The hat landscape

Finally in this rapid slew of posts covering all manner of mutterings … I was rereading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie this week and in relation to my earlier post on landscape and the dispensing with it in the novel, I noticed that Muriel Spark introduces us to the landscape of the novel or that the landscape in the novel opens and declares itself in people’s hats. Each character is initially defined or described by the manner in which they wear or carry their hat.

It’s perfectly apt that she does not open the novel with descriptions of buildings or what have you, instead she situates us where we’ll explore from the head down. It was great to be reminded of how funny the novel is. I’m going to seek her very first novel The Comforters.