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The Abbess of Crewe
An election is held at the abbey of Crewe and the new lady abbess takes up her high office with implacable serenity. “The short dirk in the hands of Muriel Spark has always been a deadly weapon,” said The New York Times , and “never more so than in The Abbess of Crewe.” An elegant little fable about intrigue, corruption, and electronic surveillance, The Abbess of Crewe is set in an English Benedictine convent. Steely and silky Abbess Alexandra (whose aristocratic tastes run to pâté, fine wine, English poetry, and carpets of “amorous green”) has bugged the convent, and rigged her election. But the cat gets out of the bag, and―plunged into scandal―the serene Abbess faces a Vatican inquiry.
106 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
71 people are currently reading
1306 people want to read
About the author
Muriel Spark
226 books1,296 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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August 17, 2024Chapter II of this book begins as follows:
In the summer before the autumn, as God is in his heaven, Sister Felicity’s thimble is lying in its place in her sewing-box.
That sentence might seem innocuous at first glance but several of Muriel Spark's writing tricks are displayed in it.
Take, In the summer before the autumn.., for example. In my experience, Spark often shuffles time about in her books. One minute, we are in the seeming present time of a story, the next, we could be in a previous episode or maybe propelled into the future. Whatever the case, we are left a little unsure as to what has not yet happened or what may have already happened. It's as if she's trying to keep us awake and alert just as the Abbess of Crewe does her followers, repeating at regular intervals, Sisters, be sober. Sisters, be vigilant…
Muriel Spark keeps us vigilant too when it comes to the hidden allusions she sprinkles throughout her texts. Take the words, as God is in his heaven in the above sentence. Spark quotes poetry frequently, sometimes obviously, at others, less obviously. That phrase is from Robert Browning's poem, 'Pippa Passes': God's in his heaven, all's right with the world. The unquoted part is as important as the quoted part.
Which brings us to the measure of absurdity Spark has inserted in all the books I've read so far, and which pops up in the final part of the sentence: Sister Felicity’s thimble is lying in its place in her sewing-box. The absurdity of Felicity's thimble is heightened by the part of the quote that was left unsaid. Spark implies that all's right with the world because Felicity's thimble is still lying in its rightful place in her sewing box. And yes, you've guessed it, the plot of this entire book rests on the fate of that thimble.
I used to think angels dancing on the head of a pin was the ultimate example of absurdity. Muriel Spark makes the population of an entire country dance on the head of Felicity's thimble!
And still I kept on reading...
In the summer before the autumn, as God is in his heaven, Sister Felicity’s thimble is lying in its place in her sewing-box.
That sentence might seem innocuous at first glance but several of Muriel Spark's writing tricks are displayed in it.
Take, In the summer before the autumn.., for example. In my experience, Spark often shuffles time about in her books. One minute, we are in the seeming present time of a story, the next, we could be in a previous episode or maybe propelled into the future. Whatever the case, we are left a little unsure as to what has not yet happened or what may have already happened. It's as if she's trying to keep us awake and alert just as the Abbess of Crewe does her followers, repeating at regular intervals, Sisters, be sober. Sisters, be vigilant…
Muriel Spark keeps us vigilant too when it comes to the hidden allusions she sprinkles throughout her texts. Take the words, as God is in his heaven in the above sentence. Spark quotes poetry frequently, sometimes obviously, at others, less obviously. That phrase is from Robert Browning's poem, 'Pippa Passes': God's in his heaven, all's right with the world. The unquoted part is as important as the quoted part.
Which brings us to the measure of absurdity Spark has inserted in all the books I've read so far, and which pops up in the final part of the sentence: Sister Felicity’s thimble is lying in its place in her sewing-box. The absurdity of Felicity's thimble is heightened by the part of the quote that was left unsaid. Spark implies that all's right with the world because Felicity's thimble is still lying in its rightful place in her sewing box. And yes, you've guessed it, the plot of this entire book rests on the fate of that thimble.
I used to think angels dancing on the head of a pin was the ultimate example of absurdity. Muriel Spark makes the population of an entire country dance on the head of Felicity's thimble!
And still I kept on reading...
April 27, 2021
Librito muy breve pero genial, lleno de intrigas "palaciegas" en un convento plagado de micrófonos, con encuentros ilícitos y guerra abierta entre las monjas.
Francamente inolvidable por la capacidad de Spark de definir a sus personajes de la manera más cómica y acertada con una sola línea de diálogo.
Cada día soy más fan de esta autora
Francamente inolvidable por la capacidad de Spark de definir a sus personajes de la manera más cómica y acertada con una sola línea de diálogo.
Cada día soy más fan de esta autora
February 21, 2016
Politics are an ephemeral human enterprise pervading every aspect of society, not just our administrative capitals, legislatures and board rooms. Here we see a canny and deft politician at work. Her name is Alexandra and she is a conqueror. She manipulates those around her in order to become the next Abbess of Crewe. That the context here is a Roman Catholic convent and the voters all nuns doesn't prevent the politics from becoming very dirty and very ugly. By pitching her language just so, Spark reminds us of a bunch of Chicago hoods discussing a hit, when in actuality all that is at stake is the leadership of a religious order. The tortuous use of scripture is all too believable. Like a Little Stalin, the Abbess has installed a vast system of bugs throughout the cloister. In one special room multiple reel-to-reel recorders spin and spin. As always, Spark writes with a subtle patterning of motifs and implies more than she says. Her characterizations are adroit and snappy. As with her best books--including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Memento Mori--she loves an isolated community whose confines in some ways become as important as the characters themselves. One suspects this was an early writerly crutch which forced her to focus on a limited cast. Somehow it became a hallmark of her mature work as well. The Abbess of Crewe is very good but not as good as the titles mentioned above. Recommended, but not as a starting point.
September 29, 2018
We are corrupt by our nature in the Fall of Man.
This novella is what it is and it couldn't be more than what it is: an odd, raw, wicked, funny little nibble from Muriel Spark's oeuvre which you can read in a single sitting, as did I.
Our tall and towering Sister Alexandra must be elected the next Abbess and she will go to any length to make sure it happens. Scripture, literature, and sweet homilies are no more than tools at her disposal to achieve her end. And like a clever politician, she is a great orator, the very model of charm and deceit, and when the going gets tough, a skilled Machiavellian, who knows just how to save her skin and get out of harm's way.
It is difficult to create a character of some depth with such economy of words, but the author has done it with the ease of a skilled practitioner of the craft.
Perhaps this is not the best place to introduce yourself to Spark's fictions, but it sparks enough interest in the reader, in me, to read more of her novels in the near future.
September '18
This novella is what it is and it couldn't be more than what it is: an odd, raw, wicked, funny little nibble from Muriel Spark's oeuvre which you can read in a single sitting, as did I.
