This is one of the middle/late novels by Muriel Spark. In this novel, our narrator finds herself embroiled in a publication scandal and involved in the publication of a complete hack writer. She constantly (and probably over does it) refers to this write as a pisseur de copie, meaning a writer who churns out rubbish. Anyway, she is fired and must look for work in a new part of town, in a less reputable publishing company, and hence the title of the novel. The novel circulates around […]
It is difficult for people of advanced years to start remembering they must die. It is best to form the habit while young.
These are three short and early novels by the Scottish writer Muriel Spark. I am rereading the latter two. Memento Mori This novel begins with a phone call to an older Dame at a retirement home. The caller tells the woman “You must remember that you will die” and this mysterious and potentially scary call becomes the the central plot to the novel, and opens up to a darkly funny story as the call repeats over and over again. As the call repeats, and […]
Winter Break
Oroonoko – 2/5 Stars This novel, or maybe not a novel, came out in 1688 and like most early novels there is a strong narrative discomfort in the telling of narrative fictionally. So throughout the novel there’s a lot of extra-text discussions of the truth of the story. Novels have often been mistrusted because of this, but of course, the goal and function of fiction is that sometimes truth isn’t fully explored in nonfiction. And like with theater and poetry, there is a need to […]
Reviews 7 and 8
You Will Know Me The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie