EIBF: Martin Stannard

The name Martin Stannard might not be familiar, but his subject, Muriel Spark, was, and the crowd was packed tight to hear about her. Stannard read a section of his book; one where he, appropriately enough, connected the topography of Edinburgh with her mind – although perhaps connecting it with certain themes in her fiction would have seemed more provable. Stannard did say on this note that “Her books weren’t confessional, and she wasn’t either” which had a very clear ring of truth to it. His chat with Willy Maley covered the subjects people wanted to hear about – her attitudes to religion, her relationships with people in her life, and her sexuality. Spark always denied being gay, despite living with women exclusively at the end of her life – Stannard agreed, portraying her as almost asexual. Her religious life was more complex: a convert to Catholicism, she found doubt to be critical to her faith, and also didn’t accept dogma – she was pro female priests and pro contraception. But she was also comforted by her religion at many points in her life, and read the work of Cardinal Newman when she had moments of grief. An informative talk, but no substitute for Spark’s work itself. [Michael Rainer]