The Driver's Seat

Brief Introduction to Muriel Spark

• Biographical Profile: Muriel Spark was a Scottish novelist, poet, short-story writer, and essayist. Her writing career began early in childhood, with her first works published in her school's magazines. She attended Heriot-Watt College.

• International Travel: Spark traveled extensively throughout her life, living in Zimbabwe, Britain, and Italy. The years she spent in Italy are recognized as her most productive period for writing.

• Accolades and Awards:

  • David Cohen British Literature Award.

  • The T.S. Eliot Award.

  • The Saltire Prize.

  • The Boccacio Prize for European Literature.

  • The Italia Prize for Dramatic Radio.

• Booker Prize Recognition: Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, and was twice a nominee for the main Booker Prize, with The Driver's Seat being one of the shortlisted works.

Historical Context: The 1960s, 70s, and Female Writing

• Post-War Revolution: The post-war era precipitated massive social, cultural, and political revolutions. Key drivers included the "baby boom" and the Civil Rights movements in America.

• Second-Wave Feminism:

  • Simone de Beauvoir: Her work The Second Sex established the foundational tone for the second wave of feminism.

  • Betty Friedan: Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique helped ignite the second wave by documenting the "malaise" and dissatisfaction shared by a generation of housewives. This book sold over $3 \times 10^0$ million (3 million) copies, fueling the movement's resurgence.

• Literary Representation: Spark’s novel questions the potential for writing female bodies within a literary form and era dominated by misogynistic representations.

Introduction to the Novella: The Driver's Seat

• Publication: Published in 1970 by Penguin Modern Classics as a psychological thriller. It has been described by the Booker Prizes as a "brilliantly dark novella."

• Plot Summary: The protagonist, Lise, travels to Rome on vacation. However, her true objective is seeking her own murder. In the second chapter, the narrator informs the reader that "her image will soon be circulated in multiple newspapers," effectively revealing the ending early in the narrative.

• The Hunt: For the duration of the story, Lise searches for a man who is her "type," which the reader comes to recognize as a potential murderer.

The Canon and The Driver's Seat

• Definition of Canon: According to the Oxford Learners' Dictionaries, a canon is "a list of the books or other works that are generally accepted as the genuine work of a particular writer or as being important."

• 1960s-1970s Controversy:

  • The traits and values required for inclusion were largely unknown.

  • Critics argued against having a single canon, as it led to unfair comparisons between genres and allowed the novel to be the dominant form.

  • The Canon was criticized for failing to reflect global culture and excluding social groups such as women and authors of color.

  • Political influence: Minorities and women were largely added only after the second-wave feminist movement and the implementation of social representation policies.

• Situating The Driver's Seat Within the Canon:

  • Feminist and Anti-patriarchal: It reverses gender power dynamics; Lise is in the "driver's seat" of her own life/death.

  • Metafictional: The work constantly reminds readers that it is fiction through authorial omniscience and predetermined plot points.

  • Modernist Experimental Writing:

    • Replaces the "Whodunnit" structure with a "Whydunnit."

    • Employs "nouveau roman" techniques: present tense, narrative discontinuity, emotional detachment, and the destruction of suspense.

    • Recalibrates literary notions of agency, character, and plot to confound expectations.

• Arguments Against Inclusion in the Feminist Canon:

  • Lise adopts patriarchal behaviors rather than seeking equal rights.

  • The ending involves sexual assault, which some interpret as a victory of patriarchal norms over female autonomy.

  • Cult of Victimhood: Spark criticized the "cult of victimhood" as a tool of oppression. While Lise refuses to be a passive victim by planning her death, society ultimately names her a victim anyway, unable to escape patriarchal labels.

  • Genre Instability: It is an inverted crime novella/detective fiction critique because there is no mystery to solve. Today, it is categorized as a psychological thriller.

Narratological Analysis

• Plot Structure:

  • The narrative is linear/chronological regarding Lise’s final day.

  • Prolepsis: Repeated flashforwards interrupt the timeline, revealing events occurring after Lise's death.

  • Closed Temporal Structure: A fixed time path culminating in death that forces a reader to focus on the "why" (motivation) rather than the "what" (outcome).

• The Narrating Instance (Three Interpretations):

  1. Extradiegetic Heterodiegetic (Not Omniscient): The narrator is external and has no access to Lise's thoughts. The voice is mostly "covert" (neutral/external), though it occasionally shows "overt" features, such as a feminine "voice" noting clothing colors or making metanarrative comments like, "Who knows her thoughts? Who can tell?"

