Sparks fly
Sir: I have just read an article by Martin Stannard about Muriel Spark (Books, 6 June) and her alleged Jewishness. The arti- cle states that I said, 'Muriel Spark should make no mistake, she is fully Jewish.' This is an absolute invention. I made no such statement. All I said was that I remember my mother telling me that my father went to the Sparks flat in Bruntsfield, Edin- burgh, to perform some sort of ceremony. I thought it might have been a conversion ceremony or a wedding or both. I have no view about whether Muriel Spark is Jewish or not, and it is a matter of complete indif- ference to me.
David Daiches
22 Belgrave Crescent, Edinburgh
Martin Stannard replies: Professor Daiches states that the quotation attributed to him `is an absolute invention'. If it is, I didn't invent it. As my article makes plain, I am quoting from Allan Brown's Sunday Times piece (5 April 1998). It seems odd that Professor Daiches made no public com- plaint about that. But at least we now know that Brown's article was even more inaccu- rate than I suggested.
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