The relentless brilliance of Muriel Spark
“I am not here to say that all a career in letters requires is tenacity and a can-do attitude, but rather that knowing the challenges Spark overcame makes me doubly grateful for her.’
Lauren J. Joseph reflects on a quality many writers have to develop – the “sheer bloody-mindedness” Spark had in spades.
https://www.rlf.org.uk/posts/the-relentless-brilliance-of-muriel-spark/
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters #MurielSpark #writing
“Spark thrived in institutions. This is because, like Miss Brodie, she was a conservative anarchist. Her anarchism was part of the Edinburgh Character and her conservatism rooted in respect for order, authority and ritual.”
Behind the Fame (and Inspirations) of Muriel Spark: Frances Wilson on the similarities between Spark’s favourite teacher and her most famous protagonist
https://lithub.com/behind-the-fame-and-inspirations-of-muriel-spark/
#Scottish #literature #MurielSpark #20thcentury #womenwriters
The Long Shadow of Scottish Gothic
31 July, Glasgow
Tickets £13.44
From ‘Tam o Shanter’ through Jekyll & Hyde to Alasdair Gray & Muriel Spark, the Gothic has a vicelike grip on the Scottish imagination. Dr Valentina Bold & Prof Liam McIlvanney discuss Liam’s new psychological thriller THE GOOD FATHER, the enduring appeal of Scottish Gothic, & our fascination with the dark side
https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/the-long-shadow-of-scottish-gothic-liam-mcilvanney
#Scottish #literature #gothic #RobertBurns #RobertLouisStevenson #AlasdairGray #MurielSpark
Scottish Scholars & Secrets: Developments of Dark Academia in Edinburgh
24 June, free online
Natasha Anderson finds roots of Dark Academia running through Edinburgh’s gothic literary traditions, in works by Robert Louis Stevenson, Muriel Spark, & Ian Rankin.
Part of Reading Scotland from Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz
@litstudies
https://www.scotland.uni-mainz.de/reading-scotland/
#Scottish #literature #gothic #DarkAcademia #Edinburgh #RobertLouisStevenson #MurielSpark #IanRankin
Summer 1945, just after VE Day: a group of young women brace for the future as the shattered world is put back into place. Neither they, nor Britain, will ever be the same again.
—currently on BBC Sounds: a new dramatisation of Muriel Spark’s THE GIRLS OF SLENDER MEANS
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002f6p6
#Scottish #literature #MurielSpark #drama #radiodrama #audiodrama
Scottish Scholars & Secrets: Developments of Dark Academia in Edinburgh – from 24 June 2025
Natasha Anderson finds roots of Dark Academia running through Edinburgh’s gothic literary traditions, in works by Robert Louis Stevenson, Muriel Spark, & Ian Rankin
@litstudies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahpagiSHK78
#Scottish #literature #gothic #Edinburgh #DarkAcademia #RobertLouisStevenson #MurielSpark #IanRankin
“[I]f you want to concentrate deeply on some problem, and especially some piece of writing or paper-work, you should acquire a cat.”
—Nancy Hawkins, the majestic narrator of Muriel Spark’s A FAR CRY FROM KENSINGTON, on why a writer should own a cat
Today, 8 August, is International Cat Day (don’t tell them) 🐈⬛
1/3
#Scottish #literature #writing #cats #InternationalCatDay #MurielSpark