Our tall and towering Sister Alexandra must be elected the next Abbess and she will go to any length to make sure it happens. Scripture, literature, and sweet homilies are no more than tools at her disposal to achieve her end. And like a clever politician, she is a great orator, the very model of charm and deceit, and when the going gets tough, a skilled Machiavellian, who knows just how to save her skin and get out of harm's way.
It is difficult to create a character of some depth with such economy of words, but the author has done it with the ease of a skilled practitioner of the craft.
Perhaps this is not the best place to introduce yourself to Spark's fictions, but it sparks enough interest in the reader, in me, to read more of her novels in the near future.
September '18
August 13, 2024
It is election time at the Abbey of Crewe, but something is rotten in the state of Denmark. The Abbess of Crewe follows a hilariously scheming superfluity (this is, in fact, the correct collective noun) of nuns—one looks to introduce free love into the Abbey while another installs electronic surveillance as all-seeing as the eyes of God. There's a break-in at the Watergate Hotel, I mean the sewing room of the Abbey... Honestly, I know the bare basics about Watergate, and I didn't feel that I was missing out on anything because of it.
Spark's passion for outlandish nuns (see Symposium) fans a special flame somewhere in my soul. Of course there was poetry, lots and lots of English poetry, which I tend to skim, and Spark loves a media frenzy, which also forms part of this one's plot This is one of several very short and very bizarre novels she wrote in the 1970s. I was going to make a habit joke somewhere in this review, but someone beat me to the punch—the 1977 film adaptation is called Nasty Habits. Now for the Spark inspirational quote of the day:
Spark's passion for outlandish nuns (see Symposium) fans a special flame somewhere in my soul. Of course there was poetry, lots and lots of English poetry, which I tend to skim, and Spark loves a media frenzy, which also forms part of this one's plot This is one of several very short and very bizarre novels she wrote in the 1970s. I was going to make a habit joke somewhere in this review, but someone beat me to the punch—the 1977 film adaptation is called Nasty Habits. Now for the Spark inspirational quote of the day:
"Unless I fulfill my destiny my mother's labour pains were pointless and what am I doing here?"The Abbess has one-liners (and more) for days:
"I love you so dearly, Winifrede, that I could eat you were it not for the fact that I can't bear suet pudding."
"Only the beautiful should make love when they are likely to be photographed."
"And it seems to me, Gertrude, that you are going to have a problem with those cannibals on the Latter Day when the trumpet shall sound. It's a question of which man shall rise in the Resurrection, for certainly those that are eaten have long since become the consumers from generation to generation. It is a problem, Ger-trude, my most clever angel, that vexes my noon's repose and I do urge you to leave well alone in that field. You should come back at once to Crewe and help us in our time of need."
December 25, 2017
Richard Nixon in drag. How irresistible is that?
March 8, 2019
Were spectacularly corrupt convents a Seventies motif? At any rate, while reading The Abbess of Crewe I kept getting flashbacks to the story of the decadent nuns in Leonora Carrington's The Hearing Trumpet, which appeared in English around the same time.
Several GR reviewers, including fellow group members older than I am, have described Spark's novella as a heavy-handed satire on Watergate. I'm a bit too young to have heard about Watergate and its fallout in the news, and I only know a basic outline of the events, so, whilst reading, I couldn't tell how closely (or cringeworthily?) minor characters resembled Washington political actors of the 70s. At first it seemed daft that in the book, a scandal in a convent was such a big deal in the media, and I felt the device was clumsy, but I increasingly found myself buying into the general off-kilter weirdness of it all, characteristic of fiction from the 60s and 70s (complete with a battle between forces of 'free love' and enlightened reform versus a combination of archaic tradition, snobbery and expedient use of modern opportunities that Jacob Rees-Mogg would adore). In the final chapter, a thoroughly tabloid-worthy incident was revealed, which, along with remembering how much better-staffed, and how much more parochial, British newsrooms used to be, cemented my impression that the book worked, and Crewe Abbey seemed more plausible as big news than some of the strange viral phenomena of recent years, and in keeping with the trivial scandals about politicians' private lives which beset the 1990s John Major government.
Despite the potentially silly subject matter, I was impressed from the very first by the writing, which made me take the book more seriously than I expected to. Early on, there were sentences that felt to me like words found carved on stone and worn away by a couple of hundred years' erosion, or enscribed by hand on parchment and vellum. They befitted the Abbess's more conversational declaration that:
"Here, in the Abbey of Crewe, we have discarded history. We have entered the sphere, dear Sisters, of mythology…Who doesn’t yearn to be part of a myth at whatever the price in comfort? The monastic system is in revolt throughout the rest of the world, thanks to historical development. Here, within the ambience of mythology, we have consummate satisfaction, we have peace.’"
Later, the style seemed more simply to be the crisp, economical, sometimes waspish prose of mid-20th century literature, and of Spark in particular, but it was still very good.
The book set me wondering exactly when and how Catholicism in Britain became (partly) associated with snobbery and gentility: it certainly was at the time of the post-war Catholic novelists (e.g. Waugh, Greene, Angus Wilson) several of whom Mark Lawson listed in this introduction to Spark's Loitering With Intent - although the legal rights of Catholics did not become equal to those of Anglicans until the 19th century. A sense of romance associated with the old recusant families perhaps proliferated along with the neo-Gothic, aestheticism and the zeal of upper-middle-class converts.
There is a lot to unpack in this book (especially if you don't come to it with a thorough knowledge of Watergate and poetry) and I think it would reward a bit more time: the selections of Bible verses, other religious texts, and poems the Abbess reads seem likely to augment the meaning of various scenes. The more recent poems are named on the book's copyright page, but there aren't clues about the authorship of all the earlier quoted poems, only one of which is very well-known (Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'), and I don't think I'd previously heard of Henry King and his 'Exequy' of 1657, which sits very nicely among the more famous metaphysicals. The poetry would have made the novella a considerably more demanding read back when there was no way of looking up lines to identify the poems. In these days of giving little benefit of the doubt to the politically dubious, Ezra Pound's "I am homesick after mine own kind", quoted several times here, sounds, when knowing the author, like something more sinister than merely wanting to hang out with more people you click with. And harking back again to The Hearing Trumpet, one could see it as hinting that perhaps the Abbess' own kind was not nuns, or perhaps even people.
This is a silly, comical book too, not above cheap sitcom laughs. The stately Abbess of Crewe herself must have been named after a line in the weekend ritual intonation of England's secular religion, the football Final Score, heard in most homes across the land in the pre-multichannel years. (Incidentally, there is no sense of place about Crewe in the novel, not even a cheap joke about trains. It's not clear whether the convent is near Crewe, or simply named Crewe Abbey, and located somewhere else in England.) The recipients of Sister Gertrude's foreign missionary activities are satirical in ways that could have been going along with antiquated colonial attitudes, like plenty of 1970s comedy, or laughing at them and at the idea of Victorian-style missionaries this day and age, e.g. "‘I’m at a very delicate point in my negotiations between the cannibal tribe and that vegetarian sect on the other side of the mountain.". But it seemed settled that Spark was laughing *at* old-fashioned missionaries once it reached the ridiculousness of "the sparse wastes of Iceland where she hopes to introduce daily devotions and central heating into the igloos". What with the Cod Wars, in the news on and off for years by 1974, British readers would have known very well that Icelanders were Christians and did not live in igloos.
