Comments on: Muriel Spark: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

By: Observations on The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark | Iris on Books

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:50:36 +0000

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By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:53:14 +0000

No, that was good, it was the return to London and heavy hours when I got here I think.

Looking forward to your thoughts on Memento-Mori, it’s definitely one I have my eye on too. Frankly, some Sparks would be welcome right now, I’m slightly bogged down in a book about 1970s Hollywood that is proving far less interesting to me than I hoped, still I only have forty odd pages to go and after that I can read something a bit more fun, still haven’t quite decided what but it after 500 pages of terrible people acting terribly to each other something else will be a relief.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:39:03 +0000

Glad to have you back around, Max. It’s been while! You know, after writing the review and speaking to my wife (who really enjoyed the book) I appreciate it more. I think I say in the review that I was distracted at the time, and I hope to read it again when I can give it the thought and attention it deserves. It definitely didn’t turn me off Sparks, and I have Memenot Mori to read soon (at least, that’s the current plan).

I hope your cold gets better. Was it the Canadian air?

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:58:53 +0000

I have to admit, I adored this one Trevor, I really look forward to reading more Spark. I loved the small cruelties of it, the vanity of Miss Brodie’s cultivation of the girls and her conceit that they are (by virtue in part of her intervention) special and therefore so is she, the injustice of how she is paid back, her obsession with who betrayed her and so ended her prime. It’s a book of small observations, a study of pettiness and conceit (and groupthink too of course). Ostensibly it seems at the start a “Dead Poets” style story, but really Miss Brodie is a very questionable influence on her set.

I had planned after this to read lots more Spark, probably going next to Memento-Mori. Not every book can speak to all of us and I’m sorry this one didn’t resonate more with you Trevor, but you have reminded me that it did for me and that I should really get back to reading more of her work.

Nice review as ever by the way, I’ve been buried with work and a nasty cold recently, it’s nice to be back online and find such interesting material awaiting me.

By: Herschelian

Herschelian — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 06:43:54 +0000

Now you’ve read the book I recommend you spend an idle moment watching the 1969 film with Maggie Smith playing Jean Brodie – she won the Oscar for Best Actress for the part.

I know Edinburgh somewhat, and the school in which Muriel Spark taught, and which she uses as the model for the school in the book, is still turning out “young gels”!

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:57:42 +0000

I found John's post on Du Maurier compelling. I haven't read her (just seen Rebecca) and wonder if I'd also connect her somewhat to Spark. I need to read more Spark, for sure. I'm going to look at whether The New Yorker published any more of her short stories. About Sandy. I really don't know if I have any special insight on her. I realize she is the main character, but I just don't think I engaged with the story that much. My fault. My fault. And some day I will be revisiting it. But . . . I would like your insights on Sandy. I think what you have to say would help me along here.

By: Mrs. Berrett

Mrs. Berrett — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:14:14 +0000

I think something interesting to consider is why the girls were drawn to Miss Brodie. Particularly Mary. The headmistress was always trying to get in with the Brodie set, but was always unsuccessful. Yet Miss Brodie remained a part of their life even after she died. I think some of it was that she constantly was bringing up their potential, their chance to be the creme-de-la-creme. I think the bigger part was the need of the group. You can see this when Sandy considers being nice to Mary but doesn’t because it will threaten her own position. The whole group mentality she created really fascinated me.
I’d love to hear some of your insight on Sandy. Spark had some great prose on her.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:48:32 +0000

It is interesting that you should post this review on the same day John Self posted on Daphne DuMaurier’s short stories. I’ve always tended to regard the two as similiar — with no real justification beyond age and even then Spark is 10 years younger. Perhaps also the fact the I was introduced to both through their short stories and found those stories had a dated, period quality to them — not renecessarily a bad thing as, like this book, they do reflect the times.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:26:17 +0000

That is encouraging, John. I both did and didn’t like Miss Brodie and felt the lesser reader for it. I look forward to getting to know her better. I think I’ll be able to warm up to her.

By: John Self

John Self — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:18:46 +0000

Muriel Spark, despite the brevity of her books and the simplicity of her language, can be a difficult writer. There is more than a sliver of ice in her heart, which is communicated to the reader by her disregard as to whether or not the reader cares for her characters: we’re not even sure she does. (The relationship between author and character is a subject of Spark’s first novel, The Comforters, which features a character who knows she’s in a novel.)

I do think Memento Mori is one of her more reader-friendly books, but I also think a better introduction to Spark is through her short stories.