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Symposium
Dame Muriel Spark delivers a delightfully alarming novel, full of high society and low cunning.
One October evening five posh London couples gather for a dinner party, enjoying "the pheasant (flambe in cognac as it is)" and waiting for the imminent arrival of the late-coming guest Hilda Damien, who has been unavoidably detained due to the fact that she is being murdered at this very momentSymposium was applauded by Time magazine for the "sinister elegance" of Muriel Spark's "medium of light but lethal comedy." Mixed in are a Monet, a mad uncle, some unconventional nuns, and a burglary ring run by a rent-a-butler. Symposium stars a perfectly evil young woman (a classic sweet-faced hair-raising Sparkian horror) who has married rich Hilda's son by hook or by crook, hooking him at the fruit counter of Harrod's. There is also spiritual conversationand the Bordeaux is superb. "The prevailing mood is urbane: the wine is poured, the talk continues, and all the time the ice on which the protagonists' world rests is being thinned from beneath, by boiling emotions and ugly motives .No living writer handles the tension between formality of expression and subversiveness of thought more elegantly." (The Independent on Sunday).
143 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1990
77 people are currently reading
1994 people want to read
About the author
Muriel Spark
222 books1,291 followersDame 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
February 26, 2025
Another witty, sharp, and darkly comical little gem from the ever so reliable Ms Spark. It's a case of quality and quantity, as I've found she rarely misses the mark. That's twelve novels now so far, and only one real dud. Stripped to the bare bones Spark's Symposium is more a simple murder mystery than a modern Platonic retelling. Only here, Spark gives away the ending to the reader long before it happens, which actually only adds to the enjoyment of knowing what some of the characters don't yet know. They are in the dark, but we are not. Specifically, the Scottish long red headed Margaret Murchie, who didn't just accidentally bump into her future husband William Damien at the fruit and veg aisle at Marks and Spencer. Oh no, she has been linked to a couple of deaths - one her Gran, another a nun - and now, with a bit of a push from her uncle Magnus is looking to find a suitable spouse with very very deep pockets. Problem is, it isn't William that is the wealthy one but rather his mother, Hilda, who is highly suspicious of her daughter-in-law. In fact, she is whirling with panic and malign vibes that a plot against her could be on the cards. Matters are complicated though by a servant, Luke, and Hilda's housewarming gift to William & Margaret - a painting by Monet. The novel starts with a London dinner party of 10, but doesn't stay there, as Spark skilfully works in flashback though each guest, where we learn just who is who, and who is up to what. Some of those digging into the roast pheasant and sipping the fancy wine along with William & Margaret are, the American artist Hurley Reed and Australian widow Chris Donovan (the hosts), Lord & Lady Suzy; who won't shut up about their house getting robbed, the psychologically obsessed Annabel Treece; who has a theory that certain people of today belonged to other centuries, and the couple Ella and Ernst Untzinger; whose minds are elsewhere on one of their supplied dinner helpers and his expensive watch. Spark, being a playwright also, is great when it comes to conversation; or nattering, and here she is on sparkling form, filling the narrative with some really great dialogue. Again with Spark, she does pretty much what I'd come to expect. There was one scene that felt well out of place about halfway in, but it didn't tarnish what was yet another fine example as to why she is my favourite British female novelist.
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May 25, 2023A lot of people die in Muriel Spark's stories, often violently, and yet I smile a lot while reading her books.
Yes, she gets away with murder, just as her criminals sometimes get away with their crimes. Unless they are murderous house breakers, that is. She's quite hard on house breakers and their accomplices, although she serves them up a few victims before she has them arrested. The plot must be fed after all.
Those of her murderers who aren't house breakers are often religious fanatics and/or maniacs. In this comic tragedy, there are murderers who are housebreakers, murderers who are religious fanatics, and murderers who are quite quite mad.
And, if all that isn't murky enough, there's a little hint here of Spark's interest in the doctrine of predestination which has had a 'foreshadowing' role in some of the other Spark books I've read, and will do in the future books too.
Yes, she gets away with murder, just as her criminals sometimes get away with their crimes. Unless they are murderous house breakers, that is. She's quite hard on house breakers and their accomplices, although she serves them up a few victims before she has them arrested. The plot must be fed after all.
Those of her murderers who aren't house breakers are often religious fanatics and/or maniacs. In this comic tragedy, there are murderers who are housebreakers, murderers who are religious fanatics, and murderers who are quite quite mad.
And, if all that isn't murky enough, there's a little hint here of Spark's interest in the doctrine of predestination which has had a 'foreshadowing' role in some of the other Spark books I've read, and will do in the future books too.
January 6, 2020
As the title would suggest most of this novel is constructed of conversation. The pivot of the book is a dinner party. One of the guests, Margaret Damien, has an uncanny habit of finding herself in the vicinity of mysterious deaths and disappearances. And it's announced early on that her mother-in-law will be murdered on the night of the dinner party. So this is a kind of murder mystery but without much mystery or tension. Unlike all the other novels of hers I've read there isn't really a single interesting character in this book. I found it sillier than it is profound and probably the last of her novels I'd recommend reading.
January 7, 2025
“Many families have at least one fairly mad member, whether in or out of an institution. But the families do not normally consult the mad people even if they have lucid periods; the families do not go to them for advice. The Murchies were different.”
It isn't often that I read a book in a single day, but with Muriel Spark this is probably the world's least impressive achievement. It would be easy to say that as she got older her books became more sparse, but her books have never been anything else, and this, a late entry, is no exception. Did her books gets sillier later in her career? There may have been some regression, but I think she was pretty silly from day one--and I say that with love. Marxist nuns have certainly never been more entertaining. The moral, for those more serious readers, of this particular story is: never trust a stranger who comments on the grapefruit in the fruit section of Marks & Spencer's.