I felt more comfortable with this book than I did while reading Loitering With Intent or Miss Jean Brodie, because I'd never expected it to *be* comfortable, as I had with them. It never sounded ostensibly cosy, only to confront me with hints that things may not be as they seem, then with disconcerting villainy. The Abbess is quite a villain, and she and her crew are more imposing and flamboyant personalities than any nuns I ever met through school. Many of their names may be Anglo-Saxon, but their stories are like those of the corrupt late-medieval church refracted through the technology and media of the late 20th century.
Several GR reviewers, including fellow group members older than I am, have described Spark's novella as a heavy-handed satire on Watergate. I'm a bit too young to have heard about Watergate and its fallout in the news, and I only know a basic outline of the events, so, whilst reading, I couldn't tell how closely (or cringeworthily?) minor characters resembled Washington political actors of the 70s. At first it seemed daft that in the book, a scandal in a convent was such a big deal in the media, and I felt the device was clumsy, but I increasingly found myself buying into the general off-kilter weirdness of it all, characteristic of fiction from the 60s and 70s (complete with a battle between forces of 'free love' and enlightened reform versus a combination of archaic tradition, snobbery and expedient use of modern opportunities that Jacob Rees-Mogg would adore). In the final chapter, a thoroughly tabloid-worthy incident was revealed, which, along with remembering how much better-staffed, and how much more parochial, British newsrooms used to be, cemented my impression that the book worked, and Crewe Abbey seemed more plausible as big news than some of the strange viral phenomena of recent years, and in keeping with the trivial scandals about politicians' private lives which beset the 1990s John Major government.
Despite the potentially silly subject matter, I was impressed from the very first by the writing, which made me take the book more seriously than I expected to. Early on, there were sentences that felt to me like words found carved on stone and worn away by a couple of hundred years' erosion, or enscribed by hand on parchment and vellum. They befitted the Abbess's more conversational declaration that:
"Here, in the Abbey of Crewe, we have discarded history. We have entered the sphere, dear Sisters, of mythology…Who doesn’t yearn to be part of a myth at whatever the price in comfort? The monastic system is in revolt throughout the rest of the world, thanks to historical development. Here, within the ambience of mythology, we have consummate satisfaction, we have peace.’"
Later, the style seemed more simply to be the crisp, economical, sometimes waspish prose of mid-20th century literature, and of Spark in particular, but it was still very good.
The book set me wondering exactly when and how Catholicism in Britain became (partly) associated with snobbery and gentility: it certainly was at the time of the post-war Catholic novelists (e.g. Waugh, Greene, Angus Wilson) several of whom Mark Lawson listed in this introduction to Spark's Loitering With Intent - although the legal rights of Catholics did not become equal to those of Anglicans until the 19th century. A sense of romance associated with the old recusant families perhaps proliferated along with the neo-Gothic, aestheticism and the zeal of upper-middle-class converts.
There is a lot to unpack in this book (especially if you don't come to it with a thorough knowledge of Watergate and poetry) and I think it would reward a bit more time: the selections of Bible verses, other religious texts, and poems the Abbess reads seem likely to augment the meaning of various scenes. The more recent poems are named on the book's copyright page, but there aren't clues about the authorship of all the earlier quoted poems, only one of which is very well-known (Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'), and I don't think I'd previously heard of Henry King and his 'Exequy' of 1657, which sits very nicely among the more famous metaphysicals. The poetry would have made the novella a considerably more demanding read back when there was no way of looking up lines to identify the poems. In these days of giving little benefit of the doubt to the politically dubious, Ezra Pound's "I am homesick after mine own kind", quoted several times here, sounds, when knowing the author, like something more sinister than merely wanting to hang out with more people you click with. And harking back again to The Hearing Trumpet, one could see it as hinting that perhaps the Abbess' own kind was not nuns, or perhaps even people.
This is a silly, comical book too, not above cheap sitcom laughs. The stately Abbess of Crewe herself must have been named after a line in the weekend ritual intonation of England's secular religion, the football Final Score, heard in most homes across the land in the pre-multichannel years. (Incidentally, there is no sense of place about Crewe in the novel, not even a cheap joke about trains. It's not clear whether the convent is near Crewe, or simply named Crewe Abbey, and located somewhere else in England.) The recipients of Sister Gertrude's foreign missionary activities are satirical in ways that could have been going along with antiquated colonial attitudes, like plenty of 1970s comedy, or laughing at them and at the idea of Victorian-style missionaries this day and age, e.g. "‘I’m at a very delicate point in my negotiations between the cannibal tribe and that vegetarian sect on the other side of the mountain.". But it seemed settled that Spark was laughing *at* old-fashioned missionaries once it reached the ridiculousness of "the sparse wastes of Iceland where she hopes to introduce daily devotions and central heating into the igloos". What with the Cod Wars, in the news on and off for years by 1974, British readers would have known very well that Icelanders were Christians and did not live in igloos.
I felt more comfortable with this book than I did while reading Loitering With Intent or Miss Jean Brodie, because I'd never expected it to *be* comfortable, as I had with them. It never sounded ostensibly cosy, only to confront me with hints that things may not be as they seem, then with disconcerting villainy. The Abbess is quite a villain, and she and her crew are more imposing and flamboyant personalities than any nuns I ever met through school. Many of their names may be Anglo-Saxon, but their stories are like those of the corrupt late-medieval church refracted through the technology and media of the late 20th century.
July 11, 2016
Senryu Review:
Crooked nuns plot to
elevate bitch to the throne:
Spark pokes funny bone.
Crooked nuns plot to
elevate bitch to the throne:
Spark pokes funny bone.
October 29, 2018
Read as part of Spark's Satire
I have been wanting to read this since Ali Smith talked about it in her Goldsmiths lecture last year.
It takes the central events of the Watergate scandal and transplants them to the apparently serene setting of a Catholic priory. Spark clearly had great fun imagining what misdemeanours she could fit into this scenario, and the lies, corruption and bungled cover ups do not need to be changed much. A short but very enjoyable book, and one with contemporary resonance.
I have been wanting to read this since Ali Smith talked about it in her Goldsmiths lecture last year.
It takes the central events of the Watergate scandal and transplants them to the apparently serene setting of a Catholic priory. Spark clearly had great fun imagining what misdemeanours she could fit into this scenario, and the lies, corruption and bungled cover ups do not need to be changed much. A short but very enjoyable book, and one with contemporary resonance.
September 12, 2023
Very funny satirical piss take of the Watergate scandal using a Abbey of nuns as the Oval Office. Skulduggery at very turn with many hidden layers. Surveillance by nuns, sheep like behavior and the ridiculous political fiction we endure every day at all levels of Government.
