TY - BOOK AU - Stannard,Martin TI - Muriel Spark: the biography SN - 9780753827499 (pbk.) : AV - PR6037.P29 S62 2010 PY - 2010/// CY - London PB - Phoenix KW - Spark, Muriel. KW - Women authors, English KW - 20th century KW - Biography KW - Authors, English N1 - Originally published: London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009; Includes bibliographical references and index N2 - Born in 1918 in Edinburgh, Muriel Spark ended as the epitome of literary chic, one of the great writers of the twentieth century.After becoming a Roman Catholic in 1954, she began a novel, THE COMFORTERS (1957), and with MEMENTO MORI and THE BATCHELORS rose rapidly into the literary stratosphere. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1961), with its adaptation into a successful stage-play and film, marked her full translation into international celebrity. She lived in Tuscany where for over thirty years, until her death in 2006, she shared a house with her companion, the artist Penelope Jardine. Spark invited Martin Stannard to write her biography in 1992, offering interviews and full access to her papers. This book present a compelling portrait of an extraordinary life ER -