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Territorial Rights
The greatest Scottish novelist of modern times . . . my admiration for Spark's contribution to literature knows no bounds' Ian Rankin
Robert wants nothing more than to become a serious art historian. But his hopes for an academic life are put on hold when he flees from London to Venice to escape one lover and seek out another: the enigmatic Bulgarian refugee Lina Pancev. In the baffling maze of canals and winding streets where reality shifts and changes like reflections on water, Robert encounters a grand carnival of lust, lies, blackmail, cocktail parties and regicide. As he chases Lina, his heart's desire, the city provides a priceless education in love, art and beauty.
Robert wants nothing more than to become a serious art historian. But his hopes for an academic life are put on hold when he flees from London to Venice to escape one lover and seek out another: the enigmatic Bulgarian refugee Lina Pancev. In the baffling maze of canals and winding streets where reality shifts and changes like reflections on water, Robert encounters a grand carnival of lust, lies, blackmail, cocktail parties and regicide. As he chases Lina, his heart's desire, the city provides a priceless education in love, art and beauty.
225 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1979
38 people are currently reading
413 people want to read
About the author
Muriel Spark
226 books1,295 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 65 reviews
February 24, 2021
I've spent a fair amount of time in Venice but I drew a blank when trying to recall the campo (Santa Maria Formosa) where a lot of this novel is set. When I pulled up a screen photo of the church and square I did recall it but realised how little impression it had made on me. It was a place of transit in my life. I remembered it as a generalised image with no distinctive detail. Chiefly I remembered walking through it. And I suspect this novel will occupy a similar vague meaningless role in my memory.
Territorial Rights is a full blown farce but is rather skimpy in substance and reads like a first draft. It contains lots of Spark qualities - it's sprightly, the prose seems effortless, sense of place is observantly evoked, the characters are intriguing and the central ideas gel into a coherent and distinctive philosophy of life but everything about it seems only half baked. The idea of territorial rights as a limiting tenet, personified by the loyal betrayed housewife, is a good one and there's the sense she could have done so much more with it instead of getting carried away with the farcical nature of her plot. I don't think she was a writer who was willing to spend great lengths of time on a novel. In part it was this hurry to finish books that's responsible for the marvellous vitality of her writing. But this is a novel that could have done with less hurry and more patient thought. It's like she couldn't see the wood for the trees.
Finally, another gripe with professional reviewers. The Times Literary Supplement on the back jacket declares, "Territorial Rights is as brilliant as the best of its predecessors." That statement is almost as patently flawed and daft as someone stating the weather in Venice in January is much the same as the weather in Venice in July.
Territorial Rights is a full blown farce but is rather skimpy in substance and reads like a first draft. It contains lots of Spark qualities - it's sprightly, the prose seems effortless, sense of place is observantly evoked, the characters are intriguing and the central ideas gel into a coherent and distinctive philosophy of life but everything about it seems only half baked. The idea of territorial rights as a limiting tenet, personified by the loyal betrayed housewife, is a good one and there's the sense she could have done so much more with it instead of getting carried away with the farcical nature of her plot. I don't think she was a writer who was willing to spend great lengths of time on a novel. In part it was this hurry to finish books that's responsible for the marvellous vitality of her writing. But this is a novel that could have done with less hurry and more patient thought. It's like she couldn't see the wood for the trees.
Finally, another gripe with professional reviewers. The Times Literary Supplement on the back jacket declares, "Territorial Rights is as brilliant as the best of its predecessors." That statement is almost as patently flawed and daft as someone stating the weather in Venice in January is much the same as the weather in Venice in July.
December 9, 2023
Venice in the off-season. Turns out it's quite popular amongst Muriel Spark characters, who all just happen to run into each other along its canals and in its alleyways. There's Robert the hustler, and his benefactor Curran, but also his father, and Lina, artist and Bulgarian defector, along with a friend of Robert's mother, and the woman working as an investigator for a company hired by Robert's mother, among others. (Pauses for breath.) Not unenjoyable--frothy, lacking bite (loved the grave-dancing scene)--but not exactly a cornerstone of Spark's oeuvre either. The one thing she does excel at is evoking Venice, which is the sole reason I chose to reread it.
August 18, 2016
Three and Half Stars.
It is a simple straight forward story. It keeps the readers on the edge - something like a detective novel. But it so does in a funny way. I mean it is serious in a funny way. The dialogues in many places are very humorous. You literally laugh out loud reading them. In that sense, it is a great entertainer. A good holiday read, especially if you plan your holiday in Venice.