June 13, 2020
This is a late novel by Spark, published in 1990 and the whole thing centres on a dinner party. It’s a bit like a jigsaw being put together before your eyes. It is very funny in a bleak way and certainly macabre as the plot (such as it is) revolves around a number of murders and unexplained deaths.
There is no point running through the characters in detail, they are all fairly wealthy yuppie types and the servants busily waiting on them are part of a gang robbing those whose houses are empty. One of the guests is the newly married Margaret Damien (previously Murchie) whose past history and links to various deaths is gradually explained. As she is Scottish, there is a touch of Macbeth about it all. She has an uncle who is an asylum and who is her firm friend, to the consternation of the rest of her family. Margaret’s new husband has a very wealthy mother. Need I say more!
As an aside there are a bunch of Marxist nuns who provide some comic relief until one of them is murdered. Margaret is one of the nuns (briefly before she decides to find an eligible husband from the list her uncle has drawn up). Spark can set a scene:
“So it happened that shortly after Margaret Murchie had joined the community as a novice the BBC duly arrived. Miss Jones, a team of five and their cameras. The first thing they did was to change the lighting arrangements in the recreation room and the refractory, clobbering through the hall with their unnecessarily stout boots. Sister Marrow appeared in the hallway.
"What the fucking hell do you think you're doing?” She enquired of the chief cameraman, who was immediately joined protectively by the other four technicians.”
This was well received critically and reviewers seem to have enjoyed it. The title of course comes from Plato and the idea is the same, we learn through the dialogue. Of course it is important to remember that Spark is a theological writer and the doctrine of pre-destination is scattered all over this.
For me there is a big but. It’s the old trope (well used here) of mental ill-health leading to murderous intent. Obviously, if you escape from the asylum in which you are incarcerated, the first thing you are going to do is travel to another city and murder a total stranger in their bed. Margaret’s uncle Magnus is another example who is used as a foil for Margaret and an agent provocateur. The stereotype that anyone with mental health problems tends towards violence is dangerous and leads to victimisation by society. It’s sloppy and unnecessary.
There is no point running through the characters in detail, they are all fairly wealthy yuppie types and the servants busily waiting on them are part of a gang robbing those whose houses are empty. One of the guests is the newly married Margaret Damien (previously Murchie) whose past history and links to various deaths is gradually explained. As she is Scottish, there is a touch of Macbeth about it all. She has an uncle who is an asylum and who is her firm friend, to the consternation of the rest of her family. Margaret’s new husband has a very wealthy mother. Need I say more!
As an aside there are a bunch of Marxist nuns who provide some comic relief until one of them is murdered. Margaret is one of the nuns (briefly before she decides to find an eligible husband from the list her uncle has drawn up). Spark can set a scene:
“So it happened that shortly after Margaret Murchie had joined the community as a novice the BBC duly arrived. Miss Jones, a team of five and their cameras. The first thing they did was to change the lighting arrangements in the recreation room and the refractory, clobbering through the hall with their unnecessarily stout boots. Sister Marrow appeared in the hallway.
"What the fucking hell do you think you're doing?” She enquired of the chief cameraman, who was immediately joined protectively by the other four technicians.”
This was well received critically and reviewers seem to have enjoyed it. The title of course comes from Plato and the idea is the same, we learn through the dialogue. Of course it is important to remember that Spark is a theological writer and the doctrine of pre-destination is scattered all over this.
For me there is a big but. It’s the old trope (well used here) of mental ill-health leading to murderous intent. Obviously, if you escape from the asylum in which you are incarcerated, the first thing you are going to do is travel to another city and murder a total stranger in their bed. Margaret’s uncle Magnus is another example who is used as a foil for Margaret and an agent provocateur. The stereotype that anyone with mental health problems tends towards violence is dangerous and leads to victimisation by society. It’s sloppy and unnecessary.
March 4, 2019
My erratic journey through Muriel Spark’s oeuvre continues. I picked ‘Symposium’ up in the library more or less at random from the Spark shelf. Its plot orbits around a dinner party composed of pompous and irritating rich people. I was not initially receptive to this. However the introduction of Margaret to the narrative rapidly intensified my enjoyment. Muriel Spark is incredible at crafting female characters with unique combinations of flaws, strengths, and foibles. Her women are always so vivid and interesting, so well-observed and sharp-edged. I love them and wonder that Alexander McCall Smith’s introduction does not mention the fascinating gender dynamics in the narrative. I found Margaret a particularly compelling figure and could not help having some sympathy for her. This exchange will certainly stay in my mind:
The Marxist nuns are also absolutely wonderful. I recommend Muriel Spark as an author to read for distraction from work stress. Her novellas are not escapist at all, but they promote a kind of satisfyingly ironic distance from events. They also encourage you to fantasise about becoming a Marxist nun and/or causing disaster to pompous rich people, which can a be pleasant pastime on bus journeys.
"Do you think I have got the evil eye?”
“Think it? - I know it. It’s quite obvious. Even your block-headed parents and sister have begun to notice.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said Margaret, “I’m tired of being the passive carrier of disaster. I feel frustrated. I almost think it’s time for me to take my life and destiny in my own hands, and actively make disasters come about. I would like to do something like that.” She sat on the sofa beside Magnus, tossing her red hair, rather like a newly graduated student seriously discussing her future with her college tutor.
“Perpetrate evil?” Magnus offered.
“Yes. I think I could do it.”
“The wish alone is evil,” said Magnus, with the distant equanimity of a college tutor who has two or three other students to see that afternoon.
“Glad to hear it,” said Margaret.
