Muriel Spark and the Doppelgänger That Wasn’t

Muriel Spark was a superstitious writer. In a 1971 BBC documentary, she explains her relationship with her pens. “If by accident someone picks up one of these pens … I throw that pen out the window. I don’t want to touch it for my book anymore.” In the footage, she’s not sure where to rest her gaze, but she’s delighted by her own eccentricity—by being a puzzle even to herself.