Muriel Spark was a puzzle, and so too are her books. She dealt in word games, tricks, and ciphers; her life was composed of weird accidents, strange coincidences, and spooky events. Evelyn Waugh thought she was a saint, Bernard Levin said she was a witch, and she described herself as “Muriel the Marvel with her X-ray eyes.” By following the clues, riddles, and instructions Spark planted for posterity in her biographies, fiction, autobiography, and archives, Frances Wilson aims to crack her code.
A densely packed, intellectually radiant, and deeply enjoyable work of life-writing. Apologies for the spoiler, but Spark, who always sneaked the ending of a story into its beginning, would probably approve ... Wilson, like any good biographer, follows her subject’s lead ... Wilson does not aim to revise or correct Stannard’s more conventional, straightforward biography. Instead, she sidles up to Spark, as if not to startle her ... One of the best things about Wilson’s approach is that, amid her sturdy analysis, she’s also enjoying the game, in cahoots with the ghost of her subject.
A deeply intelligent, captivating and passionate work that reminds us of everything a literary biography can and should be ... Wilson has the utmost respect for Spark, but more important for a biographer, she has fervent curiosity about her ... Who was the real Muriel Spark? We may never know, and that’s the joy and delight of this book.
Artful and multifaceted ... Wilson, 'taking direction' from Spark’s habit of writing character lists for her novels, is at her high-spirited best in creating a grisly gallery of The Poetry Review’s former editors and contributors, presented with all of Spark’s malice and wit ... Electric Spark is a glittering achievement.