The Marxist nuns are also absolutely wonderful. I recommend Muriel Spark as an author to read for distraction from work stress. Her novellas are not escapist at all, but they promote a kind of satisfyingly ironic distance from events. They also encourage you to fantasise about becoming a Marxist nun and/or causing disaster to pompous rich people, which can a be pleasant pastime on bus journeys.
September 27, 2023
“Sempozyum” bir zengin evinde verilen on kişilik akşam yemeğinde başlayıp bitiyor. Masadaki şık ve seçkin konuklar, birbirlerinden değişik ilişki biçimlerini simgeliyorlar. Mutlu bir olgunluk çağı aşkı, sallantıda olan bir evlilik, kapalı/açık eşcinsel eğilimler, romantik yeni evliler…
Temel izlekleri; sevgi ve sevgisizlik, iyilik ve kötülük, insanın özgür iradesi ve alınyazısı gibi konular olan yazarı, eleştirmenler “ yırtıcı tanrıça” olarak tanımıyorlarmış (arka kapaktan).
Okuması keyifli, çok sayıda karakter olduğu için dikkat gerektiren ve aynı zamanda merak uyandıran bir kitap Sempozyum.
Muriel Spark karakterlerini kendilerine has ve akla gelmeyecek enteresan başlıklar altında detaylandırıyor. Karakter sayısı fazla olmasına rağmen, hemen hemen hepsinin kişilik yapılarına dair birer çerçeve oluşturmayı başarıyor. Oldukça kısa olan bu romanda bunu başarabilmesini çok etkileyici buldum.
“Sürücü Koltuğu” kitabı ile tanıştığım yazarın güncel baskısı olmayan bu kitabını sahaftan almıştım. Sizin de karşınıza çıkarsa alıp okumanızı tavsiye ederim.
Temel izlekleri; sevgi ve sevgisizlik, iyilik ve kötülük, insanın özgür iradesi ve alınyazısı gibi konular olan yazarı, eleştirmenler “ yırtıcı tanrıça” olarak tanımıyorlarmış (arka kapaktan).
Okuması keyifli, çok sayıda karakter olduğu için dikkat gerektiren ve aynı zamanda merak uyandıran bir kitap Sempozyum.
Muriel Spark karakterlerini kendilerine has ve akla gelmeyecek enteresan başlıklar altında detaylandırıyor. Karakter sayısı fazla olmasına rağmen, hemen hemen hepsinin kişilik yapılarına dair birer çerçeve oluşturmayı başarıyor. Oldukça kısa olan bu romanda bunu başarabilmesini çok etkileyici buldum.
“Sürücü Koltuğu” kitabı ile tanıştığım yazarın güncel baskısı olmayan bu kitabını sahaftan almıştım. Sizin de karşınıza çıkarsa alıp okumanızı tavsiye ederim.
September 11, 2017
Three and half stars.
I cannot say I loved this novel like many other Spark novels. Nor can I say that did not like the novel. It is somewhere in between. But as it is usual with any of Spark's novels, I was thoroughly entertained.
Among Spark's novels some are plot driven and some deal with characters (their introduction and the analysis later on). Symposium is of the latter type. Ten characters get introduced. They have apparently arrived for a dinner party. Some of them are already acquainted with each other. Some are new and are eager to know the others. There are some other minor characters introduced later and they are very much part of the main story.
What does one know of a person meeting for the first time? Is she/he a good person? Is that person what she/he seems to be on the outside? Do we like to indulge in trawling the historical pasts of the person? (In simple terms: Are we nosy?) This is the strength of this novel. On the outer side we all are goody-goody. But deep down within ourselves we can be anything. We are also curious about other's pasts and present. This human element is investigated in a funny manner by Spark.
The other reason for enjoying Spark's novels are her take on religion (Christianity). Here too we get a chapter on a weird convent filled with some interesting nuns. It is an Anglican convent and the sisters are very progressive. They are interested in social work than on the matters of the spirit. They read Marx and are certain that the march of Marx into the Church can not be stopped by anyone. They are critical of the colonial policy of mission. This is not a deep analysis of religion as such. But you get certain points to ponder. Reflected in these thoughts is the Spark's take on the rushing in of Liberation Theology from Latin America and Church's social commitment at the expense of Life of the Spirit.
Spark is always entertaining for me. And this novel is no exception.
I cannot say I loved this novel like many other Spark novels. Nor can I say that did not like the novel. It is somewhere in between. But as it is usual with any of Spark's novels, I was thoroughly entertained.
Among Spark's novels some are plot driven and some deal with characters (their introduction and the analysis later on). Symposium is of the latter type. Ten characters get introduced. They have apparently arrived for a dinner party. Some of them are already acquainted with each other. Some are new and are eager to know the others. There are some other minor characters introduced later and they are very much part of the main story.
What does one know of a person meeting for the first time? Is she/he a good person? Is that person what she/he seems to be on the outside? Do we like to indulge in trawling the historical pasts of the person? (In simple terms: Are we nosy?) This is the strength of this novel. On the outer side we all are goody-goody. But deep down within ourselves we can be anything. We are also curious about other's pasts and present. This human element is investigated in a funny manner by Spark.
The other reason for enjoying Spark's novels are her take on religion (Christianity). Here too we get a chapter on a weird convent filled with some interesting nuns. It is an Anglican convent and the sisters are very progressive. They are interested in social work than on the matters of the spirit. They read Marx and are certain that the march of Marx into the Church can not be stopped by anyone. They are critical of the colonial policy of mission. This is not a deep analysis of religion as such. But you get certain points to ponder. Reflected in these thoughts is the Spark's take on the rushing in of Liberation Theology from Latin America and Church's social commitment at the expense of Life of the Spirit.
