The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Վերջացրեցի էդինբուրգցի Մյուրիել Սփարքի այս գիրքը: Շատ դուր եկավ՝ Ջին Բրոդիի ու վեց աշակերտուհիների ինքնատիպ կերպարները հիանալի էին պատկերված խորհրդավոր քաղաքի ու փոթորկոտ 20-րդ դարի 30-ականների անկանխատեսելի զարգացումներում, որոնք պատմության էջերին սևուսպիտակ են, մարդկանց կյանքում՝ բազմերանգ: Տանել չեմ կարող անտեղի բարդացումները, որ հաճախ աղտոտում են ժամանակակից գրողների գործերը: Սփարքի վիպակը հիշեցնում է իր հունով ընթացող մի առվակ, որ դեմ է առնում ինչ-որ ժայռերի ու խառնվում իրար՝ չիմանալով ինչպես շարունակել հոսել: Բայց առվակն առվակ է, պիտի հոսի: Սյուժեն ընթանում է մի գծով, մինչև մի նախադասություն, որ քեզ տանում է օրինակ 25 տարի առաջ, կամ տաս տարի հետ ու հետո շատ սահուն, առանց անտեղի ավելորդությունների շարունակվում մինչև մեկ այլ պարբերություն, որը բացատրում է թե՛ գիծը, թե՛ առանձին նախադասությունը:

Սուր, դիպուկ, բազմերանգ, տխուր:

"Sandy was sometimes embarrassed by her mother being English and calling her 'darling', not like the mothers of Edinburgh who said 'dear'. Sandy's mother had a flashy winter coat trimmed with fluffy fox fur like the Duchess of York's, while the other mothers wore tweed or, at the most, musquash that would do them all their days." (p. 18)

­­"It is not to be supposed that Miss Brodie was unique at this point of her prime; or that (since such things are relative) she was in any way off her head, She was alone, merely, in that she taught in a school like Marcia Blaine's. There were legions of her kind during the nineteen-thirties, women from the age of thirty and upward who crowded their war-bereaved spinsterhood with voyages of discovery into new ideas and energetic practices in art or social welfare, education or religion. The progressive spinsters of Edinburgh did not teach in schools, especially in schools of traditional character like Marcia Blaine's School for Girls. It was in this that Miss Brodie was, as the rest of the staff spinsterhood put it, a trifle out of place. But she was not out of place amongst her own kind, the vigorous daughters of dead or enfeebled merchants, of ministers of religion, University professors, doctors, big warehouse owners of the past, or the owners of fisheries who had endowed these daughters with shrewd wits, high-coloured cheeks, constitutions like horses, logical educations, hearty spirits and private means. They could be seen leaning over the democratic counters if Edinburgh grocers' shops arguing with the Manager at three in the afternoon on every subject from the authenticity of the Scriptures to the question what the word "guaranteed" on a jam-jar really meant. They went to lectures, tried living on honey and nuts, took lessons in German and then went walking in Germany; they bought caravans and went of with them into the hills among the lochs; they played the guitar, they supported all the new little theatre companies; they took lodgings in the slums and, distributing pots of paint, taught their neighbours the arts of simple interior decoration; they preached the inventions of Marie Stopes; they attended the meetings of the Oxford Group and put Spiritualism to their hawk-eyed test. Some assisted in the Scottish National Movement; others, like Miss Brodie, called themselves Europeans and Edinburgh a European capital, the city of Hume and Boswell.

They were not, however, committee women. They were not school-teachers. The committee spinsters were less enterprising and not at all rebellious, they were sober church-goers and quiet workers. The school-mistresses were of a still more orderly type, earning their keep, living with aged parents and taking walks int eh hills and holidays at North Berwick.

But those of Miss Brodie's kind were great talkers and feminists and, like most feminists, talked to man as man-to-man" (. 42-43) (Գրքի ամենահետաքրքիր  հատվածներից մեկը)

"The word "education" comes from the root e from ex, out, and duco, I lead. It means a leading out. To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul. To miss Mackay it is a putting in of something that is not there, and that is not what I call education, I call it intrusion, from the Latin root prefix in meaning in and the stem trudo, I thrust. Miss Mackay's method is to thrust a lot of information into the pupil's head; mine is a leading out of knowledge, and that is true education as is proved by the root meaning" (p. 36).