The writing of Judy Sproxton, author of The Acting Head

Violence and Religion (1995)
This book examines a recurring theme in history,that of the tension between religious faith and political and militant action. It offers a detailed and fascinating reading of the writings of some of the major figures of the time including Calvin, d'Aubigne, Cromwell, Winstanley and poet Andrew Marvell and explores the division between their different understanding of the self-interest of humanity and the will of God.

Christopher Hill wrote, 'Judy Sproxton is unusual in having a deep knowledge both of the French civil wars of the 16th century and of the 17th century English Revolution. Even more unusually, she is soaked in the literature of the two countries. In consequence her work sheds much new light on both'.

The Women of Muriel Spark (1992)
From Caroline Rose in The Comforters to Margaret Murchie in her most recent novel Symposium, Muriel Spark conveys exceptional insight in revealing the minds of her women characters. These women are not exemplary figures, however,. Some are clearly flawed and wilfully contrive their own malevolent relationships.
The women Judy Sproxton discusses are expressions of Muriel Spark's extensive and imaginative creativity. For all their essential individuality, they nonetheless appear as fragments in an existence that can never be totally understood.

The Idiom of Love (2000)
This book discusses the differences in the accounts of love to be found in the work of writers as distinct as Petrarch and Donne. It shows how the idiom of love became an idiom of life, referring to the dimensions of existence, which, like love often enforce a confrontation with the self.
It examines the ways in which love has been conceived and expressed in Western Europe from the invention of the sonnet until the seventeenth century tragedies of Jean Racine.

Muriel Spark said, 'Judy Sproxton has a wide encompassment of scholarly reference. Her book The Idiom of Love ranges far, and penetrates deeply into one of the most fascinating of all subjects'.

Fay Weldon called the book 'Elegant and eloquent'.