Spark is always entertaining for me. And this novel is no exception.
November 15, 2020
The title echoes Plato, of course, and the philosophical bite comes from Voltaire. The novel is a warning to les autres the others ... but who are they? Plato's original text centres on love's divine fury, Amor's madness. Symposium takes a swipe at materialism, capitalism, an absurd modern world where the sane are mad and the mad are sane and love can be traded according to personal principles. Spark hits her stride with the Marxist nuns whose have abandoned spiritualism and the wonderful Sister Marrow who has the proletariat in her bone-sponge. An elegant satire.
April 6, 2019
I’ve been working my way through a little VMC set of Spark’s novels, slowly but surely over the past few years, trying to read them in order of publication.
Symposium is the last of the bunch, and I’m a little sad to have finished it as there are no more left on the shelves for me to read. Maybe I’ll go back and revisit The Comforters at some point, a novel I didn’t quite connect with on the first reading, hence the lack of a review. Anyway, returning to the main subject of this post, Symposium, this is a clever and provocative novel, shot through with a devilish streak of dark humour – I enjoyed it very much indeed.
To read my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
Symposium is the last of the bunch, and I’m a little sad to have finished it as there are no more left on the shelves for me to read. Maybe I’ll go back and revisit The Comforters at some point, a novel I didn’t quite connect with on the first reading, hence the lack of a review. Anyway, returning to the main subject of this post, Symposium, this is a clever and provocative novel, shot through with a devilish streak of dark humour – I enjoyed it very much indeed.
To read my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
July 27, 2024
Ecco il cicaleccio di una cena affollata, una tavola allegra e vivace, le chiacchiere tra uomini e donne della Londra bene, una Londra dalle velleità intellettuali.
Chris Donovan e Reed Hurley amano organizzare cene ben riuscite e il loro talento si esplica proprio nell’incastrare gli invitati, nel cercare di creare il quadro perfetto per la cornice che è la loro sala da pranzo.
Da quella sala affollata e chiassosa, mentre tutti gustano un buonissimo fagiano frollato, la storia si riavvolge su sé stessa come un nastro, entra nelle case di ogni partecipante, ce ne mostra le debolezze e le meschinità, tutto quello che cerchiamo di nascondere agli altri e che, invece, non sfugge all’occhio sagace e pungente di Muriel Spark, sempre pronta a immergersi nei gorghi imperscrutabili dell’animo umano, senza timore di scendere oltre la superficie, oltre il confine che rende tutto meno tollerabile e più spaventoso.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
Chris Donovan e Reed Hurley amano organizzare cene ben riuscite e il loro talento si esplica proprio nell’incastrare gli invitati, nel cercare di creare il quadro perfetto per la cornice che è la loro sala da pranzo.
Da quella sala affollata e chiassosa, mentre tutti gustano un buonissimo fagiano frollato, la storia si riavvolge su sé stessa come un nastro, entra nelle case di ogni partecipante, ce ne mostra le debolezze e le meschinità, tutto quello che cerchiamo di nascondere agli altri e che, invece, non sfugge all’occhio sagace e pungente di Muriel Spark, sempre pronta a immergersi nei gorghi imperscrutabili dell’animo umano, senza timore di scendere oltre la superficie, oltre il confine che rende tutto meno tollerabile e più spaventoso.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
May 29, 2024
What a beautifully done little mouthful of a book. Keenly observed and more than faintly menacing as is usually the case with Muriel Spark. And funny too. I could’ve read 200 more pages although it was perfect it ended when it did.
November 17, 2024
This is the 6th Spark novel I've read (in a fairly short period).
What seems apparent is that the author is quite capable of delivering straightforward work like 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' (which seems her most conventional), 'Loitering with Intent' (my favorite so far, followed by 'Prime') and 'The Public Image', she can also let her 'quirky flag' fly - as with 'The Comforters', 'Memento Mori'... and 'Symposium'.
I enjoyed this novel quite a bit in its first half - where Spark reveals an ingenious command of Rubik's Cube plot construction, mixing the present with the near-present, and ping-ponging back and forth in order to give us a full understanding of the collective dynamic of her characters.
In the latter half - segued by a ponderous (though occasionally amusing) pit-stop inside a Marxist-tinged nunnery - Spark feels compelled to focus on the mechanics of the murder she cleverly alludes to early on. In that effort, she does have an ace up her sleeve but, at the same time, the narrative begins to feel overly contrived.
~ which, in itself, isn't a problem since this is low-level black comedy. Still, I was finding myself a bit less engaged. I might have liked a finish that was a bit more explosive.
In thinking about the group Spark has collected here, she doesn't seem to like most of these people all that much. Yet Spark doesn't write with pronounced vitriol. She steps in as a social critic, parading certain upper-class types that she seems to find tiresome and worthy of scorn.
My favorite character (and I imagine one of Spark's) is 'crazy' Uncle Magnus:
Overall, the novel's set-up does help to carry us through what follows. And along the way, there are juicy observations and exchanges. Spark does intrigue me enough to want to see where else she goes.
What seems apparent is that the author is quite capable of delivering straightforward work like 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' (which seems her most conventional), 'Loitering with Intent' (my favorite so far, followed by 'Prime') and 'The Public Image', she can also let her 'quirky flag' fly - as with 'The Comforters', 'Memento Mori'... and 'Symposium'.
I enjoyed this novel quite a bit in its first half - where Spark reveals an ingenious command of Rubik's Cube plot construction, mixing the present with the near-present, and ping-ponging back and forth in order to give us a full understanding of the collective dynamic of her characters.