The power mongering, political and religious shenanigans that have occurred over centuries with Sparks ahead of fake news. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction such as the Watergate Scandal.
The power mongering, political and religious shenanigans that have occurred over centuries with Sparks ahead of fake news. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction such as the Watergate Scandal.
March 11, 2013
Short this novel may be, but it is anything but sweet. Viciously sharp is nearer the mark. The players of Watergate are now clothed in the vestments of nuns and transposed to the fictitious Abbey of Crewe. The old Abbess, Hildegarde, has died, and it is time to elect her successor. Rules forbid canvassing for the election of Abbess, but more subtle means are, apparently, available. The two contenders are Alexandra and Felicity. Unbeknownst to most of the sisters, Alexandra has most of the convent electronically bugged and most interactions are taped. She uses this to manipulate situations to her advantage. It is known that Felicity has been having an affair with a young Jesuit named Thomas. This fact is exposed when two young Jesuits, at the behest of Alexandra's Jesuit friends, break into the convent and steal her silver thimble from her sewing box. This box also has a secret compartment where her love letters are kept and it is the theft of the thimble which alerts her to the fact that they have been read. Felicity calls the police and an international scandal is unleashed. This brief satire is very clever and extremely funny. I genuinely laughed out loud at several points in the narrative, and I am not as closely conversant with all the details of the Watergate scandal as I might be (I know the basic facts, naturally). Highly recommended.
July 25, 2017
"We are truly moving in a mythological context. We are the actors; the press and the public are the chorus. Every columnist has his own version of the same old story, as it were Aeschylus, Sophocles or Euripides, only . . . of a far inferior dramatic style. . . . However that may be―the facts of the matter are with us no longer, but have returned to God who gave them. We can't be excommunicated without the facts."
"Towards evening Walburga reports to Alexandra, 'Her supporters are wavering. The nasty little bitch can't stand our gentleness.'"
There are not many of Spark's works remaining for me to read for the first time, and I dole them out to myself bit by bit because, as we know, there are unlikely to be more forthcoming. Spark is one of my favourite writers and has a way of making me laugh and gasp at the same time, even now, when I am so familiar with her style. I have to admit to my favourites of her books being the ones that have less cynical protagonists, such as Mrs. Hawkins in A Far Cry from Kensington and Fleur Talbot in Loitering with Intent ("How wonderful to be an artist and a woman in the twentieth century," Fleur Talbot rejoices.).
Having said that, Abbess Alexandra is one of the most amazing characters Spark ever created; perversely worldly and cynical for a cloistered nun, yet remaining buoyant, clever, and bizarrely likable all the same. She is absurd and mean but also beautiful and charming. This is a peculiar talent of Spark's, as I cannot immediately think of any other writers whose characters, loathsome though they may be, keep me on their side throughout their outrageous lives up until their sometimes sticky ends. The Abbess of Crewe resides in the realm of mythology, which she repeatedly alludes to throughout the narrative, reminding us that goddesses such as she are not to be bothered with the natty details of necessary sacrifices carried out in their honour.
The Abbess and her crew of loyal minions, three sister-stooges, named Mildred, Winifrede, and Walburga (yes, that is her Christian name!), run the convent as if they had been trained by Mafioso, using manipulation, thievery, fraud, and payoffs to keep the plot moving along at a cracking pace. Sister Gertrude, my favourite character, is larger than life. Larger, even, than the Abbess! She never appears in person but only via her voice on the Green Line, while she cavorts around the world with grand missionary zeal and magnificent style. She makes being a missionary nun seems glamorous and exciting, which has to be a first. Gertrude, admired by all of her sister nuns, offers shouty advice whenever the Abbess phones her and operates as globe-trotting moral compass for the Abbess, who nevertheless manages to twist Gertrude's advice to her own ends, which culminates in her being called to the Vatican under threat of excommunication by the novel's end.
I laughed and laughed during this book. It's a short read and much more fun if you have my husband read it aloud to you. He is a naturalized Australian but English by birth and does a brilliant Abbess. However, like Sister Gertrude, he is booked up for the foreseeable future.
January 30, 2018
A megalomaniac uses very questionable techniques to rise to power, then abuses that power and refuses to abide by laws of the state. In 1974, this author was writing about "Nixon in drag" to paraphrase another reviewer here on goodreads. Today, well, it's Trump in drag. A fast, relevant, funny read.
June 1, 2019
Skulduggery in the nunnery!
I was told by the book’s blurb that this comic novella, written in 1974, was a satire on Watergate, and once you know that it’s easy to see the references to President Nixon, his aides, bugging, break-ins, the White House Tapes, and all the multiple issues identified from that scandal. Here we have Sister Alexandra, who believes it is her “destiny” to be elected Abbess of Crewe, determined to use all possible means to defeat her rival, Sister Felicity. The latter is involved with a Jesuit Priest, Fr. Thomas, whom she meets in the grounds of the Abbey. Sister Alexandra is ably assisted by two allies, Mildred and Walburga, and by a Sister Winifrede, used by the other three as a dupe.
I quite liked this. I wouldn’t say that it was laugh out loud funny, but the first three quarters of the book were consistently amusing. The nuns seem mostly to be a phlegmatic bunch.
“Winifrede, with her eyes like two capital Os, leans forward and confides ‘I’ve seen the print of that telephoto of Felicity with Thomas this morning.’
‘I too’, says Walburga, ‘I don’t understand these fresh-air fiends when the traditional linen cupboard is so much better heated and equipped.’”
I did find the joke starting to wear a bit thin by the last quarter, and the references to Watergate are obviously very dated. That said, I think you can also see it as a satire on elections in general. Anyone who has ever served on an elected body, no matter how low-level, will have seen the extent to which (some) people will scheme to increase their power and influence, and decrease that of their rivals. This can happen even if it’s for nothing more than the committee of the local Pigeon Fanciers’ Club. Most of us will have met a Sister Alexandra at some point in our lives!
7/10, rounded up to four stars.
I was told by the book’s blurb that this comic novella, written in 1974, was a satire on Watergate, and once you know that it’s easy to see the references to President Nixon, his aides, bugging, break-ins, the White House Tapes, and all the multiple issues identified from that scandal. Here we have Sister Alexandra, who believes it is her “destiny” to be elected Abbess of Crewe, determined to use all possible means to defeat her rival, Sister Felicity. The latter is involved with a Jesuit Priest, Fr. Thomas, whom she meets in the grounds of the Abbey. Sister Alexandra is ably assisted by two allies, Mildred and Walburga, and by a Sister Winifrede, used by the other three as a dupe.
I quite liked this. I wouldn’t say that it was laugh out loud funny, but the first three quarters of the book were consistently amusing. The nuns seem mostly to be a phlegmatic bunch.
