“The Comforters” by Muriel Spark (post 3): Novel introduces three characters who represent different aspects of author’s creative process

The Comforters (1957) is the first novel by Muriel Spark, who is today best known for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), discussed in a previous post.

I am up to page 50 in this 214-page novel, which appears to be about the author’s writing process, as represented by the following three characters.

Chapter One features Laurence, a young man who has a well-earned reputation “for being remarkably observant” (1, p. 9). He collects all kinds of private and trivial information about everybody.

At first I saw him as inappropriate and obsessive, like someone on the mild end of the autism spectrum. But then I realized he represents the author’s observing personality, who collects all the details of everyday life, so useful in writing novels.

Chapter Two features Mrs. Hogg and Caroline, the writer. The significance of Mrs. Hogg would seem to be her name, which alludes to James Hogg, author of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), one the first novels ever written with a multiple personality theme.

Chapter Three begins with Caroline’s hallucination of the sound of a typewriter, and voices who chant the character’s own thoughts (1, p. 43). Frightened by this, Caroline flees her apartment, and finds someone to comfort her.

However, what is here portrayed as frightening to Caroline is what most novelists consider a peak experience: when she feels like a transcriber for a story coming from writing personalities who are behind the scenes.

1. Muriel Spark. The Comforters [1957]. New York, New Directions, 2014.