I'm only about a hundred pages into the Nadine Gordimer book and finding her writing to be as terrific as I had been led to believe I would by reviews and news stories. I haven't begun the Muriel Spark collection yet, but here are a couple links that will help you see why I'm looking forward to getting to know her work. It's probably not a reading direction I would have gone without a little push from John Wilson at Books and Culture Magazine, but a recommendation from him goes a long way with me.
Books & Culture Podcast: Celebrating Muriel Spark
A volume of her essays and a collection in her honor.
Those who
know Spark mainly from her novels, however (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; Loitering with Intent),
will be pleased to snap up this treasure trove, markedly best for the
many of her earlier stories that combine elements that other writers
wouldn't dare bring together. Chance encounters between strangers spiral
into unexpected plots (as when a young woman meets a soldier on a train
in "The House of the Famous Poet"), and Spark's narrators (including
the wry, level-headed ghost of "The Portobello Road") serve as astute
observers of race, class and society, particularly in the stories set in
colonial South Africa. There are times when the whimsy goes screwball,
and briefer pieces stemming from a word or phrase peter out, but overall
Spark's marvelous control of ambiguities and language continues to
dazzle. Following so soon on the heels of Open to the Public,
this volume may not receive much review coverage, but as the first
paperback collected edition since 1985, it should sell well,
particularly to students and first-time Spark readers.
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