Theorising Muriel Spark

MARTIN MCQUILLAN is a Lecturer in Cultural Theory and Analysis at the University of Leeds. His previous publications include Deconstructing Disney (with Eleanor Byrne), Paul de Man, The Narrative Reader, Deconstruction: A Reader, and the co-edited volume Post-Theory: New Directions in Criticism.

• Notes on the Contributors Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: 'I Don't Know Anything About Freud: Muriel Spark Meets Contemporary Criticism; M.McQuillan PART I: GENDER Tales of Love: Narcissism and Idealization in The Public Image; S.Sellers The Future Perfect's Perfect Future: Spark's and Duras's Narrative Drive; J.Roof The Suggestive Spectacle: Queer Passions in Bronte's Villette and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; P.Duncker In Bed with Muriel Spark: Mourning, Metonymy and Autobiography; M.McQuillan PART II: RACE Writing Against Conversion: Muriel Spark the Gentile Jewess; B.Cheyette Muriel Spark Shot in Africa; E.Byrne A Bit of the Other: Symposium , Futility and Scotland; A.Freeman PART III: DECONSTRUCTION Muriel Spark's Uselessness; J.Idle Muriel Spark's Mary Shelley : A Gothic and Liminal Life; J.Wolfreys Not to Deconstruct? Righting and Deference in Not to Disturb: W.Maley Memento Mori: N.Royle PART IV: APPENDICES Grimacing Catholicism: Muriel Spark's Macabre Farce: Muriel Spark's Latest Novel: The Public Image; H.Cixous 'The Same Informed Air: An Interview with Muriel Spark' A Muriel Spark Bibliography: Primary and Secondary Sources Index

'...these diverse and engaging essays offer much-needed depth and substance to Spark criticism...Highly recommended...' - S.Pathak, Choice