| The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Contributor(s): Spark, Muriel (Author) |
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ISBN: 0061711292 ISBN-13: 9780061711299 Publisher: Harper Perennial OUR PRICE: $15.29 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2009 Annotation: At the staid Marcia Blaine School for Girls, in Edinburgh, Scotland, teacher extraordinaire Miss Jean Brodie is unmistakably, and outspokenly, in her prime. She is passionate in the application of her unorthodox teaching methods, in her attraction to the married art master, Teddy Lloyd, in her affair with the bachelor music master, Gordon Lowther, and--most important--in her dedication to "her girls," the students she selects to be her creme de la creme. Fanatically devoted, each member of the Brodie set--Eunice, Jenny, Mary, Monica, Rose, and Sandy--is "famous for something," and Miss Brodie strives to bring out the best in each one. Determined to instill in them independence, passion, and ambition, Miss Brodie advises her girls, "Safety does not come first. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty come first. Follow me." And they do. But one of them will betray her. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics - Fiction | Coming Of Age - Fiction | Historical - General |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Lexile Measure: 1120 |
| Series: P.S. |
| Physical Information: 0.4" H x 5.3" W x 8" (0.30 lbs) 160 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: (Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) The brevity of Muriel Spark's novels is equaled only by their brilliance. These four novels, each a miniature masterpiece, illustrate her development over four decades. Despite the seriousness of their themes, all four are fantastic comedies of manners, bristling with wit. Spark's most celebrated novel, "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," tells the story of a charismatic schoolteacher's catastrophic effect on her pupils. "The Girls of Slender Means "is a beautifully drawn portrait of young women living in a hostel in London in the giddy postwar days of 1945. "The Driver's Seat "follows the final haunted hours of a woman descending into madness. And "The Only Problem "is a witty fable about suffering that brings the Book of Job to bear on contemporary terrorism. All four novels give evidence of one of the most original and unmistakable voices in contemporary fiction. Characters are vividly etched in a few words; earth-shaking events are lightly touched on. Yet underneath the glittering surface there is an obsessive probing of metaphysical questions: the meaning of good and evil, the need for salvation, the search for significance. |
Contributor Bio(s): Spark, Muriel: - Dame Muriel Spark (1918-2006) wrote more than twenty books, including Memento Mori, The Ballad of Peckham Rye, and Symposium. |