In the latter half - segued by a ponderous (though occasionally amusing) pit-stop inside a Marxist-tinged nunnery - Spark feels compelled to focus on the mechanics of the murder she cleverly alludes to early on. In that effort, she does have an ace up her sleeve but, at the same time, the narrative begins to feel overly contrived.
~ which, in itself, isn't a problem since this is low-level black comedy. Still, I was finding myself a bit less engaged. I might have liked a finish that was a bit more explosive.
In thinking about the group Spark has collected here, she doesn't seem to like most of these people all that much. Yet Spark doesn't write with pronounced vitriol. She steps in as a social critic, parading certain upper-class types that she seems to find tiresome and worthy of scorn.
My favorite character (and I imagine one of Spark's) is 'crazy' Uncle Magnus:
'Sometimes I wonder, Magnus, if you advise us right.'I guess I have a soft spot for the wisdom of 'the mad'.
'Who else have you got?' Magnus bellowed. 'Third-rate lawyers, timid little bankers from London. No guide whatsoever for a Scot.'
'Magnus, keep your voice lower. Hush it.'
Magnus lowered his voice. 'Who do you have,' he said, 'but me? Out of my misfortune, out of my affliction I prognosticate and foreshadow. My divine affliction is your only guide.'
Overall, the novel's set-up does help to carry us through what follows. And along the way, there are juicy observations and exchanges. Spark does intrigue me enough to want to see where else she goes.
January 29, 2025
Pa, mislim da je bilo sudbinski da ovo pročitam baš danas!
Grupa prijatelja i poznanika se okuplja na večeri, a zatim nas Mjurijel brzo prebacuje u retrospekciju nekoliko nedelja pre same večere. Saznajemo više o svakom liku (a svi su podjednako luckasti i šarmantni, šteta što roman nije duži), razvija radnju i počinje da nam usađuje seme sumnje prema određenim pojedincima.
Kratko, a jasno što bi rekli - na vrlo malo strana steknete brzo utisak o svakome, o njihovim ličnim zabludama i težnjama, podsetilo me na momente na The Feast od Margaret Kenedi. Topla preporuka!
Grupa prijatelja i poznanika se okuplja na večeri, a zatim nas Mjurijel brzo prebacuje u retrospekciju nekoliko nedelja pre same večere. Saznajemo više o svakom liku (a svi su podjednako luckasti i šarmantni, šteta što roman nije duži), razvija radnju i počinje da nam usađuje seme sumnje prema određenim pojedincima.
Kratko, a jasno što bi rekli - na vrlo malo strana steknete brzo utisak o svakome, o njihovim ličnim zabludama i težnjama, podsetilo me na momente na The Feast od Margaret Kenedi. Topla preporuka!
November 19, 2020
The story is based (starts, and indeed ends) at a dinner party hosted by Hurley Reed, a Catholic American painter, and Chris Donovan, a rich Australian widow, and focuses on the secrets and lives of them and their eight guests.
Though I have come across Spark's theme in her previous work, the nature of evil, (A Far Cry From Kensington), I did not expect this to morph into a crime thriller.
This exchange occurs after about a third of the novel; if the reader wasn't already hooked, they are now.
Crime writing is such a vast genre (I recall reading that almost every novel can be considered as crime..), but Spark has invented her own sub-genre; there is nothing gloomy or dark here, rather there's that same exuberant intellectual gaiety as in her other work, but it is farcical at times, clever and witty; on such matters as fashion, table manners, witchcraft and nuns on television.
Her main characters are manipulative, imperfect, and bizarre, and those in the background range from Marxist and foul-mouthed nuns to a worryingly sane lunatic.
Though I may infer a formula or trademark to Spark's work the real enjoyment in reading her is that there isn't one - you never know quite what to expect, but you are guaranteed to be entertained.
Though I have come across Spark's theme in her previous work, the nature of evil, (A Far Cry From Kensington), I did not expect this to morph into a crime thriller.
“Your mother’s coming on after dinner,” Chris says to William Damien.
“Good,” says Hurley.
But Hilda Damien will not come in after dinner. She is dying, now, as they speak.
This exchange occurs after about a third of the novel; if the reader wasn't already hooked, they are now.
Crime writing is such a vast genre (I recall reading that almost every novel can be considered as crime..), but Spark has invented her own sub-genre; there is nothing gloomy or dark here, rather there's that same exuberant intellectual gaiety as in her other work, but it is farcical at times, clever and witty; on such matters as fashion, table manners, witchcraft and nuns on television.
Her main characters are manipulative, imperfect, and bizarre, and those in the background range from Marxist and foul-mouthed nuns to a worryingly sane lunatic.
Though I may infer a formula or trademark to Spark's work the real enjoyment in reading her is that there isn't one - you never know quite what to expect, but you are guaranteed to be entertained.
February 2, 2010
I have no problem accepting the premise that "Less is More" in contemporarly architecture, but when it comes to Muriel Spark, more is definitely more.
I am on a bit of a Muriel Spark bender: this is my third of her novels this week (they are short!)and I have enjoyed each one more than the last. I don't necessarily think that Symposium was superior to the others (the Bachelors and Loitering With Intent)but rather buy into the premise that there is a cumulative sympathy building for her sense of humor, very quirky characters, and fresh, very readable novels.
I am having great fun reading Muriel Spark and wonder why it has taken so long for me to discover her work.
I am on a bit of a Muriel Spark bender: this is my third of her novels this week (they are short!)and I have enjoyed each one more than the last. I don't necessarily think that Symposium was superior to the others (the Bachelors and Loitering With Intent)but rather buy into the premise that there is a cumulative sympathy building for her sense of humor, very quirky characters, and fresh, very readable novels.
