Memento Mori (Virago Modern Classics) - Softcover

Spark, Muriel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 034901034X ISBN 13: 9780349010342

Publisher: Virago, 2018

Synopsis

Remember you must die.

Dame Lettie Colston is the first of her circle to receive insinuating anonymous phone calls. Neither she, nor her friends, wish to be reminded of their mortality, and their geriatric feathers are thoroughly ruffled. As the caller's activities become more widespread, old secrets are dusted off, exposing post and present duplicities, self-deception and blackmail. Nobody is above suspicion.

Witty, poignant and wickedly hilarious, Memento Mori may ostensibly concern death, but it is a book which leaves one relishing life all the more.

Books included in the VMC 40th anniversary series include: Frost in May by Antonia White; The Collected Stories of Grace Paley; Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault; The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter; The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann; Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith; The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; Heartburn by Nora Ephron; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; Memento Mori by Muriel Spark; A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor; and Faces in the Water by Janet Frame

About this title

Review:

There is a Waugh-like brilliance to this novel, in the easy economical narrative, the continuous invention producing a series of surprises, the well-cut dialogue, the controlled tone . . . the most remarkable of Miss Spark's achievements. Nothing is forced, least of all the humour (V. S. Naipaul)

I am reading a trio of novels by Muriel Spark, a marvellously witty English writer . . . Her best, I think, is Memento Mori, which is chillingly brilliant (Tennessee Williams)

The greatest Scottish novelist of modern times . . . My admiration for Spark's contribution to world literature knows no bounds. She was peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent - the creme de la creme (Ian Rankin)

Spark is a writer who can take the meditative and make it mercurially funny, playful and mischievious (Ali Smith)

There is a Waugh-like brilliance to this novel, in the easy economical narrative, the continuous invention producing a series of surprises, the well-cut dialogue, the controlled tone. This last is the most remarkable of Miss Spark's achievements. Nothing is forced, least of all the humour (V. S. Naipaul, NEW STATESMAN)

I am reading a trio of novels by Muriel Spark, a marvelously witty English writer, one of the few lady writers I like to read. Her best, I think, is Memento Mori, which is chillingly brilliant (Tennessee Williams)

This funny and macabre book has delighted me as much as any novel that I have read since the war (Graham Greene)

A brilliant and singularly gruesome achchievement (Evelyn Waugh)

Book Description:

A brilliant, daring and darkly funny novel by Muriel Spark, 'mistress of the highest high comedy' (The Times). Published as part of a beautifully designed series to mark the 40th anniversary of the Virago Modern Classics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 034901034X
• ISBN 13: 9780349010342
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240