  2. Homodiegetic Autodiegetic: Lise narrates her own story. Her behavior is theatrical, and the prolepses represent her predicting or speculating on others' reactions.

  3. Homodiegetic Allodiegetic: Richard narrates the story. This overt narrator sexualizes Lise to justify his assault and frame himself as the victim.

• Focalization:

  • The novella is written with "external focalization," similar to a film or reportage. There is a lack of psychological interiority.

  • Multiple Focalizations: The narrative includes witnesses describing Lise, functioning like a retrospective police account.

• Unreliability and Instability:

  • Identity Markers: Lise’s age is contradictory (described as "as young as twenty-nine or as old as thirty-six" vs. "thirty-four and a few months").

  • Physical Characterization: Descriptions of her lips vary ("pressed together" vs. "parted"), which also serves to sexualize her character.

  • Surface over Interiority: Lise’s flat is "analogous characterization"; it is neat, simple, and fixed, reflecting her lack of accessible inner life.

  • Performative Identity: Lise actively fabricates identities, claiming to be from Iowa or New Jersey and stating she speaks four languages.

Gender, Body, and Death

• Misogyny and the "Hysterical Woman":

  • Lise is perceived as "hysterical" because she is misunderstood by patriarchal society.

  • Etymology: "Hysteria" comes from the Greek hystera, meaning "wandering womb," a concept used historically to oppress and pathologize women's behavior.

• Victim Blaming and Irony:

  • Lise states: "A lot of women get killed… they look for it."

  • Spark uses irony to expose the absurdity of rhetoric that shifts culpability from perpetrators to victims.

• Symbolic Clothing:

  • Lise’s clothing is extravagant and non-conformist, resisting the expectation of female invisibility.

  • She rejects a stain-resistant dress, insisting the dress should be able to stain, which serves as foreshadowing for her blood-stained death.

• Agency over the Body:

  • Lise plans her death as an assertion of agency. She is the "director" of her life, staging her own murder.

  • She is "driving" her killer literally and metaphorically.

• Male Victimhood ("Himpathy"):

  • "Himpathy" refers to excessive sympathy shown toward male perpetrators.

  • The narrative provides more background on Richard (the killer) than Lise, encouraging reader sympathy.

  • Richard's testimony: "She told me precisely what to do. I was hoping to start a new life." This allows him to claim he was coerced.

Agency, Fate, and Free Will

• Definitions:

  • Agency: The ability to take action or choose which action to take.

  • Fate: A power believed to control all events so they cannot be changed.

  • Free Will: The ability to decide what to do independently of outside influence.

• Complex Interactions:

  • Lise's Agency: She is an active participant who gathers weapons (scarf, tie) and chooses her killer.

  • Determinism (Fate): Because the author uses prolepsis to reveal the end early, Lise's fate is fixed by the narrative structure itself.

  • The Breakdown of Free Will: At the end, Lise's free will is overridden. She demands to be killed without sexual intercourse, but Richard rapes her before the murder, exercising his own power at the expense of her planned agency.

Historical Context: 1960s Counterculture and Civil Upheaval

• Definition of 1960s Counterculture: A broad-ranging social movement in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe that rejected conventional mores and traditional authorities (Frommer $2026$).

• Musical Influence: The period was defined by artists like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Elvis Presley. The novella alludes to this when mentioning a "[…] small group that has just gathered to hear a new pop-group disc" (Spark $2006$: $57$).

• The Hippie Movement: Explicitly referenced in the text—"Is she what they call a hippy?" (Spark $2006$: $58$). Associated with specific lifestyle choices such as the "brown rice diet" (Pollan $2018$).

• Fashion: Characterized by "mix n' match" designs, playfulness, and miniskirts (Reddy $2019$). Lise’s attire reflects this: "A lemon-yellow top with a skirt patterned in bright Vs of orange, mauve and blue" (Spark $2006$: $6$).

• Artistic Philosophy: Muriel Spark describes the artist as a "changer of actuality into something else." She states, "Art is an illusion which contains truth" (Spark & Hosmer $2005$: $155$). This allows her to embed historical events into her fiction.

• Civil Upheaval and Global Protest:

  • The post-war era led to a sense of upheaval in the $1960s$.

  • Key movements included the Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Liberation, and protests against the War in Vietnam.

  • Global Reactions: John Lennon returned his MBE medal to denounce Britain's stance on the war. International student protests were rampant, such as May $1968$.