There are far too many characters and they are all invariably connected to each other. This seems really impossible. But Spark knows how to engage you and trick you in to the realm of willing suspension of disbelief. Each character is introduced in a way and at the end you get a different picture of all the characters. And I think, that might have been the intention of the author.
This argument is further endorsed by certain dialogues in the novel.
This is one of the dialogues that appears in the earlier part of the novel:
She: "Human nature is evil, isn't it?"
He: I wouldn't call it evil. Human nature is a human nature as far as I'm concerned."
And this human nature can not be universal in its manifestations. At the beginning of the novel we hear a character stating thus: "I always feel guilty. I love it. I don't really feel alive without feeling guilt." This person is apparently morality conscious. At the end of the book we get a dialogue in which the possibility of contrary opinions are expressed. The dialogue goes in this way:
She: "I was always afraid he was unhappy and involved in some wrong-doing."
She: "You're mistaken if you think wrong-doers are always unhappy. The really professional evil-doers love it. They're as happy as larks in the sky."
The possibility of the change of characters over the time is also hinted at in the novel. The sinner can repent and the saint can sin. Human nature is a mystery. What is best is to present it as you see manifest in people. And I think, Spark did that in this novel.
I am a Spark fan. And I can be wrong. But I love to see this novel, this way.
It is a simple straight forward story. It keeps the readers on the edge - something like a detective novel. But it so does in a funny way. I mean it is serious in a funny way. The dialogues in many places are very humorous. You literally laugh out loud reading them. In that sense, it is a great entertainer. A good holiday read, especially if you plan your holiday in Venice.
There are far too many characters and they are all invariably connected to each other. This seems really impossible. But Spark knows how to engage you and trick you in to the realm of willing suspension of disbelief. Each character is introduced in a way and at the end you get a different picture of all the characters. And I think, that might have been the intention of the author.
This argument is further endorsed by certain dialogues in the novel.
This is one of the dialogues that appears in the earlier part of the novel:
She: "Human nature is evil, isn't it?"
He: I wouldn't call it evil. Human nature is a human nature as far as I'm concerned."
And this human nature can not be universal in its manifestations. At the beginning of the novel we hear a character stating thus: "I always feel guilty. I love it. I don't really feel alive without feeling guilt." This person is apparently morality conscious. At the end of the book we get a dialogue in which the possibility of contrary opinions are expressed. The dialogue goes in this way:
She: "I was always afraid he was unhappy and involved in some wrong-doing."
She: "You're mistaken if you think wrong-doers are always unhappy. The really professional evil-doers love it. They're as happy as larks in the sky."
The possibility of the change of characters over the time is also hinted at in the novel. The sinner can repent and the saint can sin. Human nature is a mystery. What is best is to present it as you see manifest in people. And I think, Spark did that in this novel.
I am a Spark fan. And I can be wrong. But I love to see this novel, this way.
September 21, 2021
Many reviews refer to this novel as "farce". But that it certainly is not. A farce, in literary terms, aims to produce laughter. Spark is well know for that. But Territorial Rights is not a work devoted entirely to outrageous comedy. A very dark vein runs through it. Also, the book appears to perplex reviewers because it is not realistic. To read Spark from that point of view is not going to be a successful line of enquiry. Like The Comforters and Loitering with Intent (which follows Territorial Rights chronologically) this is a novel about the novel. Gabriel Josopivici once remarked that fiction could ultimately only tell one truth: it is fiction. To go to a work of fiction for a commentary on the factual world is often done and always erroneous. The Book is not the World and the World is not the Book.
In Territorial Rights, Anthea Leaver, whose husband has gone abroad with another woman, continually falls asleep whilst reading a dreary kitchen-sink novel. This is an implicit comparison with what Spark is creating: a fiction that grows increasingly fictive and away from reality, from the quotidian. Bit by bit the characters deepen until they are as grimy as the Venice canals that provide a backdrop for events. No one is trustworthy. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else. And what they come to fear -- ultimately -- is the lie that might be a truth, something much more damaging than a lie. That can be challenged. But a half-truth leaves a taint, a stain that cannot be erased. And appropriately, it is a fake novel that does the damage.
Yes, this is a novel that is entirely over the top. What could be more ridiculous that a detective agency cum espionage service called GESS? Global Equip Security Services. What could be more misguided than four characters who build there moral view of the world on public school morality? What nonsense! But wait, is that not what we face at he moment? A Government governed by the rules of Eton? Behind Territorial Rights there is a satire of social manners. Spark writes satire, not farce. The novel is a grand tour of human folly.