“Winifrede, with her eyes like two capital Os, leans forward and confides ‘I’ve seen the print of that telephoto of Felicity with Thomas this morning.’
‘I too’, says Walburga, ‘I don’t understand these fresh-air fiends when the traditional linen cupboard is so much better heated and equipped.’”
I did find the joke starting to wear a bit thin by the last quarter, and the references to Watergate are obviously very dated. That said, I think you can also see it as a satire on elections in general. Anyone who has ever served on an elected body, no matter how low-level, will have seen the extent to which (some) people will scheme to increase their power and influence, and decrease that of their rivals. This can happen even if it’s for nothing more than the committee of the local Pigeon Fanciers’ Club. Most of us will have met a Sister Alexandra at some point in our lives!
7/10, rounded up to four stars.
October 26, 2023
Mischief-making nuns perform their version of Watergate. Too much mauve whiff-whaff.
January 4, 2021
La semana pasada veía la necesidad de parar y buscar literatura paliativa (de la vida). Es decir, historias que me entretuvieran, sin carga dramática, y que no fueran demasiado vacías; libros feeling good. Después de investigar un buen rato, y de consultar por aquí vuestras opiniones, me decidí por Muriel Spark y “La abadesa de Crewe”. Tras terminarlo, debo decir que tomé la decisión más acertada.
Esta historia transcurre en Crewe, Inglaterra. Allí hay un convento que se acaba de quedar sin abadesa, la hermana Hildegarde ha fallecido, y ahora Alexandra, la subpriora, y Felicity, una de las monjas, se disputan el puesto para ser la nueva abadesa. Parecería que todo es normal y lógico, sin embargo, no tardamos en comprender que nada es lo que parece. El convento está lleno de micrófonos, al estilo Watergate, para espiar a las monjas e intentar averiguar a quién van a votar. Al mismo tiempo, Walburga y Midred, las dos monjas que apoyan incondicionalmente a la subpriora, estudian “El arte de la guerra” de Sun Tzu para ir creando los planes de ataque para derrocar a la oponente. También habrá, como en toda buena artimaña política, sobornos. Con las cámaras de los satélites, captan a Felicity en el bosque manteniendo relaciones con un jesuita, cosa que le da una idea a la subpriora. Asegura a las monjas que si ella sale abadesa traerá frailes,con voto de silencio, al convento. También construirá cabañas en el bosque donde las monjas que así lo deseen puedan ir a desfogarse con un fraile fuera de las miradas de los curiosos, pero sobre todo, de las cámaras de los satélites. Felicity por su parte está muy ocupada desahogándose con su jesuita, pero no se queda atrás y acude a un programa de televisión muy popular, de estos que ponen en algún canal todas las tardes, para contar los trapos sucios del convento.
Enredos, secretos, críticas a la iglesia y a los políticos. Todo aderezado con altísimas dosis de ironía y humor negro. Si todavía no os he convencido para leerlo, ¡no sé que más le pedís a la vida! Me he reído mucho, he estado muy entretenida, y lo más importante, muy a gusto.
Esta historia transcurre en Crewe, Inglaterra. Allí hay un convento que se acaba de quedar sin abadesa, la hermana Hildegarde ha fallecido, y ahora Alexandra, la subpriora, y Felicity, una de las monjas, se disputan el puesto para ser la nueva abadesa. Parecería que todo es normal y lógico, sin embargo, no tardamos en comprender que nada es lo que parece. El convento está lleno de micrófonos, al estilo Watergate, para espiar a las monjas e intentar averiguar a quién van a votar. Al mismo tiempo, Walburga y Midred, las dos monjas que apoyan incondicionalmente a la subpriora, estudian “El arte de la guerra” de Sun Tzu para ir creando los planes de ataque para derrocar a la oponente. También habrá, como en toda buena artimaña política, sobornos. Con las cámaras de los satélites, captan a Felicity en el bosque manteniendo relaciones con un jesuita, cosa que le da una idea a la subpriora. Asegura a las monjas que si ella sale abadesa traerá frailes,con voto de silencio, al convento. También construirá cabañas en el bosque donde las monjas que así lo deseen puedan ir a desfogarse con un fraile fuera de las miradas de los curiosos, pero sobre todo, de las cámaras de los satélites. Felicity por su parte está muy ocupada desahogándose con su jesuita, pero no se queda atrás y acude a un programa de televisión muy popular, de estos que ponen en algún canal todas las tardes, para contar los trapos sucios del convento.
Enredos, secretos, críticas a la iglesia y a los políticos. Todo aderezado con altísimas dosis de ironía y humor negro. Si todavía no os he convencido para leerlo, ¡no sé que más le pedís a la vida! Me he reído mucho, he estado muy entretenida, y lo más importante, muy a gusto.
May 31, 2015
Short novella but blasts like a dynamite. (Muriel Spark would have loved such expression!).
I confess that I am addicted to Spark's language, her witty remarks, just-like-that satirical sayings, and her technique of developing a plot.
This novella is about an abbey where the election for the new abbess is due because of the death of the previous abbess. There are two candidates. How they scheme against each other in getting elected is narrated in a funny satiric manner.
A simple summary. But the way it is narrated is superb. For instance, the theme is developed using the prayer materials of the sisters (Psalms) in many of the places. On another instance, one of the possible candidates asks the help of a learned sister who is in abroad to win the election and to get rid of the other candidate. The other sister indirectly suggests Macchiavelli's The Art of War.
Some of the witty statements that I loved:
"Philosophers, when they cease philosophizing and take up action, are dangerous."
"How can she truly love? She's too timid to hate well, let alone love."
"Justice may be done but on no account should it be seen to be done. It's always a fatal undertaking."
Muriel Spark on Faith:
"There was a time I greatly desired not to believe, but I found myself at last unable not to believe."
One for Humour:
A nun asking the advice of the the learned sister (in abroad) about her predicament. It goes like this:
Question: "But I have a man in my life now, Gertrude. What can a poor nun do with a man?"
Gertrude's Answer: "Invariably, a man you feed both ends. You have to learn to cook and to do the other.
An enjoyable read.
I confess that I am addicted to Spark's language, her witty remarks, just-like-that satirical sayings, and her technique of developing a plot.
This novella is about an abbey where the election for the new abbess is due because of the death of the previous abbess. There are two candidates. How they scheme against each other in getting elected is narrated in a funny satiric manner.
A simple summary. But the way it is narrated is superb. For instance, the theme is developed using the prayer materials of the sisters (Psalms) in many of the places. On another instance, one of the possible candidates asks the help of a learned sister who is in abroad to win the election and to get rid of the other candidate. The other sister indirectly suggests Macchiavelli's The Art of War.
Some of the witty statements that I loved:
"Philosophers, when they cease philosophizing and take up action, are dangerous."
"How can she truly love? She's too timid to hate well, let alone love."
"Justice may be done but on no account should it be seen to be done. It's always a fatal undertaking."
