Muriel Spark's Early Fiction

Literary Subversion and Experiments with Form

Häftad, Engelska, 2023

Av James Bailey, University of Sheffield) Bailey, James (Honorary Research Fellow in English Literature

399 kr

Skickas fredag 10/10

Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

Finns i fler format (1)

Inbunden

1 819 kr

Skickas inom 7-10 vardagar

A compelling reappraisal of Spark's approach to literary experimentationOffers a distinctive reappraisal of Spark's fiction, which challenges the rigid critical framework that has long been applied to her writingInterrogates how Spark's literary innovations work to facilitate moments of subversive satire and gendered social critiquePresents nuanced re-readings of some of Spark's major works, as well as lesser-discussed texts such as her only stage play, Doctors of Philosophy, and early short storiesDraws upon detailed archival research to offer a unique insight into the social contexts and personal preoccupations that informed Spark's writingThis book presents a detailed critical analysis of a period of significant formal and thematic innovation in Muriel Spark's literary career. Spanning the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, it identifies formative instances of literary experimentation in texts including The Comforters, The Driver's Seat and The Public Image, with an emphasis on metafiction and the influence of the nouveau roman. As the first critical study to draw extensively on Spark's vast archives of correspondence, manuscripts and research, it provides a unique insight into the social contexts and personal concerns that dictated her fiction.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2023-01-17
Mått156 x 234 x 15 mm
Vikt358 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor224
FörlagEdinburgh University Press
ISBN9781474475976

Tillhör följande kategorier

Litteraturvetenskap inom Skonlitteratur

AcknowledgementsIntroduction: The Desegregation of Spark1. ‘Author’s Ghosts’: Manifestations of the Supernatural in Spark’s Early Fiction2. ‘The role in which you’ve cast me’: Reassessing the Myth of Spark3. ‘Drama[s] of exact observation’: Spark and the Nouveau Roman4. ‘A study, in a way, of self-destruction’: The Driver’s Seat and the Impotent GazeConclusion: Leaving the HothouseNotesBibliographyIndex

Muriel Spark’s Early Fiction is a magnificent achievement, bursting with revealing and original insights into Spark’s fiction and the enduring preoccupations and working methods of this most singular author. The result is a welcome addition to the process Spark scholars have embarked upon in recent years: extricating (or ‘desegregating’) the author from the various literary-critical categories that once confined her. Bailey’s approach is flexible and multi-faceted by contrast, and draws on an impressively extensive use of previously unexamined archival material. The reader is provided with illuminating explorations of ‘instances of narrative daring’ during the first two decades of Spark’s career which range from under-examined early short stories to key texts such as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Driver’s Seat, and place the emphasis on her enduring commitment to highlight the ways women become inscribed in oppressive cultural narratives. It is a rich and readable monograph which lives up to its ambition to establish a more complex and appropriate framework to discuss Spark in our current critical era, and will therefore be essential reading for those embarking on future studies of one of the most brilliant and unusual writers of the second half of the Twentieth Century.