Barbara Pym
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym (2 June 1913 – 11 January 1980) was an English novelist. In 1977 her career was revived when two prominent writers, Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Her novel Quartet in Autumn (1977) was nominated for the Booker Prize that year, and she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life and education
Pym was born in Oswestry, Shropshire. She was privately educated at Queen’s Park School, a girls' school in Oswestry. From the age of twelve, she attended Huyton College, near Liverpool. After studying English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II.
[edit] Literary career
Pym worked at the International African Institute in London for some years, and contributed to editing its scholarly journal, Africa. This inspired her use of anthropologists as characters in her novels.
After some years of submitting stories to women's magazines, she published her first novel, Some Tame Gazelle, with Jonathan Cape in 1950.[1] Several novels followed, to warm reception.
Pym's literary career is noteworthy for the long hiatus between 1963 and 1977 when, despite early success and continuing popularity, she was unable to find a publisher for her richly comic novels. The turning point for Pym came with an influential article in 1977 in the Times Literary Supplement in which two prominent writers, Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, nominated her as "the most underrated writer of the 20th century".[1] Pym and Larkin had kept up a private correspondence over a period of many years.
She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her comeback novel, Quartet in Autumn (1977), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and her work found new audiences in the United States.[1] Another novel, The Sweet Dove Died, previously rejected by many publishers, was subsequently published to critical acclaim. Several of her unpublished novels were published after her death, and her work is now considered both "popular and timeless".[1]
[edit] Marriage and family
Pym never married, despite several close relationships with men, notably Henry Harvey, a fellow Oxford student, and the future politician, Julian Amery.
[edit] Later years
After her retirement, Pym moved into Barn Cottage at Finstock in Oxfordshire with her younger sister Hilary. In 1980, Barbara Pym died of breast cancer, aged 66. Following her death, her sister Hilary continued to champion her work, and set up the Barbara Pym Society in 1993. Hilary lived at Barn Cottage until her own death in February 2005. The sisters played an active role in the social life of the village, and are both buried in Finstock churchyard. A blue plaque marking the cottage as an historic site was placed in 2006.
[edit] Legacy and honors
- Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
- Blue plaque placed at her retirement home of Barn Cottage, Finstock.
[edit] Works and themes
Several strong themes link the works in the Pym canon, which are more notable for their style and characterisation than for their plots. A superficial reading gives the impression that they are sketches of village or suburban life, and comedies of manners, studying the social activities connected with the Anglican church (in particular its the Anglo-Catholic parish.) (Pym attended several churches during her lifetime, including St Michael and All Angels, Barnes, where she served on the Parish Church Council.)
Her works are deeper than that, however. She closely examines many aspects of women's and men's relations, including unrequited feelings of women for men, based on her own experience. She portrayed the layers of community and figures in the church seen through church functions. The dialogue is often deeply ironic. A tragic undercurrent runs through some of the later novels, especially Quartet in Autumn and The Sweet Dove Died.
Pym's diaries were published posthumously, under the title, A Very Private Eye (1985) ISBN 0-394-73106-9
[edit] Novels
- Some Tame Gazelle (1950) ISBN 1-55921-264-0
- Excellent Women (1952) ISBN 0-452-26730-7
- Jane and Prudence (1953) ISBN 1-55921-226-8
- Less than Angels (1955) ISBN 1-55921-388-4
- A Glass of Blessings (1958) ISBN 1-55921-353-1
- No Fond Return of Love (1961) ISBN 1-55921-306-X
- Quartet in Autumn (1977)
- The Sweet Dove Died (1978) ISBN 1-55921-301-9
- A Few Green Leaves (1980) ISBN 1-55921-228-4
- Crampton Hodnet (completed circa 1940, published 1985) ISBN 1-55921-243-8
- An Unsuitable Attachment (written 1963; published posthumously, 1982)
- An Academic Question (written 1970-72; published 1986)
[edit] Biography and autobiography
- Hazel Holt - A Lot to Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym (1990)
- Barbara Pym - A Very Private Eye (1984)
- Hilary Pym and Honor Wyatt - A la Pym: The Barbara Pym Cookery Book (1995)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Christopher Fowler, "Invisible Ink: No. 68", The Independent, 13 March 2011, accessed 30 September 2011
- Hazel Holt - A Lot to Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym (1990)
- Hazel K Bell (ed.) - No Soft Incense: Barbara Pym and the Church (2004)
- Orna Raz - Social Dimensions in the Novels of Barbara Pym, 1949-1962: the Writer as Hidden Observer (2007)
[edit] External links
- The Barbara Pym Society based at St Hilda's College, Oxford.
- Blue plaque to Barbara Pym on her Finstock home
