is here in which Rankin  remembers that when he was a student at Edinburgh University, doing his thesis on Muriel Spark, her portrait came to the gallery.

New Publications

At the end of this month (28 March) Carcanet Press will be publishing The Golden Fleece: Essays by Muriel Spark, edited by Penelope Jardine.     Please use the above web link to take you to the page which has all the details.

And at the end of April , the University of Notre Dame Press are publishing Hidden Possibilities:  Essays in Honor of Muriel Spark by Robert Ellis Hosmer.   The contributors include Regina Barreca, Gerard Carruthers, Barbara Epler, John Glavin, Dan Gunn, Robert E. Hosmer Jr., Joseph Hynes, Gabriel Josipovici, Frank Kermode, John Lanchester, David Malcolm, John Mortimer, Alan Taylor, and John Updike and Muriel Spark's friend Doris Lessing.

Doris Lessing's obituary in The Guardian published in November last year is here and there will be a  memorial service for her on 7 April at St-Martin-in-the-Fields in London.

The Alphabet Library: B is for The Bachelors

In The Telegraph - an intriguing idea and a very good, incisive article about Muriel Spark's 1960 novel The Bachelors.

And speaking of tests...

...for those not present at the Society's lunch this year here is the 30th Anniversary Quiz on The Only Problem.   Answers to follow!

1. What does Effie steal at the supermarket on the autostrada?
2. What is the name of Effie's lover?
3. Which part of London do Edward and Ruth stay in?
4. What is Effie's baby called?
5. What is the name of Harvey's British lawyer?
6. What is the name of the French family who own the chateau?
7. Which painter painted Job visited by his wife?
8. What do the letters FLE stand for?
9. How did Harvey's family make their money?
10. What are the names of Harvey's aunt and uncle in Toronto?
11. To which figure from classical mythology does Harvey compare Job?
12. In which arondissement in Paris is the policeman killed?
13. What is the name of Harvey's interrogator after the killing?
14. What is the name of the French policeman with English like that heard on Radio Moscow?
15. What is Effie's battle name?
16. What was Effie writing a thesis on?
17. What gift does Harvey's aunt bring him?
18. Which animal has vertical eyelids?
19. One of Job's daughters has the name Keren Happuch.   What does her name mean?
20. How many years does Harvey joke he will live at the end of the novel?

Test your foreign language skills!

Some foreign editions of three of Muriel Spark's novels are available from Eric Dickson - please email him at e.dickson@nls.uk if interested:-

The Girls of Slender Means in Spanish, Portuguese and Russian
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in Portuguese and Russian
A Far Cry from Kensington in Romanian

and last but not least the complete short stories in Russian.

William Boyd's best books...

....from this week's end of year The Week  include Muriel Spark's A Far Cry from Kensington.   "Spark's tone of voice is unique:  terse, dry, clear eyed, darkly humorous.   I prefer her authobiographically based fiction, and this one rivals The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to be her masterwork."

William Boyd's website can be found at www.williamboyd.co.uk

...and the main contenders for the best Scottish novel of the last 50 years are...

... Muriel Spark, Irvine Welsh, Iain Banks and Alasdair Gray according to yesterday's Sunday Herald.   (Book Week Scotland 2013 starts today - more details available at the Scottish Book Trust.)

What is the best Scottish novel of the last 50 years?

Go to the Scottish Book Trust website to cast your vote.   Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark is on the list of favourites.

Bonfire Night, Edinburgh

On a cold and dark evening, members of the Muriel Spark Society and  members of the public gathered at the National Library of Scotland to hear eminent author Alexander McCall Smith speak about Edinburgh and literature.   One could sense the affection for this writer as soon as he appeared.  Chairman Alan Taylor introduced him by pointing out the eerie coincidence of major Edinburgh writers having surnames beginning with S: Scott, Stevenson, Spark, Smith …

McCall Smith began by praising the acuity of Spark’s observations on the city of her birth, particularly with regard to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Spark’s views are timeless, but McCall Smith would later remark on how the past disappears, how the Edinburgh of Miss Brodie had in many ways disappeared. The attenuation of the local by globalisation is something to be mourned.  He spoke despairingly of how some modern buildings can detract from local identity with their sameness. However, some ugly builds can begin to seem more palatable – David Hume Tower anyone?!

In a wide detour to Africa, MS remarked how Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh and moved to Africa. He, on the other hand, was the opposite: Africa born and now permanently domiciled in Edinburgh.  Speaking more generally on the literature of place, he praised the sharp, fresh eye Spark brought to colonial society in Rhodesia. He praised similarly the writings of Nadine Gordimer and Spark’s friend Doris Lessing.

AMS remarked ruefully on a literary success can be a mixed blessing for a place. Savannah, Georgia is often deluged by tourists after the success of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”.   He also explored the “reality” of depictions of place in literature. Was his Edinburgh fiction not too idealised? – a question he was often asked. Yet he wish to present Edinburgh in a good light, this was quite deliberate. He did mention that he had darkened one of his stories in the light of such  comments.  He also spoke about population make-up; many of Edinburgh’s residents were middle class people, involved in office work. Were his fictions so far away from that?  He treated the audience to an amusing  reading from a Scottish woman in Italy on the malaise of Scottish men; was football really so honestly admired?