In Territorial Rights, Anthea Leaver, whose husband has gone abroad with another woman, continually falls asleep whilst reading a dreary kitchen-sink novel. This is an implicit comparison with what Spark is creating: a fiction that grows increasingly fictive and away from reality, from the quotidian. Bit by bit the characters deepen until they are as grimy as the Venice canals that provide a backdrop for events. No one is trustworthy. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else. And what they come to fear -- ultimately -- is the lie that might be a truth, something much more damaging than a lie. That can be challenged. But a half-truth leaves a taint, a stain that cannot be erased. And appropriately, it is a fake novel that does the damage.
Yes, this is a novel that is entirely over the top. What could be more ridiculous that a detective agency cum espionage service called GESS? Global Equip Security Services. What could be more misguided than four characters who build there moral view of the world on public school morality? What nonsense! But wait, is that not what we face at he moment? A Government governed by the rules of Eton? Behind Territorial Rights there is a satire of social manners. Spark writes satire, not farce. The novel is a grand tour of human folly.
April 14, 2025
It is puzzling what sort of story Muriel Spark intended to present us with in this book. Is it a mystery tale, a detective story, a tale about obnoxious people, or was it just a silly story? I go for the latter possibility. It is not that there were no enjoyable bits and pieces now and then, so it left one wondering what is wrong with reading a truly silly story by an otherwise excellent author? I will always admire Muriel Spark, even after reading this faux pas of a novel. You are excused, Muriel! Always!
May 2, 2018
The finest moment in this lacklustre, uninspired dent in the Spark oeuvre is the scene where the irritating Bulgarian artist runs naked into a canal upon learning her lover is Jewish. And now, having written that description, I realise that isn’t particularly funny at all. Bailed on p.165.
January 11, 2024
One of the best and most enjoyable Spark novels I've read so far (I've read 15 in chronological order). It's true to one of her quotes from the 70's: "Ridicule is the only honorable weapon we have left."
In this books, Muriel Spark ridicules:
- fascists;
- fascist millionaires (billionaires?);
- antisemites;
- the weird romanticisms of the Cold War;
- the Anglo-American infatuation with Venice;
- romance novel and spy novel tropes;
- the contemporary realist novel as it presented itself in the 1970's;
- the British class system.
I'm sure this list is incomplete. How she manages to make time for tenderness and sweetness in all this ridicule is beyond me, but somehow she does.
Extra bonus: The book features the most hilarious novel-within-a-novel passages I've read, and makes the weirdest use of them.
In this books, Muriel Spark ridicules:
- fascists;
- fascist millionaires (billionaires?);
- antisemites;
- the weird romanticisms of the Cold War;
- the Anglo-American infatuation with Venice;
- romance novel and spy novel tropes;
- the contemporary realist novel as it presented itself in the 1970's;
- the British class system.
I'm sure this list is incomplete. How she manages to make time for tenderness and sweetness in all this ridicule is beyond me, but somehow she does.
Extra bonus: The book features the most hilarious novel-within-a-novel passages I've read, and makes the weirdest use of them.
Read
May 1, 2019When I clicked 'edit' to post something under this book title, I noticed the Goodreads question, What did you think? I'd never noticed the question before because I usually write reviews in a document and copy them into the review box when I'm done. Today I had decided not to review this book at all, just to post a few words about it being a mystery set in Venice as a reminder for myself, but when faced with the GR question What did you think I realized something: I read this book without thinking at all!
That's what comes of reading too many books by the same author: you're bound to hit on a dud sooner or later.
That's what comes of reading too many books by the same author: you're bound to hit on a dud sooner or later.
October 10, 2020
During the six and a half months that Edinburgh's public libraries were closed, one of many things I missed about them was ready access to Muriel Spark fiction. Every library in the city has all 22 of her novels and for once I have the urge to be completionist. I don't much care what precisely she writes about, as her wit, characterisation, and use of language are invariably enjoyable. 'Territorial Rights' concerns a web of intrigue among tourists and expats in Venice. There isn't one single discernable protagonist, although the narrative begins with Robert Leaver. He remains something of an enigma and most certainly not a nice boy according to his parents, girlfriend, sugar daddy, and various others. Compared to the youths, however, the older generation have much more significant misdeeds to their name. Sundry characters would prefer to keep their activities during the Second World War under wraps.
