The International Style of Muriel Spark

A celebration of the literary and personal style of Dame Muriel Spark. Ran from 8 December 2017 to 13 May 2018.

Muriel Spark (1918-2006) is one of Scotland's greatest novelists.

This centenary exhibition takes you on a journey through the places where she lived and wrote. Like a Spark novel, the chapters of her life are told out of time, revealing not only what happens, but why…

For each location we present an imaginative recreation of Spark's writing space, putting her work in context.

Rome

London

Africa

Edinburgh

New York

Tuscany

Highlights

Among the key exhibits are:

• The manuscript of 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie', on loan from the University of Tulsa
• Dresses and other personal items that belonged to Muriel
• A range of correspondence with writers, politicians, actors, artists and publishers.

Acclaimed author

Best known as the author of 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie', Muriel Spark was critically acclaimed throughout a career which spanned six decades.

Among her greatest fans were her fellow writers — Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, Doris Lessing and John Updike — and her work continues to inspire a new generation of authors today.

International life

Born in Edinburgh in 1918, Spark lived an international life, journeying from Edinburgh to Africa, London, New York, Rome, and Tuscany.

But wherever she was, she was always writing.

Spark archive

Spark said that 'since 1949 onwards I have thrown away practically nothing on paper'.

Her decision to preserve this record of her life has resulted in a personal archive that is one of the largest in the National Library of Scotland.

Exhibitions at the Library