Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial

Hardcover
$86.94

Paperback
$14.42

Buy used: $14.42

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Tuesday, January 23 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35

Select delivery location

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Sweeney & Son Booksellers

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Follow the author

Muriel Spark

Follow

Loitering with Intent Paperback – June 1, 2001

by Muriel Spark (Author)

4.1 639 ratings

Part of: New Directions Classic (14 books)

See all formats and editions

Muriel Spark in prime form: one of her most enjoyable, complex, and instructive jeux d'esprit.

"How wonderful to be an artist and a woman in the twentieth century," Fleur Talbot rejoices. Happily loitering about London, c. 1949, with intent to gather material for her writing, Fleur finds a job "on the grubby edge of the literary world," as secretary to the peculiar Autobiographical Association. Mad egomaniacs, hilariously writing their memoirs in advance―or poor fools ensnared by a blackmailer? Rich material, in any case. But when its pompous director, Sir Quentin Oliver, steals the manuscript of Fleur's new novel, fiction begins to appropriate life. The association's members begin to act out scenes exactly as Fleur herself has already written them in her missing manuscript. And as they meet darkly funny, pre-visioned fates, where does art start or reality end? "A delicious conundrum," The New Statesman called Loitering with Intent.

From Publishers Weekly

Art, reality and the strange ways the two imitate one another are at the core of Muriel Spark's delightful Loitering with Intent, first published in 1981. Would-be novelist Fleur Talbot works for the snooty, irascible Sir Quentin Oliver at the Autobiographical Association, whose members are all at work on their memoirs. When her employer gets his hands on Fleur's novel-in-progress, mayhem ensues when its scenes begin coming true. Generating hilarious turns of phrase and larger-than-life characters (especially Sir Quentin's batty mother), Sparks's inimitable style make this literary joyride thoroughly appealing. ( June 28)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A delicious conundrum. -- The New Statesman

Generating hilarious turns of phrase and larger-than-life characters...Spark's inimitable style make this literary joyride thoroughly appealing. -- Publishers Weekly, 18 June 2001

I found it a delight from start to finishfunny, unexpected and compulsively readable...this strange, immensely enjoyable novel. -- Auberon Waugh, Daily Mail

One of Spark's very best novelsfunny and clever and surprising. -- The New Republic

The most intensely Sparkian of her books. -- The Listener

Though first published only 20 years ago, Spark's offbeat fiction certainly deserves a place in [ND's] line of contemporary classics. -- Kirkus Reviews,, 15 February 2001

Unsurpassable. -- The Times Literary Supplement [London]

What a coolly crafted, wickedly funny novel this is! -- Daily Express

[A] delirium of delight....robust and full-bodied, a wise and mature work, and a brilliantly mischievous one. -- The New York Times Book Review Book Review

[O]ne of Muriel Spark's most accomplished moral fables or puzzles...it provides considerable insight and wit, and no easy answers. -- A.S. Byatt

About the Author

Muriel Spark (1918–2006) was the author of dozens of novels, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Memento Mori, A Far Cry from Kensington, The Girls of Slender Means, The Ballad of Peckham Rye, The Driver’s Seat, and many more. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.

Part of series

New Directions Classic
Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

New Directions
Publication date

June 1, 2001
Dimensions

5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0811214745
ISBN-13

978-0811214742
See all details

Muriel Spark
223
Paperback
52 offers from $6.49
Muriel Spark
1,683
Paperback
21 offers from $0.96
Muriel Spark
52
Hardcover
23 offers from $18.30
Muriel Spark
269
Paperback
4 offers from $8.81
Molly Keane
1,260
Paperback
1 offer from $12.99
W. G. Sebald
995
Paperback
57 offers from $6.39

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Directions; Reprint edition (June 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0811214745
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0811214742
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,496,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #98,067 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #187,014 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 639 ratings

Important information

To report an issue with this product or seller, click here.