Muriel Spark on Faith:
"There was a time I greatly desired not to believe, but I found myself at last unable not to believe."
One for Humour:
A nun asking the advice of the the learned sister (in abroad) about her predicament. It goes like this:
Question: "But I have a man in my life now, Gertrude. What can a poor nun do with a man?"
Gertrude's Answer: "Invariably, a man you feed both ends. You have to learn to cook and to do the other.
An enjoyable read.
February 18, 2023
This is Spark at her best. She kindles a bizarre plot into burning satire. The Abbess reads Machiavelli and supplements the all-seeing eye of God with electronic espionage. Sister Felicity is unfaithful to her vows and announces a credo of love. The missionary Sister Gertrude converts igloos to central heating. Meanwhile, Rome simmers in the background, disapproving and ominous. The Abbess Alexandra, no "defender of man", forms a dubious Trinity with her two caryatid nuns, Walburga and Mildred. A morality tale that laughs at is sticks in its penknife.
August 8, 2020
Expletives deleted...
When the old Abbess of Crewe dies it seems inevitable her shoes will be filled by Sister Alexandra, the Machiavelli of the convent. But Sister Felicity is becoming an unlikely rival, preaching her message of free love as she stitches her embroidery. Sister Alexandra expects her followers to fix this threat but when their plans lead to a break-in at the convent, the ensuing scandal threatens to destroy her. She has no intention, however, of going down without a fight... or at all, if she can help it...
This is a ham-fisted satire of Watergate, with Sister Alexandra in the Nixon role. While half my brain (all that was required) was watching the too obvious unravelling of the cover-up of the scandal, the other half was wondering why satire often falls so flat. On the whole I’m not a huge fan of satire, so I’m probably not the best person to come up with a definitive recipe for success, but I do think there are some essential ingredients.
It should take facts that are so obvious that people tend to forget or overlook them and spin them in a way that forces the audience to face them. Satire must also be cruel, at least a little, if it’s to hit home. Another essential is that it must be brilliantly performed and highly entertaining. I’m afraid there’s none of this in Spark’s book. She doesn’t show us any new aspect or perspective on Watergate. Anyone who remembers it will learn nothing new, and anyone who doesn’t is likely to be left head-scratching as to what the point of the book is at all. It’s dully written, full of extracts from the Bible and poems, and frankly I’d rather have been reading a lengthy newspaper article on the real scandal. And it’s not cruel – I fear it is “cosy satire” and what on earth purpose does that serve except to act as a perfect example of an oxymoron?
But its major downfall is that it’s simply not funny. Whatever else satire should or shouldn’t be, it ought to be funny. A major fail for me.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
When the old Abbess of Crewe dies it seems inevitable her shoes will be filled by Sister Alexandra, the Machiavelli of the convent. But Sister Felicity is becoming an unlikely rival, preaching her message of free love as she stitches her embroidery. Sister Alexandra expects her followers to fix this threat but when their plans lead to a break-in at the convent, the ensuing scandal threatens to destroy her. She has no intention, however, of going down without a fight... or at all, if she can help it...
This is a ham-fisted satire of Watergate, with Sister Alexandra in the Nixon role. While half my brain (all that was required) was watching the too obvious unravelling of the cover-up of the scandal, the other half was wondering why satire often falls so flat. On the whole I’m not a huge fan of satire, so I’m probably not the best person to come up with a definitive recipe for success, but I do think there are some essential ingredients.
It should take facts that are so obvious that people tend to forget or overlook them and spin them in a way that forces the audience to face them. Satire must also be cruel, at least a little, if it’s to hit home. Another essential is that it must be brilliantly performed and highly entertaining. I’m afraid there’s none of this in Spark’s book. She doesn’t show us any new aspect or perspective on Watergate. Anyone who remembers it will learn nothing new, and anyone who doesn’t is likely to be left head-scratching as to what the point of the book is at all. It’s dully written, full of extracts from the Bible and poems, and frankly I’d rather have been reading a lengthy newspaper article on the real scandal. And it’s not cruel – I fear it is “cosy satire” and what on earth purpose does that serve except to act as a perfect example of an oxymoron?
But its major downfall is that it’s simply not funny. Whatever else satire should or shouldn’t be, it ought to be funny. A major fail for me.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
June 3, 2021
No le he encontrado ni la gracia ni el sentido a la historia. Y lo he acabado porque es corto.
August 16, 2025
Ambientare una storia di stampo pienamente politico all’interno di un’abbazia cattolica sembra un paradosso, uno di quelli su cui Spark si appoggia volentieri per le sue trame apparentemente assurde e satiriche, capaci di tratteggiare – con un unico colpo deciso – lo stato della società contemporanea.
E sul paradosso si basa anche la religione, o almeno così sostiene la badessa di Crewe, chiamata a giustificare alla Santa Sede come sia possibile per loro conciliare la vasta propensione della abbazia per la tecnologia con una rigida – e ormai obsoleta – osservanza delle regole benedettine.
Ma andiamo con ordine. La badessa di Crewe – Alexandra – sa di vivere in una pièce teatrale di cui è la protagonista indiscussa, una pièce nella quale ogni gesto, ogni parola, è calcolata in ogni suo più piccolo dettaglio, ogni soluzione deve essere ponderata con cura, senza che si lasci spazio alla volgarità della vita quotidiana.
L’abbazia di Crewe sta vivendo un momento di passaggio: la badessa Hildegarde è morta e ora le sorelle sono chiamate a indicare il nome di colei che dovrà succederle nel governo dell’abbazia e delle loro anime. Due fronti opposti si affrontano tra quelle mura spesse e antiche: da un lato c’è Alexandra con le sue nobili accolite, decise a mantenere salda la tradizione dell’abbazia e del loro ordine benedettino; dall’altro lato c’è Felicity, pronta a convertire le sue sostenitrici alla vera libertà, una libertà che nasce dall’amore.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
E sul paradosso si basa anche la religione, o almeno così sostiene la badessa di Crewe, chiamata a giustificare alla Santa Sede come sia possibile per loro conciliare la vasta propensione della abbazia per la tecnologia con una rigida – e ormai obsoleta – osservanza delle regole benedettine.
Ma andiamo con ordine. La badessa di Crewe – Alexandra – sa di vivere in una pièce teatrale di cui è la protagonista indiscussa, una pièce nella quale ogni gesto, ogni parola, è calcolata in ogni suo più piccolo dettaglio, ogni soluzione deve essere ponderata con cura, senza che si lasci spazio alla volgarità della vita quotidiana.
