SPARK, MURIEL

ne Camberg born Feb. 1, 1918, Edinburgh, Scot. in full Muriel Sarah Spark, British writer best known for the satire and wit with which the serious themes of her novels are presented. Educated in Edinburgh, Spark spent some years in Central Africa and then returned to Great Britain during World War II. Thereafter she served as general secretary of the Poetry Society and editor of The Poetry Review (194749) and later published a series of critical biographies of literary figures and editions of 19th-century letters, including Child of Light: A Reassessment of Mary Shelley (1951; rev. ed., Mary Shelley, 1988), John Masefield (1953), and The Bront Letters (1954). She converted to Roman Catholicism in 1954, and much of her work concerns questions of good and evil. Until 1957 Spark published only criticism and poetry. With the publication of The Comforters (1957), however, her talent as a novelistan ability to create disturbing, compelling characters and a disquieting sense of moral ambiguitywas immediately evident. Her third novel, Memento Mori (1959), was adapted for the stage in 1964 and for television in 1992. Her best-known novel is probably The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), which also became popular in its stage (1966) and film (1969) versions. Some critics found Spark's earlier novels minor; some of these workssuch as The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) and The Girls of Slender Means (1963)are characterized by a mildly humorous fantasy. The Mandelbaum Gate (1965), however, marked a departure toward weightier themes, and later novelsThe Driver's Seat (1970, film 1974), Not to Disturb (1971), and Loitering with Intent (1981)have a distinctly sinister tone. Her later novels include The Abbess of Crewe (1974; made into the film Nasty Habits in 1977), Territorial Rights (1979), A Far Cry from Kensington (1988), and Reality and Dreams (1997). Other works include Collected Poems I and Collected Stories I (both 1967).