Wednesday, November 12, at 1:30 pm.
Our book of the month will be Muriel Spark’s 1961 novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Muriel
Spark (1918-2006) was a major British fiction writer of the 20th century, and
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is her best-known novel. The September 5th Times Literary
Supplement featured reviews of a new biography of Spark and the first volume of her letters.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie tells the story of a flamboyant and charismatic teacher at a
private girls’ school in Edinburgh in the 1930s, and the six girls who become the “Brodie
set.” Miss Brodie believes she is “in her prime” and actively seeks to mould each of the girls:
“Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.” She promotes art history,
classical studies, and fascism, and involves the girls in her love life. Things become
increasingly complicated, and the headmistress, Miss MacKay, dogs Miss Brodie’s steps trying
to find sufficient evidence to fire her. The excellent 1969 film adaptation starred a young Maggie
Smith in an Oscar-winning performance.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is available as an inexpensive Harper Perennial Olive Edition.
There are other editions; just be sure you don’t get one with eyestrain-size small print. Happy
reading, and happy autumn!