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Article: Muriel Spark.(Muriel Spark, novelist)(Obituary)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- April 22, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Dame Muriel Spark, novelist, died on April 13th, aged 88
AS SHE lay on the divan in her flat in Queen's Gate, Caroline Rose suddenly heard the sound of a typewriter. Tap-tappity-tap.
It seemed to come through the wall on her left. It stopped, and was immediately followed by a voice remarking her own thoughts. It said: On the whole she did not think there would be any difficulty with Helena.
Caroline, on another plane of existence, was Muriel Spark. She was trying to scrape a living by writing in London in the mid-1950s, divorced, with a small son. Coffee and diet pills kept her going, but also gave her hallucinations. Because "if you're going to ...