The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Perennial Classics)
by Muriel Spark

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Book Reviews of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Perennial Classics)

Book Review: "You are my vocation, I am dedicated to you in my Prime."
Summary: 5 Stars

As many other reviewers have been quick to point out "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is often the subject of university lectures and examinations. And there should be no surprise in that. This slim volume has a dazzling breadth of theme and expression composed almost singularly of one woman's personality.

"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is probably the most beautifully visual of Muriel Spark's novels, containing some dazzling natural and urban imagery. These are lovingly interspersed in the otherwise sharp, and blackly comic text. It is easy to understand why Muriel Spark claims that her "novels are just an easier way of writing my poetry".

"The Prime" is also a comedy of some value (anyone who has seen the 1979 Maggie Smith film adaptation couldn't dispute it), and the childhood imaginings of Sandy and Jenny, two girls of the "set", certainly provides some laugh out loud moments. Like the classic imaginary love letter between Miss Brodie and her lover Mr. Lowther. Who could forget its wonderful conclusion - " Allow me, in conclusion, to congratulate you warmly upon your sexual intercourse, as well as your singing." The girls capture the eloquence and the ridiculousness of Miss Brodie beautifully and unknowingly.

The most compelling aspect of the novel, however, is its undeniably sinister streak. Miss Brodie is a "born Facist", as one of her set eventually comes to realise. She speaks with fervent passion of the "wonderous" regimes of Mussolini and Hitler, while encouraging one of her young charges to become involved in the Spanish Civil War. She does all this with a stunted self-aware romanticism and a deluded clarity that cuts directly to the coldest heart of her personality. Her teaching, which literally amounts to an indoctrination in the values of bigotry and prejudice, is instilled into her "set", some of whom do not escape as unscathed as the others.

To crown the glory is Spark's inventive narrative style, which feels free to skip and leap around the story of the rise and fall of Miss Brodie. The omnipresence of the author is always jabbing in another future event to permanently shape our view of the present. The holistic reading that emerges from this narrative assault allows for all kinds of realisations concerning identity, facism, illusion, truth and fiction.

A thoroughly terrifying, enjoyable read, for all those who don't quite believe that seeing/hearing is believing.

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