Although there are plenty of oblique references to violence, the tone is largely one of social farce. There are some very funny scenes, generally involving Grace and Lina. These two are ostensibly the most naive characters with the least knowledge of what is happening, yet they also appear the most sensible. I do love Spark's pragmatic women, always taking the initiative and stridently explaining their side of things. The brief extracts from the awful realist novel that Anthea is reading were likewise very amusing. I also enjoyed the succinct yet atmospheric descriptions of Venice, notably Lina's garrett in a condemned building. There are some very macabre scenes, as Spark's humour can certainly be bleak, and little in the way of narrative catharsis.
While I enjoyed 'Territorial Rights', it isn't among my favourite novels by Spark. I prefer it when she focuses on a single protagonist (e.g. Loitering with Intent) or very limited time period (e.g. Not to Disturb). Yet her writing is always a pleasure to read, even when the characters and plot aren't especially memorable. The elegant Polygon edition that I read has an interesting introduction as well, speculating on possible inspirations for various plot elements.
Although there are plenty of oblique references to violence, the tone is largely one of social farce. There are some very funny scenes, generally involving Grace and Lina. These two are ostensibly the most naive characters with the least knowledge of what is happening, yet they also appear the most sensible. I do love Spark's pragmatic women, always taking the initiative and stridently explaining their side of things. The brief extracts from the awful realist novel that Anthea is reading were likewise very amusing. I also enjoyed the succinct yet atmospheric descriptions of Venice, notably Lina's garrett in a condemned building. There are some very macabre scenes, as Spark's humour can certainly be bleak, and little in the way of narrative catharsis.
While I enjoyed 'Territorial Rights', it isn't among my favourite novels by Spark. I prefer it when she focuses on a single protagonist (e.g. Loitering with Intent) or very limited time period (e.g. Not to Disturb). Yet her writing is always a pleasure to read, even when the characters and plot aren't especially memorable. The elegant Polygon edition that I read has an interesting introduction as well, speculating on possible inspirations for various plot elements.
September 25, 2024
Possibly one of the silliest Sparks, but a fascinating contraption nonetheless and with a v amusing portrayal of 'dissidence' among the usual suburban fascists.
April 25, 2025
Classic spark!!! I’m not to be trusted with my reviews because I will read and enjoy anything this woman writes. Deceptively simple, deftly woven espionage tale in Venice :) Usual Sparkisms like paranoia/surveillance and Roman Catholicism and swindlers of course.
July 25, 2018
Cracking open a Muriel Spark novel I no longer wonder if it’s going to be good, just rather how good. From the first chapter, this book exemplifies everything you want from her; wicked humor, fast pacing, a rich cast, a bit of mystery with sinister undertones. Not content to simply tick off her list of tried and true, Spark sails over expectations with likely tautest novel of hers I have read. And the backdrop of Venice could not have been more suitably matched. Top ranking.
July 11, 2016
Just as with Loitering with Intent it took me a few pages to realize I had read it once before. I quite liked it, except for the ending, which was very weak.
'(…) he's a hungry lad and if I'm not there to get his supper he sits around like a spray of deadly nightshade waiting for someone to pick it.' (p. 50)
'(…) he's a hungry lad and if I'm not there to get his supper he sits around like a spray of deadly nightshade waiting for someone to pick it.' (p. 50)
February 3, 2017
This was just an ok farcical romp. I did
not find it all that humorous but just
wryly interesting as the author weaved
a tale that became more and more
convoluted the further I read.
Additionally, I thought the actions of
the characters did not really follow any
logical path, but were just in place for
the purpose of the (weak) farce.
Not recommended.
not find it all that humorous but just
wryly interesting as the author weaved
a tale that became more and more
convoluted the further I read.
Additionally, I thought the actions of
the characters did not really follow any
logical path, but were just in place for
the purpose of the (weak) farce.
Not recommended.
March 20, 2025
Everyone is in Venice. Everyone apart from Anthea, that is. Poor Anthea, stuck in Birmingham with her pithy novel while her husband, Arnold, takes a well-deserved holiday with his mistress, cookery teacher Mary.
Upon arrival in Venice, Arnold discovers that his son Robert is also there, chasing a girl called Lina, with whom he has fallen madly in love.
Hot on Robert's tail is the mysterious art dealer Mr Curran (call me Curran), whose relationship with Robert is not entirely clear but it definitely involved money and a flat in Paris.
