There is an interesting "book club" discussion of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie available through iTunes Podcasts. It's free and you can find it by going to iTunes and searching for "Muriel Spark".
Listen to it carefully and I think you will see that Muriel Spark plays some interesting games with her interlocutors. She is, as many have said before me, very much of the never apologize, never explain school. A lot of the time you can hear her thinking, "If you're not smart enough to figure this out for yourselves, I'm not going to help you."
Three things really jump out at me.
The first is when the host asks the readers what they felt about the betrayal. And the first guy says he finds it reassuring and that it is great the there is this "sense of omniscience" that is going to make sure she [meaning Miss Jean Brodie] doesn't get away with it. That is very telling. I don't think anyone with even a tiny understanding of Muriel Spark should find the "sense of omniscience" reassuring. If you are on that side, you are on the wrong side.
Spark says that she thinks there is always a misuse of power. "This is human nature."
The second is after this goes on a while and then Spark, obviously impatient that no one is asking her says, "Would you like to know what I think of Sandy?" When they agree, she says, "I think her a nasty little bitch."
I'd add to that, read the book and tell me if you don't sense a sense of foreboding about Sandy. You can see her closing on on Jean Brodie through the little stories she makes up.
One of the interlocutors says, "She [meaning Sandy] doesn't seem very happy" and Spark, very emphatically says, "Quite right."
The other moment, and by far the most important one, is at the end when one of the interlocutors starts talking about closed communities and talks about jealousy and asks Dame Muriel if Jean Brodie was a victim of jealousy and she says, "She was a victim of jealousy, quite right."
PS: I have good friend who will appreciate this remark of dame Muriel Spark's: "I think that a teacher and a classroom is pure theatre and it succeeds or doesn't succeed on that basis."
Listen to it carefully and I think you will see that Muriel Spark plays some interesting games with her interlocutors. She is, as many have said before me, very much of the never apologize, never explain school. A lot of the time you can hear her thinking, "If you're not smart enough to figure this out for yourselves, I'm not going to help you."
Three things really jump out at me.
The first is when the host asks the readers what they felt about the betrayal. And the first guy says he finds it reassuring and that it is great the there is this "sense of omniscience" that is going to make sure she [meaning Miss Jean Brodie] doesn't get away with it. That is very telling. I don't think anyone with even a tiny understanding of Muriel Spark should find the "sense of omniscience" reassuring. If you are on that side, you are on the wrong side.
Spark says that she thinks there is always a misuse of power. "This is human nature."
The second is after this goes on a while and then Spark, obviously impatient that no one is asking her says, "Would you like to know what I think of Sandy?" When they agree, she says, "I think her a nasty little bitch."
I'd add to that, read the book and tell me if you don't sense a sense of foreboding about Sandy. You can see her closing on on Jean Brodie through the little stories she makes up.
One of the interlocutors says, "She [meaning Sandy] doesn't seem very happy" and Spark, very emphatically says, "Quite right."
The other moment, and by far the most important one, is at the end when one of the interlocutors starts talking about closed communities and talks about jealousy and asks Dame Muriel if Jean Brodie was a victim of jealousy and she says, "She was a victim of jealousy, quite right."
PS: I have good friend who will appreciate this remark of dame Muriel Spark's: "I think that a teacher and a classroom is pure theatre and it succeeds or doesn't succeed on that basis."
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