L’abbazia di Crewe sta vivendo un momento di passaggio: la badessa Hildegarde è morta e ora le sorelle sono chiamate a indicare il nome di colei che dovrà succederle nel governo dell’abbazia e delle loro anime. Due fronti opposti si affrontano tra quelle mura spesse e antiche: da un lato c’è Alexandra con le sue nobili accolite, decise a mantenere salda la tradizione dell’abbazia e del loro ordine benedettino; dall’altro lato c’è Felicity, pronta a convertire le sue sostenitrici alla vera libertà, una libertà che nasce dall’amore.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
March 18, 2025
Until recently, I didn't know a Muriel Spark rendition of the Watergate scandal in a Benedictine community existed, but it does, and it is...something else. There is no one to like here. It is the seedy underbelly of monasticism. It is the reason the reformations of the medieval era happened in monasteries and were perpetuated by monastics. Absolutely wild; I wouldn't have been surprised if the sixth commandment had been violated, but Spark mostly stuck to the other commandments. This makes me want to give The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie another try, in textual form, since I listened to the audiobook last time and it didn't make a lasting impression. Spark is hilarious in these pages, and she can do so much with so little. The Abbess of Crewe deserves a much wider readership. I am glad I heard of it through Women of the Catholic Imagination edited by Haley Stewart.
(I couldn't help but think as I read, this is what might have happened if the nuns of Brede Abbey were naughty.)
(I couldn't help but think as I read, this is what might have happened if the nuns of Brede Abbey were naughty.)
January 4, 2019
Watergate in 1974 and Trump in 2018; there are parallels. I can imagine that Muriel Spark’s spoof on American politics was highly amusing at the time.
Reading this book forty four years later, I found the book underwhelming.
I was hoping that the nuns would be women of extraordinary, and peculiar personal habits, with a ‘style’ and look that reflects their chosen calling.
The cast of The Abbess of Crewe seemed rather too much like us, on the outside.
I enjoyed the context of the strange rituals, the matins and the lauds in the middle of the night. The snapshot of the monastic life.
The Abbess herself had a nice combination of haughtiness and manipulative cunning, and a personal presence compatible with the rarefied environment. The nature of the cloistered disputes- theft and Affairs seemed a bit silly.
The Watergate pastiche didn’t work very well for me, though this is, I suspect, a consequence of my lack of familiarity with the Watergate conspirators (and there is a detailed summary in the excellent Polygon 2018 Muriel Spark collection with the esteemed Ali Smith introducing).
All in all a book that did come across as a bit dated.
Reading this book forty four years later, I found the book underwhelming.
I was hoping that the nuns would be women of extraordinary, and peculiar personal habits, with a ‘style’ and look that reflects their chosen calling.
The cast of The Abbess of Crewe seemed rather too much like us, on the outside.
I enjoyed the context of the strange rituals, the matins and the lauds in the middle of the night. The snapshot of the monastic life.
The Abbess herself had a nice combination of haughtiness and manipulative cunning, and a personal presence compatible with the rarefied environment. The nature of the cloistered disputes- theft and Affairs seemed a bit silly.
The Watergate pastiche didn’t work very well for me, though this is, I suspect, a consequence of my lack of familiarity with the Watergate conspirators (and there is a detailed summary in the excellent Polygon 2018 Muriel Spark collection with the esteemed Ali Smith introducing).
All in all a book that did come across as a bit dated.
Read
April 5, 2025Unfinished. Unrated
I love Spark, but this just didn't work for me. I didn't believe in the characters, the satire didn't resonate for me, and after 50 years the connection with Watergate didn't move me.
I love Spark, but this just didn't work for me. I didn't believe in the characters, the satire didn't resonate for me, and after 50 years the connection with Watergate didn't move me.
August 26, 2019
“Such a scandal could never arise in the United States of America. They have a sense of proportion and they understand Human Nature over there; it’s the secret of their success.”Published in 1974, The Abbess of Crewe is a reductive, irreverent take on the US Nixon/Watergate debacle, ingeniously relocated to a Catholic convent in Cheshire. Subtitled ‘A Modern Morality Tale’, it is derived from contemporary press reports of the scandal and is often described as ‘political satire’ – though many, according to Muriel Spark’s biographer Martin Stannard, see it as “another version of [her] recurrent theme” of complex relationships between individuals plotting or exploring various scenarios, “which is dependent on lies and evasions”.
On her sickbed, Abbess Hildegard makes it known she would like her favourite, Sister Alexandra, to take her place once she has gone, but dies moments before publicly endorsing the succession. Using the narrative looping of her early novels and the present tense employed in later works, Spark opens her novella two years hence, when Alexandra has indeed been elected to the desired position but is embroiled in an open scandal concerning a missing thimble and accusations of the convent being heavily bugged.
In extended flashbacks we see how in the run-up to the election, sub-Prioress Alexandra and her cohorts become apprehensive that the flighty but charismatic Sister Felicity, once regarded as out of the running, has, with her fatuous philosophy of love, gained in the popularity stakes, leaving Alexandra to manage a “crisis of leadership in the Abbey”.
“Fathers, there are vast populations in the world which are dying or doomed to die through famine, undernourishment and disease; people continue to make war, and will not stop, but rather prefer to send their young children into battle to be maimed or to die; political fanatics terrorize indiscriminately; tyrannous states are overthrown and replaced by worse tyrannies; the human race is possessed of a universal dementia; and it is at such a moment as this, Fathers, that your brother-Jesuit Thomas has taken to screwing our Sister Felicity by night under the poplars…”In the midst of numerous intrigues, the “daily curriculum” of “book-binding and hand-weaving” has been replaced with courses on electronics and surveillance equipment. Realising her collection of love letters to a young Jesuit priest have been stolen and suspecting her conversations have been recorded with “eavesdropping devices”, Felicity calls the police. Journalists and TV crews descend en masse on the provincial Benedictine Order, causing consternation in Rome.
The narrative is, of course, strewn with Sparkian adaptions of historic figures in the guise of nuns, and liberally incorporates tropes used by the media, which are instantly recognisable to those who recall Watergate. However, The Abbess also comically criticizes the fallibilities of both human nature and the Catholic Church – the author having famously converted to Roman Catholicism in 1954.
The Abbess was adapted for the big screen in 1977 (as ‘Nasty Habits’) with Glenda Jackson, one of my favourite actresses, playing Sister Alexandra, though the setting was transposed to a nunnery in Philadelphia – but it wasn’t a particularly successful film. The possibility of an opera based on the book had also been mooted by the classical composer Gordon Crosse only two years earlier but sadly it came to nothing, though Spark was said to be “intrigued” by the suggestion.
I’ve read several works by Spark since first ‘discovering’ and thoroughly relishing The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in my mid-teens. This, however, was my first experience of The Abbess and I wasn’t disappointed. She was, in many ways, an experimental novelist and you can never be quite sure what to expect from one book to the next, but this story of holy skulduggery is, in my opinion, yet another coup de maître from a virtuoso of literary satire.
While not one of her most popular novels, partly, I’m sure, because modern readers are unlikely to pick up on the Watergate references, The Abbess of Crewe remains devilishly clever and exceedingly funny. Another Sparkian work of brilliance to add to her many others.