Next on the scene there's Anthea's friend Grace, who arrives in Venice with her young lodger, Leo, after deciding to take over from the private investigator hired by Anthea to find out what Arnold is up to.
This book has all the ingredients of a farce, with comings and goings through the continually revolving door of the story, but this being a Spark, there's definitely more than an edge of weird darkness to the setup. Everyone has a secret, it seems, and we soon discover there is a grim incident in the past that many of the characters are very keen to keep covered up.
The humour is nicely black in parts, and the way Spark uses this historical horror story to manipulate pretty much everyone makes for some nicely entertaining reading. At one point, two characters end up centre stage when they are nudged into performing a hugely entertaining but utterly macabre dance, which turns out to be one of the highlights of the book. Another lovely moment to look out for involves a key character throwing herself into the canal. Nice to see ludicrous antisemitism being properly mocked!
If you fancy a fun but dark read that includes a bit of espionage, some blackmail, lots of sex and some serious ridiculing of all kinds of political and class groups, then it's all in here. It's not the weirdest Spark by any means and so could be a good way to try her writing before going onto some of her other books.
Upon arrival in Venice, Arnold discovers that his son Robert is also there, chasing a girl called Lina, with whom he has fallen madly in love.
Hot on Robert's tail is the mysterious art dealer Mr Curran (call me Curran), whose relationship with Robert is not entirely clear but it definitely involved money and a flat in Paris.
Next on the scene there's Anthea's friend Grace, who arrives in Venice with her young lodger, Leo, after deciding to take over from the private investigator hired by Anthea to find out what Arnold is up to.
This book has all the ingredients of a farce, with comings and goings through the continually revolving door of the story, but this being a Spark, there's definitely more than an edge of weird darkness to the setup. Everyone has a secret, it seems, and we soon discover there is a grim incident in the past that many of the characters are very keen to keep covered up.
The humour is nicely black in parts, and the way Spark uses this historical horror story to manipulate pretty much everyone makes for some nicely entertaining reading. At one point, two characters end up centre stage when they are nudged into performing a hugely entertaining but utterly macabre dance, which turns out to be one of the highlights of the book. Another lovely moment to look out for involves a key character throwing herself into the canal. Nice to see ludicrous antisemitism being properly mocked!
If you fancy a fun but dark read that includes a bit of espionage, some blackmail, lots of sex and some serious ridiculing of all kinds of political and class groups, then it's all in here. It's not the weirdest Spark by any means and so could be a good way to try her writing before going onto some of her other books.
October 2, 2017
A number of people from England and a few other countries congregate in Venice for blackmail, sex, and other entertainments.
Book Review: Territorial Rights was a puzzlement. The usual excellent Muriel Spark sentences, but put to no purpose. Funny in parts, occasionally interesting characters, some nice descriptions, Venice sounds great, but no narrative arc, no direction, no beginning and no end. It's as though Spark just kept typing hoping a plot would come along, a story would magically appear, she'd learn why she was typing. She tries to make it entertaining by placing a bunch of English eccentrics in Venice, with personal histories, secrets, and murder, but I couldn't see the reason for any of it. Territorial Rights is a book for Muriel Spark completists only. Don't make this your first Spark book, or probably even one of your first ten. Read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Drivers Seat, The Girls of Slender Means. After you're in double digits then you can take a chance on this one, because by then you'll have learned what you love about Spark (that is, if you do, of course). Then you can enjoy Territorial Rights for what it is, enjoy Spark's brilliant writing, without plot or meaning. If I ever thought, or Spark ever thought, that she could simply carry a book with her sentences, we've both been disabused. Not bad, not horrible, just not there. [2½★]
Book Review: Territorial Rights was a puzzlement. The usual excellent Muriel Spark sentences, but put to no purpose. Funny in parts, occasionally interesting characters, some nice descriptions, Venice sounds great, but no narrative arc, no direction, no beginning and no end. It's as though Spark just kept typing hoping a plot would come along, a story would magically appear, she'd learn why she was typing. She tries to make it entertaining by placing a bunch of English eccentrics in Venice, with personal histories, secrets, and murder, but I couldn't see the reason for any of it. Territorial Rights is a book for Muriel Spark completists only. Don't make this your first Spark book, or probably even one of your first ten. Read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Drivers Seat, The Girls of Slender Means. After you're in double digits then you can take a chance on this one, because by then you'll have learned what you love about Spark (that is, if you do, of course). Then you can enjoy Territorial Rights for what it is, enjoy Spark's brilliant writing, without plot or meaning. If I ever thought, or Spark ever thought, that she could simply carry a book with her sentences, we've both been disabused. Not bad, not horrible, just not there. [2½★]
November 13, 2024
I would say 2.5 out of 5! Cleverly written but found it a bit difficult for the sentences to sink in sometimes.
