Muriel Spark, born in Edinburgh on February 1, 1918, was one of the most important Scottish writers of the late-twentieth century. Her body of writing is distinctive by virtue of the range of genres at which she excels. Her first four published books,

Child of Light

(1951) a critical biography of Mary Shelley,

The Fanfarlo

(1952) a collection of poetry, the ghost story “The Portobello Road” (1956) and her novel entitled

The Comforters

(1957) testify to her success in different literary forms. She was also a reviewer and has plays and children’s books to her credit. Her most recent accolade was the Campion Award, which the Catholic Book Club presented to her in 2001 for achieving “a literary legacy of ‘prime’ quality” (Kossmann,

America

).

The Comforters

, her first novel,…

3392 words

Citation: Scullion, Val. "Dame Muriel Spark". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002; last revised 02 September 2018. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4932, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4932 Dame Muriel Spark 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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