Curriculum Vitae: A Volume of Autobiography

Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book Curriculum Vitae: A Volume of Autobiography by Muriel Spark, New Directions
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Muriel Spark ISBN: 9780811219136
Publisher: New Directions Publication: May 18, 2011
Imprint: New Directions Language: English
Author: Muriel Spark
ISBN: 9780811219136
Publisher: New Directions
Publication: May 18, 2011
Imprint: New Directions
Language: English

Muriel Spark’s bracingly salty memoir is a no-holds-barred trip through an extraordinary writer’s life.

It is no surprise that one of Muriel Spark’s most lively and entertaining works would be her own memoir, Curriculum Vitae. Born to a Scottish Jewish father and an English Presbyterian mother, Spark describes her childhood in 1930s Edinburgh in brief, dazzling anecdotes. In one she recalls a cherished schoolteacher, Christina Kay, who would later be used as the prototype for Miss Jean Brodie. Spark boldly details her disastrous first marriage to Sydney Oswald Spark (S.O.S.) — himself thirty-two, she just nineteen — whom she followed to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and left behind to return to England. In the midst of WWII, Spark took a bizarre position working in the disinformation campaign of the British Secret Service, eliciting information from German POWs to combat Nazi propaganda. She later moved to the Poetry Society of London, where she mingled with literati and other intellectuals, befriended by some (such as Graham Greene, an early supporter of her work) and sparring with others. We experience Spark’s joy with the publication of her first novel, The Comforters, her trials with other writers’ envy, and her emergence as the most brilliant femme fatale of 20th-century English literature.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Muriel Spark’s bracingly salty memoir is a no-holds-barred trip through an extraordinary writer’s life.

It is no surprise that one of Muriel Spark’s most lively and entertaining works would be her own memoir, Curriculum Vitae. Born to a Scottish Jewish father and an English Presbyterian mother, Spark describes her childhood in 1930s Edinburgh in brief, dazzling anecdotes. In one she recalls a cherished schoolteacher, Christina Kay, who would later be used as the prototype for Miss Jean Brodie. Spark boldly details her disastrous first marriage to Sydney Oswald Spark (S.O.S.) — himself thirty-two, she just nineteen — whom she followed to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and left behind to return to England. In the midst of WWII, Spark took a bizarre position working in the disinformation campaign of the British Secret Service, eliciting information from German POWs to combat Nazi propaganda. She later moved to the Poetry Society of London, where she mingled with literati and other intellectuals, befriended by some (such as Graham Greene, an early supporter of her work) and sparring with others. We experience Spark’s joy with the publication of her first novel, The Comforters, her trials with other writers’ envy, and her emergence as the most brilliant femme fatale of 20th-century English literature.

More books from New Directions

Cover of the book One Hundred Poems from the Chinese by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book It's Getting Later All the Time by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book Amulet by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book The Trace by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book Ancient Tillage by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book The Blue Flowers by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book Silence, Joy by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book Água Viva by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book The Adventures of Mao on the Long March by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book Locus Solus by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas: The Original Edition by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book Because She Never Asked (New Directions Pearls) by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book Urn Burial (New Directions Pearls) by Muriel Spark
Cover of the book Symposium: A Novel by Muriel Spark
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy