Reading the 20th Century discussion

I know Pamela is a big fan of Barbara Pym, and that Lynaia and Tania are also keen


Excellent Women (1952) is the latest book to be discussed by the always wonderful Backlisted podcast

Joining John and Andy for this first episode in our new season of the podcast are Becky Brown and Norah Perkins, the joint custodians of the Curtis Brown Heritage list of literary estates, where they look after the works and legacies of over 150 writers including Iris Murdoch, Stella Gibbons, Douglas Adams, Elizabeth Bowen, Gerald and Lawrence Durrell, Margaret Kennedy and Laurie Lee. They have been friends for seven years and colleagues for three. Becky edits anthologies in her spare time with the next one, Classic Cat Stories, coming out from Macmillan later this year. Norah divides her spare time between the garden and the (very slow) restoration of a Victorian printing press.

The book they have chosen to discuss is one that many Backlisted listeners will be delighted by: Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, first published in 1952 by Jonathan Cape, and reissued as a Virago Modern Classic in 2009. Also in this episode John finds the matter of ancient myth can be transformed into resonant contemporary poetry in the right hands - those of Mathew Francis in this case, in his new version of The Mabinogi (Faber). And Andy tests our guests’ professional mettle by getting them to pitch some books that believe deserve closer attention from contemporary readers.

Backlisted

Any other fans in the group?

More about Excellent Women (1952)...

Excellent Women is one of Barbara Pym's richest and most amusing high comedies. Mildred Lathbury is a clergyman's daughter and a mild-mannered spinster in 1950s England. She is one of those "excellent women," the smart, supportive, repressed women who men take for granted. As Mildred gets embroiled in the lives of her new neighbors--anthropologist Helena Napier and her handsome, dashing husband, Rocky, and Julian Malory, the vicar next door--the novel presents a series of snapshots of human life as actually, and pluckily, lived in a vanishing world of manners and repressed desires.

I was planning on listening to this one today. I am missing the library as I've read all the Barbara Pym books I own, but perhaps I will just reread Excellent Women. I only have a few of her books left to read, I've put them off so that I still some left.

Ooh. Thanks Tania. I’d be interested in your reaction to the podcast as someone who has read most of her work

I have now listened and I think they nailed it. She is very funny in her observations on everyday life. Her novels aren't exactly plot driven, but they keep you turning the page all the same. I think I might dig out my copy of Excellent Women. But first I'd like to reread A Soul of Kindness.

Thanks Tania - I'm glad you feel they did her justice

As mentioned in the kindle deals thread, Excellent Women is currently just 99p.

I'll be snapping it up - thanks Tania and Susan

I have never read Pym, but I do have a copy of Quartet in Autumn on the to-read shelf.

I really enjoyed Excellent Women--it was funny and an easy read, yet the characters stay in my mind.

I have Jane and Prudence to read soon, and also want to get to Quartet in Autumn.

I think Jane and Prudence is my favourite, I loved Quartet in Autumn as well. I think I might read The Sweet Dove Died next.

I finished Jane and Prudence and loved it, even more than Excellent Women.

I kept picturing Julia Child while reading Jane's character. I think there may be similarities with Mildred too. :-) I just love spending time in their company. Have decided to try to read a Pym novel at least once a year!

Last night I finished An Unsuitable Attachment so I only have a couple of her books left to read. I'll reread them all and more in order next time. I had read a few before I realised that her characters were making small apperances in other books. In this one I spotted the Brede sisters from Some Tame Gazelle, Mildred from Excellent Women and Esther Clovis from Less Than Angels but I'm sure there were others that I missed.

The new biography about Barbara Pym is out this month, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne. If anyone is interested, it is being broadcast on Radio 4 from tomorrow, although it will be abridged. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...

Tania wrote: "The new biography about Barbara Pym is out this month, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne."

Thanks Tania

Very positive reviews

I really enjoyed Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead which is another book by Paula Byrne

I have that one one my TBR list. I really liked this biography, and found it very easy to read despite it's rather daunting size.

Still yet to read any Barbara Pym however I have snapped up today's Kindle deal in the UK


As Susan highlighted in her essential Kindle deals thread, today you can get a Kindle edition of...

Quartet in Autumn

...for just 99 pence


It's the second Barbara Pym deal I have bought. Just got to read em now.


In 1970s London Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia work in the same office and suffer the same problem - loneliness. Lovingly and with delightful humour, Pym conducts us through their day-to-day existence: their preoccupations, their irritations, their judgements, and - perhaps most keenly felt - their worries about having somehow missed out on life as post-war Britain shifted around them.

