Muriel Spark: The Biography
Author(s): Martin Stannard
Born in 1918 into a working-class Edinburgh family, Muriel Spark ended as the epitome of literary chic, one of the great writers of the twentieth century. It is a Cinderella story, the first thirty-nine years of which she presented in her autobiography, CURRICULUM VITAE (1992), politely blurring the intensity of her darker moments: her relations with her brother, mother, son, husband; a terrifying period of hallucinations and subsequent depression; and the disastrously misplaced love she had felt for two men she had wanted to marry, Howard Sergeant and Derek Stanford. Aged nineteen, Spark left Scotland to marry in Southern Rhodesia, escaping back to Britain on a troopship in 1944 after her divorce. Her son returned in 1945 to be brought up by her parents in Edinburgh while she established herself as a poet and critic in London. After becoming a Roman Catholic in 1954, she began a novel, THE COMFORTERS (1957), and with MEMENTO MORI, THE BALLAD OF PECKAM RYE and THE BACHELORS rose rapidly into the literary stratosphere. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1961), with its adaptation into a successful stage-play and film, marked her full translation into international celebrity and from that point she went to live first in New York, then Rome, and finally Tuscany where for over thirty years, until her death in 2006, she shared a house with her companion, the artist Penelope Jardine. In 1992 Spark invited Martin Stannard to write her biography, offering interviews and full access to her papers. The result is a compelling portrait of an extraordinary life.
General Information
- :
- : Orion Publishing Co
- : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- : 1.012
- : 01 July 0000
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Martin Stannard
- : Hardback
- : 1
- : 672
- : 32 Colour Photo\Illu(s),1 Diagram(s)
More About The Product
The first biography of one of Britain's most celebrated novelists TV documentary to celebrate her life
"She would surely be pleased with the finished product... his triumph is to have produced an account that survived her scrutiny yet reveals her vanity and egotism so unmistakably, as well as her courage, vitality and determination." -- JOHN CAREY THE SUNDAY TIMES LEAD REVIEW - 3.08.09 "its research into her life certainly is detailed and fascinating... an exhaustive and fascinating story." -- GEORDIE GREIG, EDITOR THE EVENING STANDARD - 6.08.09 "This fine life explains why Muriel Spark numbers among the creme de la creme of modern novelists... many fine vignettes... this is a biography that has been worth the long wait." -- JONATHAN BATE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'S SEVEN MAGAZINE - 02.08.09 "gripping. a rich, complex, quagmire of a book, Muriel Spark is well worth the wait. Witty, readable, and well researched, it is as about as satisfying as a literary biography can be." -- FRANCES WILSON DAILY TELEGRAPH - 03.08.09 "Martin Stannard's biography will become the standard work on one of Britain's finest postwar writers." -- MARK BOSTRIDGE THE OBSERVER - 2.08.09 "precise and perceptive... a pioneering biography" -- IAIN FINLAYSON THE TIMES - 1.08.09 "Stannard is particularly interesting on Spark's early, unredeemed years... a gifted biographer with a fine turn of phrase." -- BRIAN CHEYETTE THE INDEPENDENT - 7.08.09 "Martin Stannard has written a diligent biography of Muriel Spark. At its best it is a briliant work of scholarship and a testiment to its author's graft. " -- LEO ROBSON NEW STATESMAN - 10.08.09 "manages to crack the tough-nut exterior to explore kernels of truth in her life and work" -- "The Books we've loved in the past few weeks" THE TIMES - 08.08.09 "reveals the novelist's vanity and vitality" -- "Our Choice of the best recent books" THE SUNDAY TIMES- 09.08.09 "This is the first biography of one of the greatest British writers of the 20th century. Stannard was given unlimited access to Spark's papers and portrays in detail the young working-class girl from Edinburgh who went on to establish herself as a poet and critic in London." THE TIMES 14.08.09 "With dogged determination and a witty style worthy of Spark herself, Stannard has pieced together the extraordinary story of how a working class girl from Edinburgh turned herself into an international literary superstar...she makes a dynamite subject for a biography... The result is a wonderful blend of scholarly fact and juicy storytelling. Spark would probably not have liked it, but the rest of us will surely be gripped." -- KATHRYN HUGHES MAIL ON SUNDAY - 16.08.09 "compelling on the novels themselves" -- ALEX CLARK THE GUARDIAN - 15.08.09 "a biography to be savoured by the initiate, bringing out her complexities and idiosyncrasies." -- IAN RANKIN THE SCOTSMAN 15.08.09 "This long, detailed and thoroughly researched biography unpicks professorially the correspondences between Muriel's experience and her fiction." -- DAVID PRYCE-JONES LITERARY REVIEW - September 09 "the time is right for a Spark revival... An authority on Waugh and Greene, Stannard is well-placed to exploit his exclusive access to archives and interviewees... he is perceptive on her novels." -- JAKUB FIGURSKI THE ECONOMIST - 1.09.09 "excellent and far from brief life" -- FRANK KERMODE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS - 10.08.09 "Prof Stannard has skilfully woven the novels into the chronology and context of her life. His technique involves considerable insight." -- JOHN SAUMAREZ SMITH COUNTRY LIFE - 09.09.09 "In his abundant researches, Prof Stannard alerts todays reader to just how real and perfected this great writers achievement was" IRISH TIMES- 05.09.09 "Stannard's book is sympathetic to Spark." COUNTRY LIFE 11.09.09 "an exceptionally well-written and lively book" -- ROBIN BAIRD-SMITH (Muriel Spark's publisher) THE TABLET - 15.08.09 "an intriguing and sympathetic portrait of a woman who was much more passionate than she led people to believe." SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY - 2.08.09 "riveting account, but more importantly makes the reader eager to discover her novels, just as a good literary biography should." WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY Today's Radio pick: "All this week, we hear the true story, full of previously undisclosed details, of Ms Spark's life." MAIL ON SUNDAY, WEEKEND MAGAZINE - 2. 08.09 Radio Choice: "differing significantly from her autobiography... he seems sensitive to her quirks and flaws." -- GILLIAN REYNOLDS DAILY TELEGRAPH - 3.08.09 Radio Choice: "A compelling portrait." THE INDEPENDENT - 3.08.09 Radio Preview: "The craft of biography is a balancing act. Tipped too far in one direction the author falls, guilty of treacherous intrusion. Tipped too far on the opposite side, the result is fawning rapture which does nobody any good... Hannah Gordon reads with melliflously barbed chic." THE GLASGOW HERALD - 1.08.09 Choice: "Hannah Gordon reads the book few thought we'd ever see." RADIO TIMES - 1.08.09 "Those in seach of holiday reading, would, I think, derive great enjoyment" THE OXFORD TIMES - 12.08.09
Martin Stannard is Professor of Modern English Literature at the University of Leicester and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1998 he won an Arts Council Writers Award for an early section of this book. He lives near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
