The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Essential Penguin)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, author Muriel Spark’s best-known work, is the story of an eccentric Edinburgh teacher who inspires cult-like reverence in her young female student-followers, referred to as “the crème de la crème.” Proud and cultured, Miss Brodie makes her distaste for conventional education known to the girls and she instead instills in them her own passion for art, music, men, and all things Italian.  At first, her ideas dazzle and seduce the girls; however, Miss Brodie’s hubris—her excessive self-confidence—also exposes the girls to a new world of adult games and boundary crossing. Miss Brodie’s character is loosely based on Christina Kay, who taught Sparks for two years at James Gillespie's School for Girls. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is so short that it was first published, in its entirety, in the New Yorker. (Macmillan later reissued it in novel form). The novel has been adapted several times. Perhaps most notable is the 1969 film adaptation, starring Maggie Smith who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is ranked 76th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century and 79th on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best novel. It is also included in TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923).

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