LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
'One of the many delights of a Muriel Spark novel is the way in which the ground shifts so delicately under the reader’s feet. In an interview to mark the publication of the book in 1959, Spark said: ‘The prospect of death is what gives life the whole of its piquancy. Life would be so much more pointless if there were no feeling that it must end.’… A novel about ageing and dying might be rather bleak, but Momento Mori sparkles with a constant, satisfying humour. There is a farcical funeral, the internecine fighting of the literati is recognisable and hilarious, and the black humour as dark as it comes…' From the introduction by Zoe Strachan
This is one novel in the absolutely glorious, must-have, complete collection of all 22 novels by Muriel Spark. This series is a wonderful way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Muriel Spark’s birth. Edited by Alan Taylor, author of ‘Appointment In Arezzo, A Friendship with Muriel Spark’, each perfectly sized and beautiful hardback book is introduced by a leading writer. Each introduction, while individually touching on thoughts and feelings, mentions the originality, the wit and humour, the cleverness of the writing. Whether an existing fan, or new to her works, this collection from one of our greatest writers, beckons, and quite simply, just asks to be read and re-read. ~ Lovereading.co.uk
LoveReading
Find This Book In
About
Memento Mori Synopsis
Described by David Lodge as `her first masterpiece', Memento Mori opens with a telephone call and the words `Remember you must die'. Over several months, a circle of elderly men and women receive similar calls and everyone becomes a suspect. As the investigating police inspector muses: `Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be part of the full expectancy of life. Without an ever-present sense of death, life is insipid. You might as well live on the whites of eggs.' While immersed in the indignities of old age, dementia and death, this novel is both profoundly compassionate and entertaining. The publishers acknowledge investment from Creative Scotland towards the publication of this book. Supported by the Muriel Spark Society.
About This Edition
ISBN: |
9781846974274 |
Publication date: |
2nd November 2017 |
Author: |
Muriel Spark |
Publisher: |
Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited an imprint of Birlinn General |
Format: |
Hardback |
Primary Genre |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction
|
Other Genres: |
|
Recommendations: |
|
Press Reviews
Muriel Spark Press Reviews
"A brilliant and singularly gruesome achchievement" Evelyn Waugh
"This funny and macabre book has delighted me as much as any novel that I have read since the war" Graham Greene
"I am reading a trio of novels by Muriel Spark, a marvelously witty English writer, one of the few lady writers I like to read. Her best, I think, is Memento Mori, which is chillingly brilliant" Tennessee Williams
"There is a Waugh-like brilliance to this novel, in the easy economical narrative, the continuous invention producing a series of surprises, the well-cut dialogue, the controlled tone. This last is the most remarkable of Miss Spark's achievements. Nothing is forced, least of all the humour" V. S. Naipaul, NEW STATESMAN
Often referred to as ‘the writer’s writer’, Spark’s work has garnered acclaim around the globe:
“[Spark] has written some things that seem likely to go on being read as long as fiction in English is read at all.” – New York Times Book Review
“The greatest Scottish novelist of modern times . . . my admiration for Spark's contribution to literature knows no bounds” – Ian Rankin
“Some of [Spark's] finest fictions are novellas rather than novels, short enough to be read in a single dizzying sitting." – David Lodge
"A master of malice and mayhem" Michiko Katutani, NEW YORK TIMES
"Brilliantly original and fascinating" Evelyn Waugh
Author
About Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark, DBE, C.Litt., was born in Edinburgh in 1918 and educated in Scotland. A poet and novelist, she also wrote children’s books, radio plays, a comedy Doctors of Philosophy, (first performed in London in 1962 and published 1963) and biographies of nineteenth-century literary figures, including Mary Shelley and Emily Brontë.
For her long career of literary achievement, which began in 1951, when she won a short-story competition in the Observer, Muriel Spark garnered international praise and many awards, which include the David Cohen Prize for Literature, the Ingersoll T.S. Eliot Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Boccaccio Prize for European Literature, the Gold Pen Award, the first Enlightenment Award and the Italia Prize for dramatic radio. She died in 2006.
Author photo © P A Archive and Press Association Images
More About Muriel Spark