I am having great fun reading Muriel Spark and wonder why it has taken so long for me to discover her work.
February 12, 2022
What a strange, sharp, quietly macabre novel. Spark is an evil genius.
November 13, 2021
When I say this is a delicious story I mean this: that there are several figurative flavours to savour as well as it being centred on a dinner party held in a London residence at the end of the Thatcher years.
The first flavour consists of the main characters, nominally ten but drawing in many acquaintances so that a mental sociogram is required to relate them all to each other. The second flavour — sharper, more piquant — is made up of undertones of violence and criminality, of menace and death.
But the strongest flavour the author serves us is down to the sauce, laced of wry humour and mordant commentary, which permeates every page of this longish novella and which had me virtually smacking my lips. What a feast she has prepared for the reader, one she prefigures in her epitaphs from Lucian and Plato which refer to certain symposia that either ended up in the shedding of blood or acknowledged that the genius of comedy was the same as that for tragedy.
We start with a burglary at the home of Lord and Lady Suzy, when the otherwise outraged Brian Suzy is almost as incensed that the thieves didn’t realise the value of a Francis Bacon canvas as he is that their privacy has been violated. Bookending the novella is an attempt to steal another canvas, a Monet painting of the Thames, a caper which really doesn’t end well for all concerned.
The dinner party has been organised by American artist Hurley Reed and his rich Australian partner Chris Donovan. Superficially the four other couples are conventional middle or upper middle class guests: the Suzys, a Eurocrat and a his wife who’s a teacher, a newly married couple, plus kissing cousins, one a TV producer and the other a genealogist. But appearances can deceive: marriage doesn’t rule out homosexuality or life as a novitiate nun, for example, or hide suspicions of witchcraft or involvement in murder.
Muriel Spark marshals her story with consummate skill, weaving backwards and forward in time, being a fly on the wall in Edinburgh, or London, or Venice, or stealing through characters' thoughts and reactions. But we mustn’t forget that a symposium, nowadays a conference or talking shop, was originally a drinking party following a meal; and so not only are we treated to the London dinner party but also to a series of vignettes where conviviality is heightened by alcohol, from which more details of interrelationships can be gleaned.
The pages are littered with Spark’s dry humour, usually inadvertently expressed by the characters themselves, but also in the commedia dell’arte characters themselves: we have for instance a mad uncle, an order of nuns with a communist conscience, always thinking about les autres, the poor, the disenfranchised, the sick. Then there are the relatives who blow hot and cold, and the cook, the butler and the waiter, who all add to the hubbub of voices from which we try to pick out threads of story.
The introduction by fellow Scot Ian Rankin, originally written as a valediction (Spark died in 2006), talks about “the edgy, experimental side of Spark’s craft” which could still pose “tough moral questions” within fiction “as tightly constructed as poems”. What are those tough questions in this novella? The hint comes primarily through quotes from, for instance, traditional Scottish Border ballads about “vile” women, a Walter de la Mare poem about looking one’s last on all things lovely, and an all-too-late premonition by the final murder victim:
Can the Evil Eye predestine one’s fate, the manner of departing this life, the time when one’s sun sets? Spark seems to demand that the reader make up their own mind in this wicked comedy of terror.
The first flavour consists of the main characters, nominally ten but drawing in many acquaintances so that a mental sociogram is required to relate them all to each other. The second flavour — sharper, more piquant — is made up of undertones of violence and criminality, of menace and death.
But the strongest flavour the author serves us is down to the sauce, laced of wry humour and mordant commentary, which permeates every page of this longish novella and which had me virtually smacking my lips. What a feast she has prepared for the reader, one she prefigures in her epitaphs from Lucian and Plato which refer to certain symposia that either ended up in the shedding of blood or acknowledged that the genius of comedy was the same as that for tragedy.
We start with a burglary at the home of Lord and Lady Suzy, when the otherwise outraged Brian Suzy is almost as incensed that the thieves didn’t realise the value of a Francis Bacon canvas as he is that their privacy has been violated. Bookending the novella is an attempt to steal another canvas, a Monet painting of the Thames, a caper which really doesn’t end well for all concerned.
The dinner party has been organised by American artist Hurley Reed and his rich Australian partner Chris Donovan. Superficially the four other couples are conventional middle or upper middle class guests: the Suzys, a Eurocrat and a his wife who’s a teacher, a newly married couple, plus kissing cousins, one a TV producer and the other a genealogist. But appearances can deceive: marriage doesn’t rule out homosexuality or life as a novitiate nun, for example, or hide suspicions of witchcraft or involvement in murder.
Muriel Spark marshals her story with consummate skill, weaving backwards and forward in time, being a fly on the wall in Edinburgh, or London, or Venice, or stealing through characters' thoughts and reactions. But we mustn’t forget that a symposium, nowadays a conference or talking shop, was originally a drinking party following a meal; and so not only are we treated to the London dinner party but also to a series of vignettes where conviviality is heightened by alcohol, from which more details of interrelationships can be gleaned.
The pages are littered with Spark’s dry humour, usually inadvertently expressed by the characters themselves, but also in the commedia dell’arte characters themselves: we have for instance a mad uncle, an order of nuns with a communist conscience, always thinking about les autres, the poor, the disenfranchised, the sick. Then there are the relatives who blow hot and cold, and the cook, the butler and the waiter, who all add to the hubbub of voices from which we try to pick out threads of story.
The introduction by fellow Scot Ian Rankin, originally written as a valediction (Spark died in 2006), talks about “the edgy, experimental side of Spark’s craft” which could still pose “tough moral questions” within fiction “as tightly constructed as poems”. What are those tough questions in this novella? The hint comes primarily through quotes from, for instance, traditional Scottish Border ballads about “vile” women, a Walter de la Mare poem about looking one’s last on all things lovely, and an all-too-late premonition by the final murder victim:
Destiny, my destiny, thought Hilda. Is she going to poison me? What is she plotting? She is plotting something. This is a nightmare.
