The most recent edition of America magazine includes an article by Ann Begley on the life and work of Catholic novelist Muriel Spark. The article is largely inspired by a newly published biography of Spark, “seventeen years in the making”, by Martin Stannard.
Here’s an excerpt from Begley’s article dealing with some of the more religious preoccupations in Muriel Spark’s novels:
It has been remarked that Spark’s novels belong to some larger, transcendental plot that her characters are hardly aware of and that the novelist herself can only gesture toward. Often this gesturing is overtly religious. The Bachelors (1960), for instance, is a contemplation of the forces of good and evil, original sin and what it means to be a Roman Catholic. The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960), an examination, in part, of free will, is at the same time an assertion that Satan, the master of deceit and disguise, roams the world seeking the ruin of mankind. And the central character of The Mandelbaum Gate (1965) motivates another to commitment and action by quoting the well-known passage from the Apocalypse: “Being what thou art, lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, thou wilt make me vomit thee out of my mouth.” In interviews, she was wont to draw a parallel between the divine creation and the outpourings of the novelist.
The entire article, which is excellent and informative, is available online here.
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