Postscript

Abstract

I have called the final section of this book a postscript and not a conclusion because claims of conclusiveness where the work of a living writer is concerned seem impertinent, if not fraudulent. There may be more novels to come, and they may not only pose fresh problems but suggest new ways of looking at the novels we already have. In any case there is as yet no consensus on Muriel Spark’s standing as a novelist: while there are those who regard her as the best living British writer of fiction, there are also those who prefer to stress her limitations. So that critical judgements, always provisional and for the time being, must be even more so than usual.