The evening was a broad, amusing, and often affectionate exploration of literature and place. Afterwards, Society members and AMS repaired to another place: The Field Restaurant for a convivial meal, where other culinary, vinous and literary explorations occurred.

Eric Dickson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Literary flat-shares

An interesting post from Moira Redmond on the Guardian books blog "From Muriel Spark to Hilary Mantel there's a distinct tradition of novels built around young women living together".   The 2009 Festival Fringe production of The Girls of Slender Means, based on Judith Adams adaptation, was by Stellar Quines.

All the single ladies...

...an article in today's Guardian Review by Rachel Cooke looking at "great literary spinsters" - the most pre-eminent for our purposes being, of course, Miss Jean Brodie.   "Brodie is powerful and compelling.   She seems to have a sex life, too.   She is also sinister and, ultimately, betrayed".
The spinsters range from Bridget Jones  back in time to Jane Austen's Miss Bates and looks at the perils, or advantages, of being "on the shelf".

Muriel Spark: A Glance through an Open Door

Here is a post by Dr Robert Hosmer on the Scottish Review of Books website based on his readings of Muriel Spark's papers held by the National Library of Scotland.   The volume and wide-ranging nature of these personal and literary papers give clues both to her early literary talent and her personal identity.

National Poetry Day

It's National Poetry Day tomorrow - 3 October -  something to celebrate and think about especially as Muriel Spark thought of herself as first and foremost a poet.   Here is a link to the Scottish Poetry Library website which has some good ideas for marking the day, the theme this year being 'water'.   This link takes you directly to the page about Muriel Spark on the site.

Muriel Spark at the Book Festival

Follow this link to Muriel Spark,  50 Years On...Celebration of a Literary Classic (13 August, 8 pm) on page 20 of the programme for this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival  (10 - 26 August).

On Mary Shelley

Here is a link to the Scottish Review of Books where you will find an article by Zoe Strachan called Where Mary Met Muriel.   The article focuses on Muriel Spark's biography of Mary Shelley published by Carcanet but also talks about the beautifully illustrated edition of The Girls of Slender Means recently published by The Folio Society.

From The Independent...in praise of short stories

The Vanishing Fantastics - wonderful title!

Annual General Meeting 2013

This year's Annual General Meeting will be at 7 pm on Monday 17 June in the Cardoon Suite of the Bruntsfield Hotel at 69 Bruntsfield Road, Edinburgh.

"Why Muriel Spark's prose is better than a shot of espresso in the morning"

Good tag-line by Laura Thompson writing in  The Telegraph about  Muriel Spark's biography of Mary Shelley, first published in 1951, and now re-issued by Carcanet Press.

The Girls of Slender Means

 (copyright Marc Marnie)

To celebrate the publication of The Girls of Slender Means 50 years ago, and to coincide with Aye Write! last weekend in Glasgow here is a link to Stellar Quines' visionary production in 2010 on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Mary Shelley

Click here for a Guardian review of Muriel Spark's clear-eyed biography of Mary Shelley.   There are also some interesting related links on the right-hand side of the page.

Aye Write! 2013 and The Girls of Slender Means

 To celebrate 50 years since the publication of The Girls of Slender Means, NLS are sponsoring an event at the  Aye Write! Festival on 13 April and here is an edited extract  from the introduction, by
A L Kennedy, to a new publication of The Girls of Slender Means  by The Folio Society

Celebrate Scotland...

...celebrate Muriel Spark's birthday on this page and here is an interesting DVD review from blogcritics.org of the television series The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1978) starring Geraldine McEwan..

Birthday Lunch reminder

If you would like to go to the lunch on Sunday 3 February, but haven't yet booked, please contact Christine Selkirk at cmselkirk@o2.co.uk

Book at Bedtime

Radio 4's Book at Bedtime at 10.45 pm  from Monday to Friday next week (21 - 25 January) is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, adapted by Sally Marmion and read by Gerda Stevenson

This year's Birthday Lunch...

...is on Sunday 3 February in the Cardoon Suite at the Bruntsfield Hotel (12.30 for 1 pm).   Please contact Christine Selkirk - cmselkirk@o2.co.uk - by 24 January if you would like to come along.   The cost of the lunch is £26.50 for members and £28.50 for guests.   The book for this year's quiz is the intriguing and supernatural The Ballad of Peckham Rye.

A Far Cry from Kensington

With many thanks to a Society member for this link to an article by Maud Newton in The Awl concerning the tricky issue of advice-giving... and a certain Mrs Nancy Hawkins.  

From the Central Standard Times..."A view from the middle of America"

It may be a bit of a scroll down the page to find mention of Muriel Spark but this is an intriguing article on A Second Front in the Culture War     An interesting debate.

And the winner...

...of the James Tait Black 'best of the best' prize (awarded to celebrate the 250th anniversary of English Literature studies at Edinburgh University) is Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus - a story about winged circus performer Sophie Fevvers, published in 1984.

