{"product_id":"muriel-spark-existentialism-and-the-cairns-craig-9781474447218","title":"Muriel Spark, Existentialism and the Art of Death","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eContextualises Muriel Spark's writings in the tradition of Christian existentialism and its insistence on 'being towards death'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book proposes that Christian existentialism and, in particular, the work of S ren Kierkegaard, helped shape Spark's religious commitments and her artistic innovations. Because of the prominence, after the Second World War, of the atheistic existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre, it is often forgotten that existentialism was originally a Christian philosophy, shaped by followers of Kierkegaard such as Karl Jaspers and Gabriel Marcel. \u003cbr\u003eCraig traces in Spark's writings both the influence of Kierkegaard and of Spark's resistance to Sartre's co-option of existentialism to an atheistic agenda. Kierkegaard's analysis of the nature of the 'aesthetic' as a false mode of existence that has to be transcended by the ethical and then by the religious provides a fundamental structure for Spark's satirical analyses of the failings of the modern world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKey Features\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProvides detailed analyses of a substantial proportion of Spark's novelsExplains the philosophies of Kierkegaard and Sartre designed for readers without specialist philosophical knowledgeRe-reads major Spark works, such as \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Peckham Rye\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHothouse by the East River\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSymposium\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Only Problem\u003c\/i\u003eAnalyses the ways in which Spark situates her plots within the major historical conflicts and social transformations of the twentieth century\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Cairns Craig\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 147444721X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781474447218\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Edinburgh University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/10\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.73lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.49d","brand":"Cairns Craig","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46571142643967,"sku":"9781474447218","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e33d1efa-7fd3-46c1-86de-2a26c3b1958d.jpg?v=1738807359","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/muriel-spark-existentialism-and-the-cairns-craig-9781474447218","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}