  • Novella References: Lise is "swept apart […] by a large crowd composed mainly of young men" (Spark $2006$: $70$) and later remarks, "I got mixed up in a student demonstration" (Spark $2006$: $87$).

  • Characters acknowledge the changing world: "Oh, but in these days, […], Everything is different" (Spark $2006$: $49$).

• Existentialism and Nihilism:

  • Lise’s search for death is linked to Existentialism: a $20th$-century philosophy centered on individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without certain knowledge of right or wrong (Merriam-Webster).

  • Lise seeks a "reprieve from nothingness" in a state of "existential 'absence'" (Favale $2018$: $109$-$110$).

  • Nihilistic despair is expressed through gender and sex: "It's best never to be born. I wish my mother and father had practised birth-control" (Spark $2006$: $72$). She dislikes sex because "afterwards is pretty sad" (Spark $2006$: $99$).

Historical Context: Second-Wave Feminism and Catholic Influence

• Second-Wave Feminism: Focused on equality and individual experiences, specifically legal and reproductive rights like the contraceptive pill. Lise remarks, "I wish the pill had been invented at the time" (Spark $2006$: $72$).

• Cultural/Difference Feminism: Adherents celebrate women's unique qualities and sometimes reject strict equality with men. Mrs. Fiedke provides a satirical inversion: "They [men] will be taking over the homes and the children […] They won’t be content with equal rights only. Next thing they’ll want the upper hand" (Spark $2006$: $68$).

• Gender Power Dynamics: Mrs. Fiedke’s speech mocks the "zero-sum game" approach to sexual politics where each sex clamors for the "upper hand" (Favale $2018$: $109$).

• Biographical and Religious Elements:

  • Bill’s macrobiotic diet is a reference to Spark’s friend Dario Ambrosiani, a supporter of the "brown rice diet."

  • The plot was inspired by the real-life murder of Marlene Puntschuh (Baker $2019$: $54$).

  • Spark's conversion to Catholicism: Lise's controlling self-scrutiny exposes the paradox that one can only truly give up control to God (Elphinstone $2007$: $212$).

Literary Context and Genre

• Postmodernity: Refers to the political, social, and economic changes from the $1950s$ to $1990s$. Lise feels the "madness of post-modernity" and her plot questions meaning within this era (Favale $2018$: $110$).

• Postmodernism in Literature: Characterized by rejection of traditional forms, fragmentation, and unreliable narrators. The novella is a "radical metafictional experiment" (Flor and Giral $2022$: $191$).

• Nouveau Roman (New Novel): Developed in $1950s$ France, this movement departs from traditional plot, dialogue, and linear narrative. The Driver's Seat is often compared to the best works of this genre (Rankin $1985$: $147$).

• Multiplicity of Genres:

  • Holiday Romance Parody: Subverts the "girl-seeks-boy" trope.

  • Detective Story Parody: A "whodunnit" or "whydunnit" thriller.

  • Christian Parable: A symbolic illustration of moral or spiritual teaching.

  • Macabre Melodrama: A dramatic piece with unrealistic characters and the omnipresence of death.

  • Greek Tragedy: Spark explicitly stated, "I did the whole thing like a Greek play." It utilizes predestination and aims for Aristotle’s tragic effect of "pity and fear" ($\text{pity and fear, fear and pity}$) to achieve catharsis.

Narrative Techniques: Metafiction and Storytelling

• Metafiction: Attention to the artificiality of fiction. Lise is aware of her ending and signals it by giving away her book: "it’s a whydunnit in q-sharp major and it has a message…" (Spark $2006$: $97$). She steps out of her role to pass the story to the reader (Kolocotroni $2018$: $2$).

• Lise's Flat: Described as "clean-lined and clear… as if it were uninhabited" (Spark $2006$: $11$). This represents Spark's own fictional technique: a "bare room of prose" beneath which gadgets and ornaments (hidden meanings) lie (Rankin $1985$: $148$).

• Narration vs. Storytelling:

  • Narration is the objective account of events.

  • Storytelling is the art of crafting narrative. The reader is not meant to empathize with Lise but to use her as a lens to consider storytelling (Baker $2019$: $52$).

  • Lise acts as the author of her own life/death, while the narrator appears detached or even confused: "Who knows her thoughts? Who can tell?" (Spark $2006$: $46$).

Prolepsis and Predetermined Plot

• Definition of Prolepsis: Any narrative maneuver that consists of narrating or evoking in advance an event that will take place later (Genette $1983$: $40$). It is a representation of a future act as if presently existing.

• Foreknowledge and Predestination: The narrator explicitly states: "She will be found tomorrow morning dead from multiple stab-wounds" (Spark $2006$: $21$). This establishes a fixed universe where choice is an illusion (Baker $2019$: $53$).

• Suspense: By giving away the ending, Spark shifts suspense from "what happens" to "how it happens." The reader retrospectively links Lise's actions to her death.

• Eschatology: A branch of theology concerned with final events. In the novel, the ending precedes the development, creating "end-directedness."

• Structural Duality:

  • Lise as a "narrative engineer" trying to control her fate.

  • Spark as a "Godlike author" exercising authorial omniscience.

  • This creates tension between the Catholic God (allowing free will) and the Calvinist God (predetermination) (Lodge $1992$: $76$).

• Collapse of Authorship: At the end, Lise realizes the impossibility of writing her own story within someone else's pattern. She ends up "being plotted" when Richard deviates from her intended scene.

Repetition and Ambiguity

• Twofold Patterns: Many elements appear in pairs—two men on the plane, two sexual assault attempts, two neckties, two scarves, two knives, and two dresses (Flor & Giral $2022$: $198$).

• Symbolic Reappearances: Lise meets Bill and Richard multiple times in three different hotels (Hilton, Metropole, and Hotel Tomson).

• Leitmotiv of "Type": Lise is killed by a man who is her "type" but also by the "written type" (words). The word derives from Greek $typtein$, meaning "to strike" (Ranger $2005$: $13$).

• Final Repetition: The closing lines regarding the police being protected from "fear and pity, pity and fear" (Spark $2006$: $103$) mirror the opening scenes, emphasizing the cyclicality of violence.

• Identity Ambiguity: Lise lacks background; no surname is provided. She claims her home is "nowhere special" (Spark $2006$: $50$). Postmodernist characters are seen as "words, not beings."

• Ambiguity in Victimhood: Both Lise and Richard are described as victims and perpetrators. Richard's mental illness and Lise's manipulation make moral judgment difficult.

• The Final Scene/Rape: The line "he plunges into her, with the knife poised high" (Spark $2006$: $102$) is deliberately ambiguous, potentially suggesting rape or the final act of murder. Non-consent is seen by some as Lise's way to follow/reverse misogynistic logic (Kolocotroni $2018$: $6$).

Specific Reading: Lise's Revenge Theory

• The Hypothesis: Lise orchestrates her death as revenge for a sexual assault committed by Richard $6$ years prior.

• Supporting Evidence:

  • Richard mentions he has had "six years' treatment" (Spark $2006$: $98$) after stabbing a woman who survived.

  • Lise and Richard come from the same city (Copenhagen) and Lise speaks Danish.

  • Lise suffered "months of illness" and hysterical behavior that stopped "five years" ago.

  • Lise shows unusual knowledge of Richard’s clinic (e.g., "Were the walls … pale green?").

  • Richard recognizes her on the plane and tries to escape: "I want to get away" (Spark $2006$: $98$).

• Implications: This reading provides Lise with a clear motive and frames her as a deliberate agent, though it may conflict with the "purer" postmodern view of the text as having no final truth.

Storytelling Modes: Camp and the Absurd

• Camp: An ironic performance of sexuality and gender (Gutkin $2017$: $59$). Lise uses theatrical, over-the-top outfits to confront societal expectations.

• The Zany: Spark uses "the zany" (strange/unusual behavior) as a postmodern mode. While Camp often resolves things, Lise's "zaniness" is an art of failure if she is ultimately still seen as a victim.

• Theatricality: The novel is written as if to be filmed. Lise is "laying a trail for the police" (Flor & Giral $2022$: $197$) and acts as the star of an absurd play.

• Theatre of the Absurd: A movement (developed in $1950s$-$1960s$) involving disjointed plots and meaningless dialogues. Spark utilizes this in the nonsensical dialogues between Lise and Bill/Mrs. Fiedke.

Questions & Discussion

• Reader Experience: Did the use of prolepsis (spoiling the ending) "spoil" the reading, or did it enhance interest in the "how"?

• Interpretive Take: What is the validity of the "revenge reading" compared to other interpretations?

• Terminology: Is the concept of "camp" pertinent to The Driver's Seat?

Questions & Discussion

• Richard as Victim: In what ways could Richard be considered a victim in this story?

• Predestination: In your eyes, was Lise's ending predestined for her?

• Feminist Classification: Do you see this novella as feminist literature?