The Snobs

by Muriel Spark

These five stories amply display Muriel Spark's extraordinary talent; her cool, biting humour and unique vision of human nature - all the trademark Spark obsessions are here, and much more besides.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Humor, Literary Fiction, British Literature

56 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2005

About the author

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 for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.

Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.

Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.

Reviews

[Δημήτριος Καραγιάννης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely witty and well-formulated short stories, examples of situations that many of us may connect with and reminisce about.

[Kate Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just not to my taste I don't think. For me personally the stories had not much to feel from.

[Muphyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five short stories, the first one was definitely the best.

The Snobs - 4 stars
The First Year of My Life - 3 stars
The Fortune-Teller - 4 stars
Christmas Fugue - 3 stars
The Executor - 3 stars

Total: 3.5 stars

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an odd time, and as I read more of the stories I began to feel even more uneasy. 'The Snobs' seemed typical enough, 'The First Year of My Life' was interesting but I had no real understanding of the final political specifics. 'The Fortune-Teller' may have been my favourite? the last of the innocents, I guess. 'Christmas Fugue' and 'The Executor' just made me feel uncomfortable; I'll put it down to fictional encounters with strangers in small and vulnerable spaces, supernatural elements in empty houses in Scotland, and top it off with the eeriness of real world events (hello earthquake, then the tsunami warnings not everyone got) and never quite being able to know what's happening.

I guess those last two stories were effective.

I also don't even know who Muriel Spark is, but hey.

[Franziska Self Fisken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five good short stories with period feel, rather reminiscent of Somerset Maugham. Muriel Spark is an incisive, biting, critical observer of people.

[jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's lovely being a speck in the distance

[Liam Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hoot. Excellent short stories

[elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

that’s a nice collection of short stories but quite uneven: some short stories are fun and well written while others are just…not that good

[Coenraad · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was such a joy to discover Muriel Spark's witty short stories in the Penguin 60s; reading more of her work was definitely a joy. The five stories collected here show her observing unusual characters again. In 'The snobs' the novel-writing narrator rescues her hosts from snobbish chateau-grabbers. The narrator in 'The first year of my life' tells us how a child is omniscient in the first year of its life, only to lose the ability when social training starts. Being born in the last year of the First World War, the girl has nothing to smile about until Armistice Day. In 'The fortune-teller' there is already an element of the supernatural (but in a very unexpected way!); this is strengthened in the final, rather spooky story, 'The executor', where a young woman keeps some of her famous writer-uncle's manuscripts back when she sells all his papers to an archive after his death. Cynthia has some strange and rather pleasant, if not quite spooky, experiences on one particular Christmas Day in 'Christmas fugue'. Spark's wit and inventiveness shine through. I have a number of her novels waiting for me!

Muriel Spark se skerpsinnige, spitsvondige kortverhale, bevolk met ongewone karakters, is 'n groot leesgenot. 'n Paar van haar romans staan en wag vir my. Ek sien uit na daardie vreugde!

[Phillippa Mills]

Economy at it's best

[Eric Bruen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite Muriel Spark short story collection - I didn't like the title story, The First Year of my Life was great and the others were ok.

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get excited about this book. It sounded a lot like a combination of others I'd read. I Didn't finish it.

[Zachary Ngow · Rating 4 out of 5]

my favourite was the fortune teller