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Muriel Spark

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Muriel Spark (1918–2006) was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film. Spark became a Dame of the British Empire in 1993.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

639 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Anon

Since this book is more modern it was very easy to read

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

Very interesting novel. It gives you a look into a writers mind and into he process that goes into writing a novel. Has a very different story line than anything that I have ever read. Since this book is more modern it was very easy to read. I would recommend it.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Rhetorician

A Major Work by a Major Post-War British Novelist

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

I reread Loitering with Intent after reading Spark's memoir (Curriculum Vitae), and enjoyed the novel far more than I did 30-odd years ago. The final paragraphs of Loitering are quite simply perfect.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Paula E. David

Spare yourselves

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2011

Verified Purchase

So many of Amazon's reviewers waxed lyrical about this novel that I felt certain it was a safe choice for a wonderful weekend read. Wrong! This is no better than a mass market suspense thriller. A woman of Muriel Spark's genius should never have given in to the temptation of writing for the market rather than from her soul.

I am writing this review to spare those of you who, like me, hope for a novel of the quality of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. While I would not go so far as to say that this novel is hopeless trash; if your expectations are high, it may cause you (as it did me) immense anguish.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Shirin Caldwell

Sly and very funny

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

I do not want to review every book and am annoyed that I cannot return to my Kindle Library until I have reviewed the book just completed. Amazon take note.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Sarah Heartburn

The story within a story was very clever and the author has a great sense of humor

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2015

Verified Purchase

Read it twice for my book review, and second time it became much clearer. The story within a story was very clever and the author has a great sense of humor. I intend to read more Muriel Spark books from here on.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

I've read a number of her books that were not as good as this one

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

In my opinion, it is her masterpiece. I've read a number of her books that were not as good as this one. If you read only one of her novels, this would be the one to read.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Harriet

I Just Couldn't Care Much About the Characters

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2014

Verified Purchase

I read this book for my book club, and as is my routine, I read it a second time. Unfortunately, I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters. In addition, I found the plot to be contrived. The author is undoubtedly a good writer, but this book was quite disappointing.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

New Yorker

One of the best short novels I've read

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2016

Verified Purchase

Muriel Spark was a genius and this book is hilarious and ultimately quite moving. Looking forward to reading the rest of her oeuvre.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Cliente Kindle

ótimo

Reviewed in Brazil on December 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

Um divertido e tocante testemunho ficcional da escrita. A autora conjura uma Londres quase desencantada. Inteligência, sagacidade e muito wit pra dar.

Translate review to English

Carmen Rodriguez Fernandez

Bien

Reviewed in Spain on January 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

Entrega y calidad del producto buenas. Luego ya... depende del tipo de literatura que leáis. Yo lo compré porque lo necesitaba para clase

Translate review to English

mlorcy

Bright novel

Reviewed in France on December 2, 2015

Verified Purchase

I am a very big fan of Muriel Spark and I loved this book as much as all the novels that I had the chance to read. Even if I must reckon her short stories are even better.

One person found this helpful

Manthos A. Mattheou

The Story of One’s Life

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 10, 2003

Verified Purchase

There is a sense of the autobiographical in this novel which in fact is quite appropriate when one considers the actual pivot around which the whole plot revolves. As a note of caution however I must add that I make this statement without having any knowledge at all of Muriel Spark’s actual life. As the author spins out the plot she manages to capture the essence of the main character’s experience as a secretary for a group of people organized by an individual with the sole aim of writing their biographies so that they may be put away in a safe place for seventy years and their contents not actually revealed until all the people mentioned in these sets of memoirs are actually no longer alive. The idea is that this will be of interest to the historian of the future. Not that the novel itself concentrates unduly on the efforts of this group but rather on the intellectual and emotional reactions of the novel’s main character, a young writer whose main concurrent aim in life is to get her first novel published. She is quite a likeable and attractive character and in fact she seems to be the only normal person amongst the rest of the characters portrayed in the novel, even though this impression may in fact be subconsciously and gradually formed in the reader’s mind by the first-person point of view of the novel since everything is seen and judged through the eyes of the novel’s main character. Even though this is a rather short book it is rather rich with experience and latent meaning well beyond the mere surface of the mostly humorous type of entertainment that pervades it from beginning to end.

5 people found this helpful

Andrew

first novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2023

Verified Purchase

This account of writing a first novel is so compelling that it makes one want to try. Very clever and well paced, full of inventive characters.

See more reviews

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

Loitering with Intent Paperback – June 1, 2001

From Publishers Weekly

Review

About the Author

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Product details

Important information

About the author

Muriel Spark

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries