This is the story of Miss Jean Brodie, an eccentric Edinburgh schoolteacher, and her special relationship with several of her students.    Rather than school her students in the mundane disciplines that the school requires, Miss Jean Brodie regales them with stories from her own life, instructs them in what she believes to be the finer points in life and tops it off with a laudatory recommendation of Fascism.

I hated Miss Brodie and this book.  She is the worst product of Modern Times, a romantic in the sense that she elevates the personal above the universal.  The only saving grace is that she is brought low by her adherence to that prototype doctrine of the Romantic; her fascism ultimately leads to her dismissal.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (D) Orrin C. Judd

Tweet

Muriel Spark Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Muriel Spark
    -INDEX: Muriel Spark (The Guardian)
    -POEM: The Victoria Falls (poem Today, 4/15/25)
    -
    -
    -PODCAST: Ep 668 - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark (Overdue, September 16, 2024)
    -PODCAST: Author James Klise Discusses “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (Chicago Writers Podcast, 12/02/24)
    -
    -
    -ESSAY: The ghost of Muriel Spark: In her work and life the writer was obsessed with biography – but when she authorised her own she loathed it. (Frances Wilson, 6/11/25, New Statesman)
    -ESSAY: ‘Odd things happened when she was around’: the unnerving vision of Muriel Spark: From blackmail to burglary, the events of Spark’s life often uncannily echoed those of her novels – no wonder the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie believed she could predict the future (Frances Wilson, Sun 15 Jun 2025, The Guardian)
    -ESSAY: Confronting the enigma of Muriel Spark: The novelist’s 1940s and 1950s resonated with mystical echoes of her past and future. Can a new biography capture this complexity? (Rhodri Lewis, June 11, 2025, Prospect)
    -ESSAY: The God complex of Muriel Spark: Her psychopathic detachment is liberating (Kathleen Stock, June 6, 2025, UnHerd)
    -ESSAY: On Muriel Spark’s Complicated Balancing of Writing and Motherhood : Begoña Gómez Urzaiz Considers the Competing Demands of Career and Childcare (Begoña Gómez Urzaiz, September 12, 2022, LitHub)
    -
    -REVIEW: of Memento Mori by Muriel Spark (Complete Review)
    -REVIEW: of Electric Spark by Frances Wilson (Olivia Laing, The Guardian)
    -
    -
    -

Book-related and General Links:
    -Encyclopaedia Britannica:  Your search: "muriel spark"
    -FEATURED AUTHOR : Muriel Spark From the Archives of The New York Times
    -BIO: Muriel Spark
    -Muriel Spark
    -Spark, Muriel (Medical Humanities)
    -INTERVIEW: CBC Infoculture: Muriel Spark on being shaped by the "real" Miss Jean Brodie
    -Muriel Spark: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie  Class Web Page by English 1106D0  (Dr. Alan R. Young)
    -The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie  By: Muriel Spark (web page designed and maintained by Dr. Morrison's 1106 English class)
    -REVIEW: of Miss Jean Brodie (Martin Price, NY Times Book Review)
    -ESSAY: A Character in One of God's Dreams  (PENELOPE FITZGERALD, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW : of AIDING AND ABETTING By Muriel Spark (Julian Evans, National Post)
    -REVIEW: of Reality and Dreams | By Muriel Spark (David Garner, Salon)
    -PROFILE : Muriel Spark : Lady With a Pen (Marie Arana, Washington Post Book World)
    -REVIEW : Muriel Spark and her ghosts  (Joyce Carol Oates, Times Literary Supplement)
    -REVIEW : of The Complete Short Stories by Muriel Spark (Sam Leith, booksonline)
    -REVIEW : of The Complete Short Stories (Rebecca Abrams, New Statesman)
    -MODERN NOVELS: THE 99 BEST (Anthony Burgess, NY Times Book Review)
    -Britain's `100 best  books' (Contemporary Review)
    -Librarians Choose A  Century of Good Books (Library Journal)