December 2, 2025
Not sure I did this one justice by dipping in and out over several months but not my favourite sparks! The characters were fun and delightful if a little un charming and I enjoyed it’s general ridiculousnesss
February 4, 2018
Reading Spark is always a bit of a treat. Like one of her female contemporaries, Patricia Highsmith, she really is a master of the dark arts, always managing to conjure up unsettling scenarios with all sorts of mischievous twists and turns built into them.
This develops really nicely and Spark weaves another wickedly clever tale with plenty of trickery involved. As ever her work is short, sharp and to the point and leaves you hungry for more. You can see how this book may well have influenced the likes of Ian McEwan’s “The Comfort of Strangers” and more recently Delia Ephron’s “Siracusa”, which are set in similar settings in similar circumstances.
August 20, 2017
Muriel Spark never shies away from contrivance when plotting her novels, but this is the closest I have seen her come to farce. She plops an assortment of English characters, family members and all connected to the same boy’s school in Birmingham, into Venice. There is Arnold Leaver, the recently retired headmaster, on holiday with is mistress Mary. She taught cooking at the school and has recently scored big in the football pools. Anthea, Arnold’s wife, is stuck in Birmingham but has hired a private detective firm to get the goods on her husband. Anthea’s best friend Grace, ex matron of the school, takes it upon herself to do her own investigation and heads to Venice with her young protégé Leo. Then there is Robert Leaver, the shiftless son, ostensibly doing art historical research with some male prostitution on the side. This sideline has brought him under the influence of Curran, a decadent American millionaire expatriate, society artist, and all around shady character. He is a good friend of Countess Violet de Winter, a well-set-up widow who makes extra cash arranging blackmail for the detective agency the hapless Mrs. Leaver has hired back in Birmingham.
That’s quite a set-up, and it should all be more fun than it ever proves to be. The one laugh-out-loud moment for me came when Lena Pancev – but wait, I haven’t even mentioned her. She’s a Bulgarian refugee who has been lured from the Communist paradise of her homeland by beguiling tales of Western decadence she has absorbed from friends who have studied abroad. She is searching for the grave of her father, a Bulgarian general implicated in he assassination of King Boris. She has been sleeping with Leo – remember Leo?— but upon learning that he is a Jew, she runs screaming from the Ca’ Winter and plunges into the canal to wash off the stain.
This combination of naïfs, ex-Nazi collaborators, blackmailers, and assassins should be cause for delight; but. while Spark’s always impeccable prose holds the flimsy narrative together, I had a hard time caring how things turned out for anyone involved.
That’s quite a set-up, and it should all be more fun than it ever proves to be. The one laugh-out-loud moment for me came when Lena Pancev – but wait, I haven’t even mentioned her. She’s a Bulgarian refugee who has been lured from the Communist paradise of her homeland by beguiling tales of Western decadence she has absorbed from friends who have studied abroad. She is searching for the grave of her father, a Bulgarian general implicated in he assassination of King Boris. She has been sleeping with Leo – remember Leo?— but upon learning that he is a Jew, she runs screaming from the Ca’ Winter and plunges into the canal to wash off the stain.
This combination of naïfs, ex-Nazi collaborators, blackmailers, and assassins should be cause for delight; but. while Spark’s always impeccable prose holds the flimsy narrative together, I had a hard time caring how things turned out for anyone involved.
September 15, 2015
Territorial Rights is a overlooked classic of half-baked espionage. The action centers around the Pension Sofia, a once-glamorous Venetian hotel where a terrible crime may or may not have taken place in the waning days of World War II, and which now plays host to all manner of decadent expats and their tangled intrigues. The plot is thick with two-timing spouses, self-serving political refugees, mysterious agencies, and a long-dead king. To give away much more than that would spoil the pleasure of following Spark’s winding and intersecting plots, but suffice to say her wicked humor and eye for detail is as sharp as the Coen Brothers, while her sense of irony is as expansive as Graham Greene at his best.
I feel like Muriel Spark is one of those writers who’s often maligned as someone you read once in high school and then promptly forget about. I read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie many years ago, but until recently I had no idea about the rest of Spark’s rich and varied body of work. After Territorial Rights, I’m setting myself to rectifying that oversight: I’ve already downloaded The Mandelbaum Gate.