Can the Evil Eye predestine one’s fate, the manner of departing this life, the time when one’s sun sets? Spark seems to demand that the reader make up their own mind in this wicked comedy of terror.
July 24, 2025
This short book is so fun and bitchy (like all good detective books imo) and very devourable - would be a GREAT holiday read. it reminds me of an Agatha Christie but more modern but still cozy and old world because it’s about really rich people in London.
September 17, 2025
I always enjoy Muriel Spark. This was kind of a quirky story, and I just kept wanting to keep reading to see what was going to happen :)
December 29, 2024
A riveting airplane read.
November 17, 2016
Listening to an audio book by Muriel Spark is a terrific accompaniment to #ChristinaSteadWeek: I bet Stead would have liked Spark's satirical style...
The title is a droll play on words. Spark has resurrected the ancient Greek meaning of Symposium as a drinking party or convivial discussion after a banquet while also spoofing the guests' opinion of themselves as experts discussing some topic. Bookended by a posh London dinner party where the menu occupies the hosts at length but is actually cooked by hired help, the novella then provides the back story of some very odd guests indeed. Spark's penchant for black humour and the macabre is playful and pitiless. None of these characters are sympathetically handled, though mad Uncle Magnus at least has someone's best interests at heart, even if his methods lack, a-hem, discretion...
Margaret Damien (nee Murchie), the new bride who met her wealthy husband in the fruit & veg section of Marks and Spencer, has an unfortunate history of being associated with unexplained deaths. A schoolteacher, and a fellow nun. She gets tired of the police interviewing her about events she had nothing to do with, and considers that perhaps she should engineer events so that that she has more control over the situation.
Enough already! I'll ruin the book if I say any more.
The narration is pitch-perfect. It is easy to overdo posh British accents so that they become snooty caricatures of themselves, but McCready gets it just right.
The title is a droll play on words. Spark has resurrected the ancient Greek meaning of Symposium as a drinking party or convivial discussion after a banquet while also spoofing the guests' opinion of themselves as experts discussing some topic. Bookended by a posh London dinner party where the menu occupies the hosts at length but is actually cooked by hired help, the novella then provides the back story of some very odd guests indeed. Spark's penchant for black humour and the macabre is playful and pitiless. None of these characters are sympathetically handled, though mad Uncle Magnus at least has someone's best interests at heart, even if his methods lack, a-hem, discretion...
Margaret Damien (nee Murchie), the new bride who met her wealthy husband in the fruit & veg section of Marks and Spencer, has an unfortunate history of being associated with unexplained deaths. A schoolteacher, and a fellow nun. She gets tired of the police interviewing her about events she had nothing to do with, and considers that perhaps she should engineer events so that that she has more control over the situation.
Enough already! I'll ruin the book if I say any more.
The narration is pitch-perfect. It is easy to overdo posh British accents so that they become snooty caricatures of themselves, but McCready gets it just right.
September 10, 2021
In one of Spark's last novels (just three more followed) she muses about love, art, truth, and wealth. At this point in her career she didn't write complete novels, but just sketched bits and thoughts and allowed the perceptive reader to fill in the rest. Whether this is laziness or art is a fair question, but I found the story entertaining and, as always, suffused with her intelligence. The book concerns the extended relationship of a group of (mostly posh) friends and family attending a dinner party, a gang of thieves, and various mysterious deaths and disappearances. All in good fun and while Spark uses this setting to raise many abstract questions, she answers few. One center of the story is the beautiful and witchy Margaret who Spark may've seen as a dangerous avatar of herself.
September 17, 2017
4.5 stars. Another delightful, entertaining read by Muriel Spark. There is a dinner party for ten at a well off painter's London residence. We are given characters sketches of each of the guests to the dinner party. So much happens with lots of plot twists. There are marxist nun's, accidental deaths, thieves, lots of interesting and unconventional couples and some very witty sentences. So far I have read six Muriel Spark novels and they are all short, quick reads with interesting characters and the unexpected occurs. As a reader it has been a very rewarding experience and I will be reading another Muriel Spark novel shortly. A recommended read.
July 16, 2018
Oh Muriel Spark, how I love thee! This book is an absolute riot. The dinner party and guests are introduced innocently enough in the beginning, until the characters and the narrative takes dramatic and absurd twists and is such a joy-ride to read. There is always something sinister lurking underneath the surface in all of Spark's books, the satire is spot on and the language- stiletto sharp! There are no innocent characters or inherent goodness in these brilliant societal sketches and I have begun to realize, that's just the way I like them served.
December 19, 2016
Muriel Spark is such a fun read! Quick, witty and superbly snarky but not too much (way before the word snarky was used). Highly recommend.
June 4, 2022
To the ancient Greeks, a “symposium” was a convivial meeting for eating, drinking, music, and intellectual discussion. The modern equivalent might be a dinner party, such as the one readers are introduced to at the beginning of Muriel Spark’s witty murder-mystery, Symposium. The party hosts are Hurley Reed and Chris Donovan, a renowned American painter and a rich Australian widow, respectively. Four invited couples will make up the social gathering of ten people, and the agenda is whatever topics the guests care to talk about.
Lord and Lady Suzy, for example, have recently been burgled, and that topic is so deeply implanted in Lord Suzy’s mind that he cannot talk about anything else. He refers to it as a violation akin to rape, much to the chagrin of Lady Suzy, and to the mild horror of the other guests. But biting satire is never far from Ms. Spark’s stories. Lord Suzy seems more incensed that the burglars were art morons (for they overlooked a valuable painting on the wall) than that he was burgled at all. He is almost indignant that he didn’t warrant a better class of burglar!
