Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.
Transfigured is an article by Thomas Mallon published in the New Yorker on April 5, 2010. The article is a review of a new biography of Muriel Spark, a Scottish novelist, and poet. The article describes Sparks life, highlighting her early years in Edinburgh, her time in London, and her eventual move to New York City. Mallon also discusses Sparks writing style and the themes that recur in her work, such as the nature of identity, the power of religion, and the role of women in society. The article concludes by praising the biography as a well-written and informative account of Sparks life and work. It states that it is a fitting tribute to one of the most original and enduring voices in British fiction.
Muriel Spark was a Scottish novelist and poet known for wit, intelligence, and unconventional storytelling. She was born in Edinburgh in 1918 and spent her childhood and early adulthood there. She attended James Gillespies High School for Girls, one of Edinburghs oldest and most prestigious schools, where she developed a love for literature and writing. After completing her education, Spark worked various jobs in Edinburgh, including as a governess and a clerk. She also wrote poetry and short stories and began to make a name for herself in the literary scene in Edinburgh. In 1944, she moved to London, where she worked as a secretary at the Foreign Office and began to write more seriously.
In London, Spark became a part of the literary and artistic circles, and she began to publish her poetry and short stories in literary magazines. Her first novel, The Comforters, was published in 1957. The novel was well-received and established her as a significant new voice in British fiction. Spark continued to write and publish novels, poetry, and essays in the following years. She was known for her wit, intelligence, and unconventional storytelling, and critics and fellow writers highly praised her work. Some of her most well-known novels include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Memento Mori, and The Drivers Seat.
In the early 1960s, Spark moved to New York City, where she lived for the rest of her life. She continued to write and publish novels, and her work was widely read and admired in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Throughout her career, Spark wrote about a wide range of themes and subjects, including the nature of identity, the power of religion, and the role of women in society. She was also known for exploring the darker side of human nature, and her work often dealt with themes of death, decay, and the fragility of human existence.
In his article Transfigured Thomas Mallon mentions that Sparks personal behavior and artistry were nervy and, at times, could feel boorish. In his middle period works, Spark attempted to completely remove the unnecessary, as shown in The Drivers Seat, Not to Disturb, and The Hothouse by the East River. In the 80s, the books regained some of their weight and approachability, but Spark remained persistently unyieldingly uncourteous and disapproved of the way translation tended to sweeten her writing. According to Mallon, it was not her fictions interest in God that made it extraordinary, but rather her identification with Him and the conviction that, as an artist, it was her duty to behave as He would. He also points out that Spark did not address the issue of whether the key characters in the book are still alive. He believes Spark understands the paradox of seeking both independent vision and commercial success, but she still indulges her imagination.
In the latter portion of her writing career, Spark frequently adapted newspaper articles and bizarre tabloid events into books, which she handled using her most indirect and nonjournalistic methods. She was drawn to Watergate in The Abbess of Crewe (1974), a comedic drama, but only as something she could climb upward and downward on her terms. The majority of the novel was burlesque, but there were unavoidably some teleological moments since in Sparks cosmos, God has more Nixonian possibilities than gently Franciscan ones. Harold Macmillan inspired Spark to put microphones in trees. Spark was tense and depressed after spending several years in New York. Rome felt rooted and mysterious despite its disarray, and she was moved by what she described as the direct touch of antiquity on ordinary life. Nevertheless, she fiercely guarded herself against any conventional creature attempting to capitalize on her success or put out the pyrotechnics of her vision while she resided there from 1966 to 1985.
The author of the article, Thomas Mallon, admires the thoroughness and patience of the biographer in his attention to a writer who was challenging in many ways and whose life needed to be filled with specific biographical details. He calls the image of Sparks latter years sad but not unexpected. Stannard emphasizes that she never stopped changing the way she looked and dressed, not to attract men but to keep her independence. Additionally, according to Mallon, Sparks works have proven what they had been most adamant about denying: that character determines destiny, that a persons power is limited, and that a persons visionary ticket is nontransferable. He ends by saying that reading the biography helps one recognize that her success was mostly dependent on how vivid and impossible she was.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.