Deliciously, blackly funny and full of obstinate optimism, Quartet in Autumn shows Barbara Pym's sensitive artistry at its most sparkling. A classic from one of Britain's most loved and highly acclaimed novelists, its world is both extraordinary and familiar, revealing the eccentricities of everyday life

You had me curious if any of hers were on sale here (US) and there are two collections on sale for $4 each. Collection one has A Glass of Blessings, Some Tame Gazelle, and Jane and Prudence. Collection two has Less Than Angels and No Fond Return of Love. I picked them both up. (I need to stop getting kindle books… lol)

Sale! I had just vowed I was going to take a break from book purchases.......but no. 📚😃

Nigeyb wrote: "Still yet to read any Barbara Pym however I have snapped up today's Kindle deal in the UK


As Susan highlighted in her essential Kindle deals thread, today you can get a Kindle edi..."

I haven't tried this one but I've read several others, Excellent Women was a present from a friend and I put it off for ages, the descriptions don't do justice to how wonderfully witty and waspish it is. But when I finally got round to it, I loved it.

Thanks Alwynne. I feel confident it's going to be love at first read

Tania wrote: "Last night I finished An Unsuitable Attachment so I only have a couple of her books left to read. I'll reread them all and more in order next time. I had read a few before I realised ..."

I didn't realise at first that other characters did cameos across the novels, and I read them out of order, so now thinking I should reread in order too and trace all the links!

I hadn't realised this when I started reading her either. I haven't read them in order, which isn't necessary, but when I start to re-read them I would like to. The order is very complicated however, they weren't all published in the order they were written; some were initially rejected and re-written, sometimes coming out many years later. I do have lists somewhere.

Aargh! If you come across one that maps the links let us know, I'll see if I can find one too!

I hoped the Barbara Pym Society might shed some light on the "correct" order but I cannot find any guidance.

This page provides a short summary...

https://barbara-pym.org/about-barbara...

There's lots of interesting information on the site though and it's worth a peruse

Okay I've done some digging, seems Pym's cross-over characters really pissed off Philip Larkin btw!

Some lists here but they do contain spoilers such as what happened to the main character in 'Excellent Women' later:

https://tbr313.blogspot.com/p/blog-pa...

Also a really great article available via jstor, the academic platform, which gives all the details on the cross-overs and links as well as how Pym uses names/references from authors like Austen, George Eliot etc.

During the pandemic anyone can get an account to read articles via jstor's site, just go to the registration page, fill in email and a password, ignore the box asking for your university/institution then select 'independent researcher' from the dropdown menu linked to the box marked 'role' and you can get free access to 100 articles per month. They ask what topic you're researching, and 'popular culture' a good one to tick as covers literary and related stuff. You have to read the articles onscreen I think but could screenshot to keep the information for later!

https://www.jstor.org/register?redire...

This is the one on Pym:
"A Fistful of Pyms: Barbara Pym's Use of Cross-Over Characters" by Alan W. Bellringer

Nigeyb wrote: "I hoped the Barbara Pym Society might shed some light on the "correct" order but I cannot find any guidance.

This page provides a short summary...

https://barbara-pym.org/about-barbara......"

Thanks Nigey we crossed over there!

Writing order-
Some Tame Gazelle 1935
Civil to Strangers and Other Writings 1936
Crampton Hodnet 1940
Excellent Women 1952
Jane and Prudence 1953
Less Than Angels 1955
A Glass of Blessings 1958
No Fond Return Of Love 1961
An Unsuitable Attachment 1963
The Sweet Dove Died 1968
An Academic Question 1970
Quartet in Autumn 1976
The Sweet Dove Died 1977 (ish)

Publishing order:
Some Tame Gazelle(1950)
Excellent Women (1952)
Jane and Prudence (1953)
Less Than Angels (1955)
A Glass of Blessings (1958)
No Fond Return of Love (1977)
The Sweet Dove Died (1978)
A Few Green Leaves (1980)
An Unsuitable Attachment (1982)
Crampton Hodnet (1985)
An Academic Question (1986)

I found this while searching, which I though might amuse some. https://barbara-pym.org/unsuitable-th... "A Few of my Favourite Things" re-written as "Unsuitable Things".

This one has some of the crossover characters, but there are plenty more.

girlwalksintoabookstore.blogspot.com/...