I feel like Muriel Spark is one of those writers who’s often maligned as someone you read once in high school and then promptly forget about. I read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie many years ago, but until recently I had no idea about the rest of Spark’s rich and varied body of work. After Territorial Rights, I’m setting myself to rectifying that oversight: I’ve already downloaded The Mandelbaum Gate.
June 26, 2016
At long last, a Muriel Spark novel, after reading short stories by her in the Penguin birthday sets. And what a joy. There is totally NO WAY for ne to summarise this plot succinctly. Let's just say that marital infidelity, private investigators, Communist defectors, Venetian gondoliers and staunch Brits all joined forces for a raucous rave of a party. Spark lays on the surprises and unusual characters and the reader is the richer for her unusual style of fun.
Uiteindelik kry ek 'n volledige Muriel Spark-roman te lees nadat ek haar kortverhale so geniet het in die Penguin-verjaardagreekse. Haar roman is 'n komplekse karnaval, haas onmoontlik om op te som (dat sy dit laat uitspeel binne 220 bladsye is nogal 'n prestasie!). Lees gerus vir enigmatiese pret en plesier. En Venesië bly 'n beeldskone agterdoek!
Uiteindelik kry ek 'n volledige Muriel Spark-roman te lees nadat ek haar kortverhale so geniet het in die Penguin-verjaardagreekse. Haar roman is 'n komplekse karnaval, haas onmoontlik om op te som (dat sy dit laat uitspeel binne 220 bladsye is nogal 'n prestasie!). Lees gerus vir enigmatiese pret en plesier. En Venesië bly 'n beeldskone agterdoek!
June 22, 2011
I wonder if, at some point, Muriel Spark decided to make her books entertaining, as if they hadn't been so before. In any case, this novel is nothing more than a series of eccentric character sketches whipped together in a plot that grasps for cleverness. It has no substance. No weight, no ballast. At a few, spare points, it leans far enough toward parody that it might make a British person chuckle. But I'm not British. And because of that, or not, it's very difficult to read a bad book by an author who has previously brought me such great pleasure.
October 28, 2016
Never disliked a Muriel Spark book before, i was surprised to not get on with this.
There was one interesting scene (of a son embarrassing his father, no surprise I enjoyed that) and lots of crap I couldn't be bothered reading in the first few chapters. I've given up on bothering to finish it, seemed a bit of an odd mash which didn't really know what it was doing.
There was one interesting scene (of a son embarrassing his father, no surprise I enjoyed that) and lots of crap I couldn't be bothered reading in the first few chapters. I've given up on bothering to finish it, seemed a bit of an odd mash which didn't really know what it was doing.
September 26, 2024
This is actually 3.5, I think. Verging on 4?
I cannot put my finger on this book. I bought it in Venice, read most of it on the plane and finished it the first morning back in my bed. It does and does not talk about Venice. The city is a backdrop, but is not actually important. Or vice versa: it seems that Venice with its palazzos and immutable Venetianness is the only place where such a story could take place. The story is a convoluted caper which gets crazier with every page. The cast of characters is expansive and keeps balancing between believable and ridiculous.
Throughout the book I was asking myself if this is actually good or complete drivel (a feeling similar to reading the "Tales of the City" series by Armistead Maupin) and I am not sure even after I've finished. The language, the descriptions, the characters, some of the dialogue are written quite masterfully (I haven't read Spark before), but the story is absurd and increasingly so. At the same time, it does seem that the author's intention is to make fun of similar books which take themselves far too seriously. In the end, I can tell you that I kept flipping the pages and it had me enraptured till the end with its ever increasing over-the-topness.
Do I recommend? I am not sure, but if you do pick it up, it will go fast.
I cannot put my finger on this book. I bought it in Venice, read most of it on the plane and finished it the first morning back in my bed. It does and does not talk about Venice. The city is a backdrop, but is not actually important. Or vice versa: it seems that Venice with its palazzos and immutable Venetianness is the only place where such a story could take place. The story is a convoluted caper which gets crazier with every page. The cast of characters is expansive and keeps balancing between believable and ridiculous.
Throughout the book I was asking myself if this is actually good or complete drivel (a feeling similar to reading the "Tales of the City" series by Armistead Maupin) and I am not sure even after I've finished. The language, the descriptions, the characters, some of the dialogue are written quite masterfully (I haven't read Spark before), but the story is absurd and increasingly so. At the same time, it does seem that the author's intention is to make fun of similar books which take themselves far too seriously. In the end, I can tell you that I kept flipping the pages and it had me enraptured till the end with its ever increasing over-the-topness.
