Barbara Pym (1913–1980)
Forfatter af Excellent Women
Om forfatteren
Novelist Barbara Pym was born in Shropshire and educated at Oxford University. An editor of Africa, an anthropological review, for many years, she published her first novel, Some Tame Gazelle, in 1950. Since then, a number of popular works have been published. Often compared with the works of Jane vis mere Austen in both manner and subject, Pym's novels are apparently guileless evocations of the foibles of aging and isolated characters. She has a sure, if understated, sense of her characters' psychology and of their unintentionally comic revelations about themselves and their futile lives. After the publication of No Fond Return of Love (1961), all her books were out of print until she was cited, coincidentally by both David Cecil and Philip Larkin, as among the most underestimated novelists of the 20th century. She subsequently completed two successful novels, The Sweet Dove Died (1978) and Quartet in Autumn (1978), the latter a comic-pathetic study of two men and two women in their sixties who work in the same office but lead separate, lonely lives outside. Many of her earlier books have since been reprinted, including Excellent Women (1952) and A Glass of Blessings (1958), both perceptive psychological studies of aging women taken advantage of by others. A posthumous novel, A Few Green Leaves (1980), is a superb comedy of provincial village life. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre
Værker af Barbara Pym
The Barbara Pym Collection Volume One: A Glass of Blessings, Some Tame Gazelle, and Jane and Prudence (2018) 14 eksemplarer
The Barbara Pym Collection Volume Two: Less Than Angels and No Fond Return of Love (2018) 5 eksemplarer
Barbara Pym 3 Volume Set (Less Than Angels, a Glass of Blessings, a Few Green Leaves) NEW in Plastic (1982) 3 eksemplarer
Some Tame Gazelle (VMC) by Barbara Pym (2009-08-06) 3 eksemplarer
Gervase and Flora 1 eksemplar
Ingen titel 1 eksemplar
Associated Works
The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Bidragyder, nogle udgaver — 544 eksemplarer
Satte nøgleord på
Almen Viden
- Juridisk navn
- Pym, Barbara Mary Crampton
- Fødselsdato
- 1913-06-02
- Dødsdag
- 1980-01-11
- Begravelsessted
- Finstock churchyard, Finstock, Oxfordshire, England
- Køn
- female
- Nationalitet
- UK
- Fødested
- Oswestry, Shropshire, England, UK
- Dødssted
- Finstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK
- Bopæl
- Oswestry, Shropshire, England, UK
Finstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK - Uddannelse
- Huyton College, Liverpool, UK
Oxford University (St. Hilda's College) - Erhverv
- novelist
writer
author
editorial secretary (International African Institute, London) - Relationer
- Amery, Julian (lover)
Pym, Hilary (sister) - Organisationer
- Women's Royal Naval Service (WWII)
- Agent
- Laura Morris (Laura Morris Literary Agency) - estate
- Kort biografi
- Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was born to Frederic and Irena Pym on June 2, 1913, in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire. S In 1931, Barbara entered St. Hilda's College at Oxford. In 1940, Barbara joined the Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service), and in 1944, she was posted to Naples until the end of the war. After the war, Barbara took a job at the International African Institute in London, and soon became the assistant editor for the journal Africa. In 1971 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy; in 1974 she suffered a minor stroke. She then retired from the Institute and went to live with her sister Hilary. She died at the Michael Sobell House, a hospice in Oxford, on January 11, 1980. She is buried in the churchyard at Finstock.
Medlemmer
Discussions
Barbara Pym Centenary - General discussion. i Virago Modern Classics (december 2013)
Barbara Pym centenary: Civil to Strangers i Virago Modern Classics (december 2013)
Barbara Pym centenary - An Academic Question i Virago Modern Classics (november 2013)
Barbara Pym centenary - An Unsuitable Attachment i Virago Modern Classics (november 2013)
Barbara Pym Centenary: Some Tame Gazelle i Virago Modern Classics (oktober 2013)
Barbara Pym centenary: Crampton Hodnet i Virago Modern Classics (oktober 2013)
Barbara Pym Centenary: A Few Green Leaves i Virago Modern Classics (august 2013)
Barbara Pym centenary: The Sweet Dove Died i Virago Modern Classics (august 2013)
Barbara Pym centenary: No Fond Return of Love and Quartet in Autumn i Virago Modern Classics (juli 2013)
Barbara Pym centenary: A Glass of Blessings i Virago Modern Classics (juli 2013)
Barbara Pym Centenary: Less than Angels i Virago Modern Classics (maj 2013)
Barbara Pym centenary: Jane and Prudence i Virago Modern Classics (marts 2013)
Barbara Pym Centenary: Excellent Women i Virago Modern Classics (marts 2013)
July: Reading Barbara Pym i Monthly Author Reads (juli 2010)
Jane and Prudence (with spoliers) i Barbara Pym (oktober 2009)
Anmeldelser
A Glass of Blessings: A Novel af Barbara Pym
This was the first novel I'd read by Pym and I struggled with the first half of the book. It wasn't the focus on everyday occurrences or even the mundane that bugged me, but instead the snobby attitudes of many of the upper-middle class characters. I just didn't find them likable. The last six chapters in the book were its saving grace, as Pym tries to pull things together, interweaving moments of comic relief. I'm willing to try another Pym novel though.