Other couples include Ernst Untzinger, a government official, and his teacher wife, Ella; Margaret and William Damien, fresh newlyweds who met over the produce counter at Marks & Spencer’s; and Annabel Treece and Roland Sykes, a couple of cousins rather than just a couple. Having introduced this cast of characters, Ms. Spark plays fast and loose with chronology, such that sometimes the story covers events before the dinner party, sometimes during, and sometimes after.
The murder element of the story is the death of Hilda Damien (not a spoiler—it is in the dust jacket blurb), whom all the dinner party guests expect to be dropping by later in the evening, but, of course, she doesn’t make it. During the countdown to the party, Ms. Spark explores the back stories of all of her characters in deceptive brevity, for readers quickly sort out who is up to what. Yet readers are not spoon-fed: the author’s subtlety in storytelling is nowhere greater than when she is revealing important facts.
Peripheral players also include the Scottish Murchie family, to which Margaret belongs, and which also boasts a certifiably mad uncle Magnus. Charterhouse is a suave butler serving at the party, and Luke is a lesser rent-a-butler version, who is supposed to be studying, but sports jewelry that could not be bought by contract butler gigs. And not content with one murder, Ms. Spark lists several others that have already happened, repeatedly—and teasingly—in the proximity of one of the characters. Thrown into the plot is the Convent of Good Hope, where Margaret works for a while, and where smoking and swearing nuns are embraced as the most normal thing in the world.
Polished prose and crackling dialogue positively leap off the page in energetic, stylish sentences as Ms. Spark pulls together various plot lines, easily making this an enjoyable one- or two-sitting read. Symposium confidently joins the never-fails-to-please list of the dozen or so Muriel Spark novels I have already read.
Lord and Lady Suzy, for example, have recently been burgled, and that topic is so deeply implanted in Lord Suzy’s mind that he cannot talk about anything else. He refers to it as a violation akin to rape, much to the chagrin of Lady Suzy, and to the mild horror of the other guests. But biting satire is never far from Ms. Spark’s stories. Lord Suzy seems more incensed that the burglars were art morons (for they overlooked a valuable painting on the wall) than that he was burgled at all. He is almost indignant that he didn’t warrant a better class of burglar!
Other couples include Ernst Untzinger, a government official, and his teacher wife, Ella; Margaret and William Damien, fresh newlyweds who met over the produce counter at Marks & Spencer’s; and Annabel Treece and Roland Sykes, a couple of cousins rather than just a couple. Having introduced this cast of characters, Ms. Spark plays fast and loose with chronology, such that sometimes the story covers events before the dinner party, sometimes during, and sometimes after.
The murder element of the story is the death of Hilda Damien (not a spoiler—it is in the dust jacket blurb), whom all the dinner party guests expect to be dropping by later in the evening, but, of course, she doesn’t make it. During the countdown to the party, Ms. Spark explores the back stories of all of her characters in deceptive brevity, for readers quickly sort out who is up to what. Yet readers are not spoon-fed: the author’s subtlety in storytelling is nowhere greater than when she is revealing important facts.
Peripheral players also include the Scottish Murchie family, to which Margaret belongs, and which also boasts a certifiably mad uncle Magnus. Charterhouse is a suave butler serving at the party, and Luke is a lesser rent-a-butler version, who is supposed to be studying, but sports jewelry that could not be bought by contract butler gigs. And not content with one murder, Ms. Spark lists several others that have already happened, repeatedly—and teasingly—in the proximity of one of the characters. Thrown into the plot is the Convent of Good Hope, where Margaret works for a while, and where smoking and swearing nuns are embraced as the most normal thing in the world.
Polished prose and crackling dialogue positively leap off the page in energetic, stylish sentences as Ms. Spark pulls together various plot lines, easily making this an enjoyable one- or two-sitting read. Symposium confidently joins the never-fails-to-please list of the dozen or so Muriel Spark novels I have already read.
July 1, 2025
Expected this to be a weaker effort, but though the style is a bit more garrulous than the others I've read, it's still a pleasure, with lots of absurd details (loonies! inexplicable murders! Marxist nuns!) that no-one else could carry off with half as much drollery and confidence. Like the newer Wes Anderson films, it's slightly overpopulated and maybe a touch too zany, and her incorrigible habit of disrupting linear chronology means the denouement is a little underwhelming - a matter of dotting i's and crossing t's. But sub-par Spark is still better than most novelists then or since.
January 8, 2025
George Orwell wrote about Dickens that his novels had terrible architecture, but wonderful gargoyles. This book is kind of the other way round: beautifully constructed, but I got tired of looking at the ornaments.
My edition has a great introduction by Alexander McCall Smith who loves this novel and does a great job explaining why. Apart from her skillz: the way Spark grapples with life being lived obliviously while darker, destructive forces are at play. This to me seems the foundation for most novels, not a specific achievement.
My edition has a great introduction by Alexander McCall Smith who loves this novel and does a great job explaining why. Apart from her skillz: the way Spark grapples with life being lived obliviously while darker, destructive forces are at play. This to me seems the foundation for most novels, not a specific achievement.
April 4, 2025
A short read at only 147 pages, and it was cynical and darkly comical, which I found entertaining. I didn't really warm to any of the characters though, so at times it felt like a longer read than the page count. An amusing bit that stood out, probably because I could relate was: "Artists, musicians, writers and poets tend to neglect themselves and their appearance while pursuing their burning and fugitive aims".
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