Hundertundelf Jahre ohne Chauffeur

by Muriel Spark

Cheerfully poison-tipped, the pen of Dame Muriel Spark is never at a loss. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC collects all of Spark's 37 marvelous stories ten of which have never been published before in the U.S. Among Spark's 20 novels, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE ( and its stage and screen adaptations) made her internationally famous. 416 pp.

Genres: Short Stories, Short Story Collection

Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

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

Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.

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

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

Reviews

[Jean-Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few thoughts/observations:

1. The title story, 'Open to the Public,' is a sequel to a story story written 30 years earlier and collected in Bang-Bang You're Dead and Other Stories, and this brings joy to my concrete heart. Other sources of joy include:
2. Sentences like this: In the early days of his marriage he had tried to make love to Dora, and succeeded fairly often out of sheer enthusiasm for her father."
3. Or this: 'O God, everlasting and almighty, I prayed, 'make me strong, and guide and lead me as to how Mrs. Thatcher would conduct herself in circumstances of this nature.'
4. I've accepted that a Muriel Spark ghost story will never impress me very much.
5. She seems to have a preoccupation with men murdering women with their neck ties.
6. I have a weakness for a story set in an elevator. That Archer episode is an all-time favorite and in this one there's 'Going Up and Coming Down.'
7. This last bunch of stories contain more overt excursions into genre fiction--police prodecural and science fiction.
8. If the 'new' stories (some of which were published in the 50s and rewritten forty years later) in this volume were to be considered as a collection, it would be the weakest of her short story collections.

The new and/or previously uncollected stories in this volume include:

5 - Open to the Public
4 - The Executor
4 - The Fortune-Teller
4 - Another Pair of Hands
4 - The Dragon
3 - The Girl I Left Behind Me
5 - Going Up and Coming Down
3 - The Pearly Shadow
3 - Chimes
3 - The Things About Police Stations
3 - Harper and Wilton
3 - Ladies and Gentlemen
2 - The Quest for Lavishes Ghast
4 - The Hanging Judge

[Sandra Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few misses but overall a great collection. The stories largely focus on the quotidian but are executed beautifully. My favorite story is The Black Madonna for its portrayal of hidden vs expressed racism - quiet but impactful.

[sare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing ever happens in a Muriel Spark story, and no progress is ever made. No idea why I persist in reading short stories, the worst narrative form!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spark has a gift for the uncanny. These stories are like a collection of colorful, but flawed augie marbles. Fascinating. She doesn't always hit the mark but is very worth reading.

[Sadezi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most wonderful short story writers in any language. Witty and wonderful.