A dash of Wharton's prose, a flourish of Austen's wit, and a bit of spice from Gaskell's CRANFORD, this novel portrays the daily life of a well-to-do married woman living in 1950s London. Subtleness is key here as a complicated plot does not exist; mostly it reads like a well-developed diary of the life of Wilmet Forsyth trying to put meaning into her life. Pym also showcases a muted wit that satirizes the religion and society of the day. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This isn't my favourite of Pym's novels but I do find her views of village society so apt and often hilarious I still enjoyed every minute of reading it.
In this case, the main character, Emma, is a social anthropologist studying the village she resides in, surrounded by well-meaning ex-subjects of the manor house. Emma's mother is a professor of English literature (thus her name) and pops in every once and awhile to gesture with romance options at her daughter, who seems largely uninterested. Odd men wander through the text, all of them with some sort of unusual focus, whether food or antiquities or the need for a good walk (provided, if you are a woman, the doctor says it's okay). They're the sort of exasperating men seen often in novels but everyone puts up with their absurdities, just as they put up with the women polishing the church who never attend services. Everyone has a dream, most of them unrealized.
What I love best about Pym's books is that they are filled with women doing what is expected of them (often involving casseroles) while having internal caustic conversations with themselves about why they are even bothering. This is what goes on in my head all the time and thus I am very comfortable here. I also like the fact that people in her books still believe in duty to ones neighbours, no matter how onerous. A Poverty dinner is the scene for much hilarity, as all those invited whine gently for better bread and cheese while contributing a tiny amount to the cause. It's all so lovely and familiar and it even made me want to go back to church, simply for the framework of life that it provides. The efforts to make the world better, even in a smallish way. Heartwarming. While the gossips hang about, viperish, they still contribute a loaf or some sweets, endless cups of tea...
In these times of Sturm und drang, it's nice to leave a novel with a smile on one's face and a feeling of hope.… (mere)
In this case, the main character, Emma, is a social anthropologist studying the village she resides in, surrounded by well-meaning ex-subjects of the manor house. Emma's mother is a professor of English literature (thus her name) and pops in every once and awhile to gesture with romance options at her daughter, who seems largely uninterested. Odd men wander through the text, all of them with some sort of unusual focus, whether food or antiquities or the need for a good walk (provided, if you are a woman, the doctor says it's okay). They're the sort of exasperating men seen often in novels but everyone puts up with their absurdities, just as they put up with the women polishing the church who never attend services. Everyone has a dream, most of them unrealized.
What I love best about Pym's books is that they are filled with women doing what is expected of them (often involving casseroles) while having internal caustic conversations with themselves about why they are even bothering. This is what goes on in my head all the time and thus I am very comfortable here. I also like the fact that people in her books still believe in duty to ones neighbours, no matter how onerous. A Poverty dinner is the scene for much hilarity, as all those invited whine gently for better bread and cheese while contributing a tiny amount to the cause. It's all so lovely and familiar and it even made me want to go back to church, simply for the framework of life that it provides. The efforts to make the world better, even in a smallish way. Heartwarming. While the gossips hang about, viperish, they still contribute a loaf or some sweets, endless cups of tea...
In these times of Sturm und drang, it's nice to leave a novel with a smile on one's face and a feeling of hope.… (mere)
Absolutely hilarious, though you may already have to be a Pym fan to get into the jokes right away. I am, so within seconds of opening he book, I was giggling helplessly at the way she so masterfully presents (in an ever so slightly bitchy tone) the foibles of we kind and normal folk as we go about our day.
Life is everyday in Pym's stories, but everyday is immensely funny, when looked at through her magnifying glass.
Loved this book best of all I've read.
Life is everyday in Pym's stories, but everyday is immensely funny, when looked at through her magnifying glass.
Loved this book best of all I've read.
Lister
Schwob Nederland (1)
Booker Prize (1)
Unmarried women (1)
1970s (1)
Backlisted (1)
1950s (2)
Women's Stories (2)
A Novel Cure (1)
Folio Society (1)
Female Author (1)
Nifty Fifties (1)
Hæderspriser
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Associated Authors
Statistikker
- Værker
- 30
- Also by
- 3
- Medlemmer
- 13,076
- Popularitet
- #1,782
- Vurdering
- 3.9
- Anmeldelser
- 541
- ISBN
- 422
- Sprog
- 12
- Udvalgt
- 148
- Om
- 2
- Trædesten
- 1,355