Just a reminder...

...that Muriel in Italy,  the Society's annual lecture given by Gail Wylie, is next Tuesday (13 November) at 6 pm at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge.   The event is full but for anybody who is interested in coming along but hasn't made a booking, please contact NLS on the day (0131 623 3734) as there may be  returns available..

The Mandelbaum Gate...

... by Muriel Spark, published in 1965,  has been shortlisted alongside works by James Kelman, Graham Greene, Cormac McCarthy, Caryl Phillips and Angela Carter in a contest to find 'The Best of the Best'.   This is a one-off award by the James Tait Black Prize which will honour the best novel to have won the prize since it was first awarded in 1919 and which celebrates the 250th anniversary of the study of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh.

Regius Professor Greg Walker, Chair of the James Tait Black Prizes, said: "This best of the best award is a wonderful opportunity to revisit some of the best writers in the literary canon. It is fitting in the year of celebration of 250 years of study of English literature at the University of Edinburgh that we recognise the wonderful contribution this prize makes to honouring great literature."

The shortlist was selected by scholars and students of literature at the University.

Girls of Slender Means...

...read by Juliet Stevenson has been uploaded by Canongate Books onto soundcloud.com - sounds good.

And in the meantime...

...the 15th century Italian Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca, born in Tuscany, was Muriel Spark's favourite artist.   Click here to see the National Gallery's web-page which has a short biography and features three of his paintings including The Nativity where the Tuscan hills can be seen in the background.

Muriel in Italy

The Society's Annual Lecture will be given by Gail Wylie and will take place at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge at 6 pm on Tuesday 13 November 2012.   For further information and booking please go to www.nls.uk/events or phone 0131 623 3734.

Censorship

Here is an intriguing link to an article on  WalesOnline which looks at the literary texts that are still in their censored form in Spain including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

City of Words

The streets are quieter...the Festival is nearly over - but check out this continuing exhibition City of Words at The University of Edinburgh library in George Square.

Kapka Kassabova on Muriel Spark...

...in The List yesterday.    It's an article where the 2012 Edinburgh Book Festival reflects on the 1962 Edinburgh World Writers' Conference.   As Kapka Kassabova says... a propos Muriel Spark - "Read her and be changed".

Curriculum Vitae...

...is Harriett Gilbert's own choice on A Good Read on BBC Radio4, Tuesday 26 June at 4.30 pm.

And on a slightly different note...

...John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) says in this interview that his favourite book is The Public Image by Muriel Spark - a much less well known book than The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie but worth a look?

 Available second-hand from www.amazon.co.uk

Going to the pictures: Scotland at the Cinema

copyright 1969 20th Century-Fox

The National Library of Scotland are running an exhibition - Scotland at the Cinema - from 15 June until 28 October which celebrates the experience of 'going to the pictures' in Scotland since the late 19th Century... which will  include that famous film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie....

Monday 4th June...

...at 10 pm on  BBC Radio 3 Night Waves, Philip Dodd presents a special Landmark edition examining The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.   He "is joined by novelists Ian Rankin, Louise Welsh and former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway to examine this acclaimed and disturbing portrait of adolescent trauma and lost innocence."

Annual General Meeting 2012

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Muriel Spark Society

will be held on Wednesday 6 June 2012 at 7 pm

in the Cardoon Suite, Bruntsfield Hotel, 69 Bruntsfield Road, Edinburgh

AGENDA


7 pm Welcome Reception   New members are most welcome to attend

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of last year's AGM
3. Chairman's Report
4. Treasurer's Report
5. Election of Committee:  Election of new Chairman and new Treasurer
6. Any other business

Subscriptions
All Subscriptions (held at £15) are due for renewal at the AGM and new cards will be issued.   If you are unable to attend, please send your subscription by 6 June to:

Lorna Statham, Treasurer, 5 Fettes Row, Edinburgh EH3 6SF

I look forward to seeing old friends and new members on the 6th.

Gail Wylie
(Chair)


An area in the bar of the Bruntsfield Hotel has been set aside for members of the Society for an informal gathering after the AGM.

Hay Festival: "Nowhere else would a comedian get Muriel Spark as a warm-up"

Bill Bailey in today's Telegraph on being a veteran of the festival circuit...from Glastonbury to Hay-on-Wye!

The reading week continues...

...and check out the Open Road Media blog for more news and views.

Muriel Spark Reading Week...

...check out the Stuck in a Book blog to see what's happening this week.

From The Hindu....

......"through a prism of humour and desire" - a fascinating interview with the Pakistan born writer Soniah Kamal where she talks about the way in which female writers, including Muriel Spark, are able to pinpoint the often satiric way that women see the world.

News just in...

...from New York!   Open Road Media are today publishing eight Muriel Spark titles as e-books including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie but also titles such as Doctors of Philosophy and Territorial Rights.   Take a look!...Click on the link above.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Audio Book

Here is a link to The Guardian review (good but short) by Sue Arnold of a new audio-book of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie read by Miriam Margolyes - a pretty irresistible combination.