“…not to gratify the desires of the flesh. To hate our own will and to obey the commands of the Abbess in everything, ... remembering the Lord’s command … systems of recording sound come in the form of variations of magnetisation along a continuous tape of, or coated with or impregnated with, ferro-magnetic material. In recording, the tape is drawn at constant speed through the airgap of an electromagnet energised by the audio-frequency current derived from a microphone. Here endeth the reading.”You can read more of my reviews and other literary features at Book Jotter.
January 12, 2021
I loved this book. I sat with a pencil and underlined so many well-crafted lines. It made me feel like I was doing English at university again! There was so much to unpack in such a short work.
This novella was so witty and at times made me laugh, which is no mean feat. If you like we'll written satire, then this is the book for you. Written in the 1970s, in its day it was a commentary of the Watergate scandal in the US. However, reading it in today's political climate, there was so much that is still relevant - namely a corrupt election within a cult-like community of nuns who are kept ignorant and fed indoctrinating language. The nuns are literally fed dog food!
My favourite character was Sister Gertrude who purposefully avoids the abbey through ridiculous missionary tasks. Either, she is negotiating between a tribe of cannibals, and a group of vegetarians, or she's trying to bring central heating to igloos. It wouldn't be so funny, if this book wasn't so mocking of corrupt organised religion.
"'If you believe your own ears more than you believe us, Winifrede,' says Alexandra, 'then perhaps it is time for us to part. It may be you have lost your religious vocation [...]"
This novella was so witty and at times made me laugh, which is no mean feat. If you like we'll written satire, then this is the book for you. Written in the 1970s, in its day it was a commentary of the Watergate scandal in the US. However, reading it in today's political climate, there was so much that is still relevant - namely a corrupt election within a cult-like community of nuns who are kept ignorant and fed indoctrinating language. The nuns are literally fed dog food!
My favourite character was Sister Gertrude who purposefully avoids the abbey through ridiculous missionary tasks. Either, she is negotiating between a tribe of cannibals, and a group of vegetarians, or she's trying to bring central heating to igloos. It wouldn't be so funny, if this book wasn't so mocking of corrupt organised religion.
"'If you believe your own ears more than you believe us, Winifrede,' says Alexandra, 'then perhaps it is time for us to part. It may be you have lost your religious vocation [...]"
August 17, 2024
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England.
Muriel Spark has an impish sense of humour as she names the title character in this book Alexandra.
Alexandra, the Abbess of Crewe, is not a very nice person and wins the election to be the next abbess after the death of Hildegarde, the current abbess. Her main opponent is Felicity, a keen embroiderer who is having sex with a Jesuit in the orchard on a regular basis.
Not surprisingly, this state of affairs comes to the attention of the newspapers and the church in Rome.
Another item to mention is that the Abbess has implemented the planting of a series of listening devices in various parts of the abbey and listens to the recordings to ensure that the nuns are behaving themselves and not talking about things they shouldn't be. This electronic monitoring was introduced under the guise of providing education classes on electronics.
The other nuns eat meals whose ingredients include dog and cat food whereas the abbess and her henchwomen Mildred and Walburga eat fine food and drink wine.
This is a lovely book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My favourite line: Alexandra is talking to an acolyte called Winifrede.
"Excellent," says Alexandra, "I love you so dearly, Winifrede, that I could eat you were it not for the fact that I can't bear suet pudding."
When the Jesuits start blackmailing the abbess, Winifrede is the one who gets arrested in the gents toilet at The British Museum when dressed in a business suit, as she's about to pay the ransom.
Muriel Spark has an impish sense of humour as she names the title character in this book Alexandra.
Alexandra, the Abbess of Crewe, is not a very nice person and wins the election to be the next abbess after the death of Hildegarde, the current abbess. Her main opponent is Felicity, a keen embroiderer who is having sex with a Jesuit in the orchard on a regular basis.
Not surprisingly, this state of affairs comes to the attention of the newspapers and the church in Rome.
Another item to mention is that the Abbess has implemented the planting of a series of listening devices in various parts of the abbey and listens to the recordings to ensure that the nuns are behaving themselves and not talking about things they shouldn't be. This electronic monitoring was introduced under the guise of providing education classes on electronics.
The other nuns eat meals whose ingredients include dog and cat food whereas the abbess and her henchwomen Mildred and Walburga eat fine food and drink wine.
This is a lovely book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My favourite line: Alexandra is talking to an acolyte called Winifrede.
"Excellent," says Alexandra, "I love you so dearly, Winifrede, that I could eat you were it not for the fact that I can't bear suet pudding."
When the Jesuits start blackmailing the abbess, Winifrede is the one who gets arrested in the gents toilet at The British Museum when dressed in a business suit, as she's about to pay the ransom.
July 11, 2020
Meh.
What summer brain will do to my reading choices.
This is another re-read of a 1980s British Institute Library choice. I should have known better.
When I first read it, even though I grew up during the Watergate trials and the publication of the Pentagon Papers which my father bought and read and my brother pretended to read, and I glanced at--I didn't really understand what it was all about. The BI librarian explained that it was a satire of the Watergate mess. Maybe it was.
I personally didn't find it amusing on any level, not then, not now. Tiresome, wordy, and incomplete, yes. I grew up hearing the English sense of humour described as "subtle." Even after acquiring a greater knowledge of the culture that spawns writers like Spark and Barbara Pym, in my experience this kind of "subtlety" just means "not very funny."
I guess satire just isn't my thing.
A star and a half.
What summer brain will do to my reading choices.
This is another re-read of a 1980s British Institute Library choice. I should have known better.
When I first read it, even though I grew up during the Watergate trials and the publication of the Pentagon Papers which my father bought and read and my brother pretended to read, and I glanced at--I didn't really understand what it was all about. The BI librarian explained that it was a satire of the Watergate mess. Maybe it was.
I personally didn't find it amusing on any level, not then, not now. Tiresome, wordy, and incomplete, yes. I grew up hearing the English sense of humour described as "subtle." Even after acquiring a greater knowledge of the culture that spawns writers like Spark and Barbara Pym, in my experience this kind of "subtlety" just means "not very funny."
I guess satire just isn't my thing.
A star and a half.
September 18, 2011
Loved this. Dame Muriel Spark's snarky use of backstabbing nuns as a satirical allegory of Watergate is brilliant. What struck me as I was reading the novel was that Spark deliberately leaves you asking questions. Is the Abbess actually in the right, despite the Machiavellian course of action? Spark gives only a minimal explanation, and that from a character who delights in manipulation. The novel is barely over a hundred pages long, but the most important parts are the ones that aren't there. Deserving of several rereads!
April 30, 2021
Esta lectura es un escape maravilloso para disfrutar de un humor irónico, fino, una crítica mordaz a la vida monástica de unas monjas sibilinas. En las que todo vale para conseguir el poder.
Es un juego de tronos en un monasterio. Lo he disfrutado mucho.
Es un juego de tronos en un monasterio. Lo he disfrutado mucho.
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