This is the story of Miss Jean Brodie, an eccentric Edinburgh schoolteacher, and her special relationship with several of her students.    Rather than school her students in the mundane disciplines that the school requires, Miss Jean Brodie regales them with stories from her own life, instructs them in what she believes to be the finer points in life and tops it off with a laudatory recommendation of Fascism.

I hated Miss Brodie and this book.  She is the worst product of Modern Times, a romantic in the sense that she elevates the personal above the universal.  The only saving grace is that she is brought low by her adherence to that prototype doctrine of the Romantic; her fascism ultimately leads to her dismissal.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (D) Orrin C. Judd

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Muriel Spark Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Muriel Spark
    -ESSAY: On Muriel Spark’s Complicated Balancing of Writing and Motherhood : Begoña Gómez Urzaiz Considers the Competing Demands of Career and Childcare (Begoña Gómez Urzaiz, September 12, 2022, LitHub)
    -
    -REVIEW: of Memento Mori by Muriel Spark (Complete Review)

Book-related and General Links:
    -Encyclopaedia Britannica:  Your search: "muriel spark"
    -FEATURED AUTHOR : Muriel Spark From the Archives of The New York Times
    -BIO: Muriel Spark
    -Muriel Spark
    -Spark, Muriel (Medical Humanities)
    -INTERVIEW: CBC Infoculture: Muriel Spark on being shaped by the "real" Miss Jean Brodie
    -Muriel Spark: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie  Class Web Page by English 1106D0  (Dr. Alan R. Young)
    -The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie  By: Muriel Spark (web page designed and maintained by Dr. Morrison's 1106 English class)
    -REVIEW: of Miss Jean Brodie (Martin Price, NY Times Book Review)
    -ESSAY: A Character in One of God's Dreams  (PENELOPE FITZGERALD, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW : of AIDING AND ABETTING By Muriel Spark (Julian Evans, National Post)
    -REVIEW: of Reality and Dreams | By Muriel Spark (David Garner, Salon)
    -PROFILE : Muriel Spark : Lady With a Pen (Marie Arana, Washington Post Book World)
    -REVIEW : Muriel Spark and her ghosts  (Joyce Carol Oates, Times Literary Supplement)
    -REVIEW : of The Complete Short Stories by Muriel Spark (Sam Leith, booksonline)
    -REVIEW : of The Complete Short Stories (Rebecca Abrams, New Statesman)
    -MODERN NOVELS: THE 99 BEST (Anthony Burgess, NY Times Book Review)
    -Britain's `100 best  books' (Contemporary Review)
    -Librarians Choose A  Century of Good Books (Library Journal)

I didn't really think that this book was about liking or disliking Miss Brodie, that wasn't the point. I enjoyed it because what I got from it was that it was more about the way that she shaped the lives of these students, students who weren't anything out of the ordinary, and became something different than they might have because of her. I also thought it was refreshingly unsentimental, going in to it I was sure it would be another book about how some marvelous schoolteacher improved the lives of her students through the miracles of education...and it wasn't like that at all. I can see where you are coming from about the personality of Miss Brodie, but I think that the quirkiness and humor in the book made up for her slightly annoying character.

kat katt8786@yahoo.com

- kat

- May-27-2003, 23:15

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