Do I recommend? I am not sure, but if you do pick it up, it will go fast.
January 3, 2025
"Anthea fumed at the thought of everyone having a good time, seeing the palace of the Doges and sleeping with each other in Italy while she was carrying on, keeping the home tidy, watching the electricity so that the bill wouldn't be too high, thinking of the cost of living here in the British Isles where people out to be."
This is a relatively entertaining book! It's an easy read, and there's nothing is quite better than a madcap Muriel Spark comedy-mystery when you're in the mood for a book like that. I love Spark's dry humor and she perfectly evokes the feel of Venice without going too overboard on the description of it. It /is/ kind of unbelievable that all of these people would be in Venice at the same time, in the off season, no less!, and repeatedly running into each other, but oh well — it's interesting and fun! Not the best Spark book I've ever read, but also not the worst!
This is a relatively entertaining book! It's an easy read, and there's nothing is quite better than a madcap Muriel Spark comedy-mystery when you're in the mood for a book like that. I love Spark's dry humor and she perfectly evokes the feel of Venice without going too overboard on the description of it. It /is/ kind of unbelievable that all of these people would be in Venice at the same time, in the off season, no less!, and repeatedly running into each other, but oh well — it's interesting and fun! Not the best Spark book I've ever read, but also not the worst!
October 15, 2018
Territorial Rights by Muriel Spark - Very Good
This was a slow burner. Initially I thought the story was going to drag, but it soon picked up the pace.
Like a classy version of a soap opera, Robert has left Paris for Venice to escape one lover and follow a new one: Lina. She is a Bulgarian defector, convinced she is being followed. Quite by chance, Robert's father turns up at the same guest house with his mistress and Robert's ex-lover also turns up. But other things link them all and when you throw in the private detective agency hired by Robert's mother to follow her errant husband, you have the makings of confusion and chaos.
This could well end up being added to my favourites from my year of reading Muriel Spark.
This was a slow burner. Initially I thought the story was going to drag, but it soon picked up the pace.
Like a classy version of a soap opera, Robert has left Paris for Venice to escape one lover and follow a new one: Lina. She is a Bulgarian defector, convinced she is being followed. Quite by chance, Robert's father turns up at the same guest house with his mistress and Robert's ex-lover also turns up. But other things link them all and when you throw in the private detective agency hired by Robert's mother to follow her errant husband, you have the makings of confusion and chaos.
This could well end up being added to my favourites from my year of reading Muriel Spark.
December 15, 2022
Once I got over Muriel Spark showing off her knowledge of Venice, I warmed to this gentle farce with a wonderful set of characters. Having recently re-read Sarah Winman's "Still Life" and watched "Don't Look Now" I feel as if I know the city so well. A canal is described as "a narrow lane of Venetian water". It is Robert who seems to be the main character, a young man escaping events in Paris, but then he disappears half way through. His much older friend, the American (who insists of being called "Curran") becomes involved when Robert's father turns up with his lady friend in tow. There is stacks of brilliant dialogue and trademark Spark wit. I loved it.
October 15, 2017
This is light reading and I say this without criticism. Now and again, it's good to read something easy. I enjoyed it. But I think novels like this are easily forgotten. They're entertaining (and I'm not saying that's easy) but they stay on the surface.
Muriel Spark is listed in The Oxford Shorter History of English Literature probably because she was awarded a prize for 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'. Even so, I'm surprised that a writer of Somerset Maugham's calibre is scarcely mentioned. Critics tend to like authors who do something different. I wonder what she did that was different?
Muriel Spark is listed in The Oxford Shorter History of English Literature probably because she was awarded a prize for 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'. Even so, I'm surprised that a writer of Somerset Maugham's calibre is scarcely mentioned. Critics tend to like authors who do something different. I wonder what she did that was different?
October 1, 2021
Having recently watched a TV programme where Ian Rankin heralds Muriel Spark as the greatest Scottish writer of the 20th Century, I thought I should extend my reading from the two novels I had read previously. This is a comic farce involving the cold war, nazi sympathisers, murder, blackmaill and infidelity all treated with the lightest of touches and which reminded me somewhat of a young Beryl Bainbridge. I still to be convinced about Ian Rankin's accolade but will read on and hope to find a better book than "The Wind in the Willows" or "The Daughter of Time" or "Trainspotting".
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