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Muriel Spark

Born

in Edinburgh, Scotland

February 01, 1918

Died

April 13, 2006

Genre

Fiction, Short Stories, Poetry

Influences

Søren Kierkegaard, James Hogg, Alain Robbe-Grillet, J.M. Barrie ...more

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Dame Muriel Spark, DBE was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN f ...more

Combine Editions
Muriel Spark’s books

Average rating: 3.66 · 129,730 ratings · 14,738 reviews · 219 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 3.70 avg rating — 60,658 ratings — published 1961 — 216 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark, John Lanchester (Introduction) 3.59 avg rating — 13,281 ratings — published 1970 — 66 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Girls of Slender Means 3.65 avg rating — 8,344 ratings — published 1963 — 83 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Far Cry from Kensington 3.84 avg rating — 7,166 ratings — published 1988 — 69 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Memento Mori 3.61 avg rating — 7,343 ratings — published 1959 — 108 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Loitering with Intent 3.79 avg rating — 5,244 ratings — published 1981	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ballad of Peckham Rye 3.44 avg rating — 2,828 ratings — published 1960 — 62 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Comforters 3.59 avg rating — 2,165 ratings — published 1957 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie / The Girls of Slender Means / The Driver's Seat / The Only Problem 3.80 avg rating — 1,696 ratings — published 1999 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Symposium 3.71 avg rating — 1,668 ratings — published 1990 — 39 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Muriel Spark…

Quotes by Muriel Spark (?)

“She wasn't a person to whom things happen. She did all the happenings.”
― Muriel Spark, Aiding and Abetting

1691 likes

“To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul.”
― Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

tags: education, soul

1019 likes

“If you want to concentrate deeply on some problem, and especially some piece of writing or paper-work, you should acquire a cat. Alone with the cat in the room where you work ... the cat will invariably get up on your desk and settle placidly under the desk lamp ... The cat will settle down and be serene, with a serenity that passes all understanding. And the tranquility of the cat will gradually come to affect you, sitting there at your desk, so that all the excitable qualities that impede your concentration compose themselves and give your mind back the self-command it has lost. You need not watch the cat all the time. Its presence alone is enough. The effect of a cat on your concentration is remarkable, very mysterious.”
― Muriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington

tags: cats, composition, concentration, focus, inspiration, writing

106 likes

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Polls

December 2021 Short Story/Novella Poll

A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens 44 pages, 1850

63 votes, 28.5%

A Letter from Santa Claus by Mark Twain, 9 pages, 1875

53 votes, 24.0%

The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark, 103 pages, 1970

33 votes, 14.9%

The Lost Boy by Thomas Wolfe, 95 pages, 1937

21 votes, 9.5%

The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht, 136 pages, 1945

18 votes, 8.1%

The Destructors by Graham Greene, 40 pages, 1928

17 votes, 7.7%

The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, 82 pages. 1890

16 votes, 7.2%

221 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: FALL CHALLENGE 2009 COMPLETED TASKS	3942	2762	Nov 30, 2009 09:01PM
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	3022	3287	Aug 31, 2010 10:39PM
The Seasonal Read...: 10.4- Auld Lang Syne	28	155	Jan 20, 2011 04:17PM
The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2010-2011 Completed Tasks (do not delete any posts)	2578	1106	Feb 28, 2011 09:05PM
Book Nook Cafe: Lying Awake - April 2011	161	63	Apr 24, 2011 01:49PM
Book Nook Cafe: Favorite Fiction of 2010	66	115	May 01, 2011 05:53AM
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS)	2867	1116	May 31, 2011 09:01PM

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