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Theorizing Muriel Spark is the first serious attempt to engage the writing of Muriel Spark in a sustained theoretical reading. It has a particular emphasis on gender, psychoanalysis, postcolonial and deconstructive reading strategies. Drawing together a range of significant names in the field of contemporary literature and critical theory (including Judith Roof, Susan Sellers, Bryan Cheyette, Patricia Duncker, Nicholas Royle, Willy Maley, Julian Wolfreys, and Helene Cixous) this collection of essays deals with the full range of Spark's literary output. It concludes with a new interview with Muriel Spark.
List of contents
Notes on the Contributors Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: 'I Don't Know Anything About Freud: Muriel Spark Meets Contemporary Criticism; M.McQuillan PART I: GENDER Tales of Love: Narcissism and Idealization in The Public Image; S.Sellers The Future Perfect's Perfect Future: Spark's and Duras's Narrative Drive; J.Roof The Suggestive Spectacle: Queer Passions in Bronte's Villette and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; P.Duncker In Bed with Muriel Spark: Mourning, Metonymy and Autobiography; M.McQuillan PART II: RACE Writing Against Conversion: Muriel Spark the Gentile Jewess; B.Cheyette Muriel Spark Shot in Africa; E.Byrne A Bit of the Other: Symposium , Futility and Scotland; A.Freeman PART III: DECONSTRUCTION Muriel Spark's Uselessness; J.Idle Muriel Spark's Mary Shelley : A Gothic and Liminal Life; J.Wolfreys Not to Deconstruct? Righting and Deference in Not to Disturb: W.Maley Memento Mori: N.Royle PART IV: APPENDICES Grimacing Catholicism: Muriel Spark's Macabre Farce: Muriel Spark's Latest Novel: The Public Image; H.Cixous 'The Same Informed Air: An Interview with Muriel Spark' A Muriel Spark Bibliography: Primary and Secondary Sources Index
About the author
ELEANOR BYRNE Lecturer in English, Manchester Metropolitan University
BRYAN CHEYETTE Professor of English and Judaic Studies, University of Southampton
HELENE CIXOUS Director of Studies, Centre d'Etudes Feminines, Universite de Paris VIII
PATRICIA DUNCKER Senior Lecturer in English, University of Wales (Aberystwyth)
ALAN FREEMAN Lecturer in British Literature and Literary Theory, Yeditepe University, Istanbul
JEREMY IDLE Lecturer in English, Nene University College
WILLY MALEY Professor of Renaissance Literature, University of Glasgow
JUDITH ROOF Professor of English and Film Studies, Ann Arbour University, Michigan
NICHOLAS ROYLE Professor of English Literature, University of Sussex
SUSAN SELLERS Professor of English Literature, University of St Andrews
JULIAN WOLFREYS Associate Professor of English, University of Florida
Summary
Theorizing Muriel Spark is the first serious attempt to engage the writing of Muriel Spark in a sustained theoretical reading. It has a particular emphasis on gender, psychoanalysis, postcolonial and deconstructive reading strategies. Drawing together a range of significant names in the field of contemporary literature and critical theory (including Judith Roof, Susan Sellers, Bryan Cheyette, Patricia Duncker, Nicholas Royle, Willy Maley, Julian Wolfreys, and Helene Cixous) this collection of essays deals with the full range of Spark's literary output. It concludes with a new interview with Muriel Spark.
Additional text
'...these diverse and engaging essays offer much-needed depth and substance to Spark criticism...Highly recommended...' - S.Pathak, Choice
Report
'...these diverse and engaging essays offer much-needed depth and substance to Spark criticism...Highly recommended...' - S.Pathak, Choice