Thanks Tania! It's a bit like easter eggs in TV shows, as you can no doubt tell I'm a bit geeky about this stuff, 'Lost' took up hours of my time! And watching stuff about the Marvel universe was a nightmare of online checking!

BTW does anyone know if the recent Pym biography goes into detail about her writing? The Bellringer article talks about the references to Henry James in her work, and constantly refers to her correspondence with Philip Larkin - apparently Larkin's comments on her work were a major influence on her slight shift in style in Quartet in Autumn: Picador Classic. Would love to know more about that.

There is plenty about her writing, including a lot of the un-published manuscripts; which belong to the Bodleian Library, (I wish I could pinch my Dads library card), but not in a 'lit-crit' way, more about how things and people in her life were appropriated for the novels. (I hope I'm making sense).

Totally thanks!

I loved the biography. I'd recommend it to any Pym fan.

All this Pym talk is moving BP up my to read list


Has anyone enjoyed a Pym and a Pimms in a park or garden?

The perfect combo in this weather (it's sunny and lovely in the UK at the moment)

That does sound like a good idea.

Oh I only just found this thread. I love Pym's books and have read about 7 so far; I love Crampton Hodnet and A Glass of Blessings, and nearly all the times she pokes fun at the academic world like in Less than Angels. I also read the bio earlier this year and really loved it. At first the details of her personal life seemed too intrusive but then I realised how it was to highlight the inspiration behind her characters.

One of my all time favourites LC. I find her so funny. I noticed her first book, Some Tame Gazelle is currently 99p on kindle.

The latest Slightly Foxed Podcast is all about Barbara Pym. https://foxedquarterly.com/barbara-py...

Whilst perusing Pym titles I was reminded of Tania's mention above of....



The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym (2021)

by

Paula Byrne


I'd be interested in a buddy if there's anyone else who is tempted?


I loved Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead, also by Paula Byrne, so feel confident the reader is in safe hands.

Readily available for Kindle, Audible and in my library


It sounds v interesting...


A brilliant, intimate biography of English writer Barbara Pym


Pym lived through extraordinary times. She attended Oxford in the '30s when women were the minority. She spent time in Nazi Germany, falling for a man who was close to Hitler. She made a career on the Home Front as a single working girl in London’s bedsit land. Through all of this, she wrote. Diaries, notes, letters, stories and more than a dozen novels - which as Byrne shows more often than not reflected the themes of Pym’s own experience: worlds of spinster sisters and academics in unrequited love, of powerful intimacies that pulled together seemingly humble lives.

Paula Byrne’s new biography is the first to make full use of Barbara Pym’s archive. Brimming with new extracts from Pym’s diaries, letters and novels, this book is a joyous introduction to a woman who was herself the very best of company.

Byrne brings Barbara Pym back to centre stage as one of the great English novelists: a generous, shrewdly perceptive writer and a brave woman, who only in the last years of her life was suddenly, resoundingly recognised for her genius.

She was Pym to friends. Miss Pym in her diaries. Sandra in seduction mode. Pymska at her most sophisticated.

English novelist Barbara Pym’s career was defined, in many senses, by rejection. Her first novel Some Tame Gazelle was turned down by every publisher she sent it out in 1935, finally published only fifteen years later. Though she picked up a publisher from there and received modest praise, the publishing industry grew restless and her sales spiralled downwards. By her seventh novel she had been dropped. She was deemed old-fashioned, telling stories of little English villages, unrequited love and the social dramas of vicars or academics.

This brilliant biography, brimming with Pym’s private diaries and intimate letters, offers a first full insight into Barbara Pym’s life and how it informed her writing. It gallops through her love affairs and lifelong relationships. It opens a door to the quick-draw humour which lives in her every written line. It shows how, with a little help from her most ardent fans and friends including Philip Larkin, her work eventually resurfaced, meeting new readers and bringing her sudden astounding, resounding love and acclaim – in the last years of her life.

Oh yes, I'd love to read this!

Yessss


Thanks RC

Anyone tempted by The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym?

Absolutely! And it's at my library too. :-)

👏🏼

When shall we read it?


What's your preference?

I'm only reading a couple of books in both June and July so could slip it in then but that depends on how everyone's plans are going. I'm quite keen to find out more about Pym.

But if others would prefer later in the year, I'm cool with that too.

Let’s say July 23 then


I’ll leave that hanging for half a day in case anyone prefers a different date

I can join you any time. Looking forward to it!

Yessss

Paula Byrne states that The Sweet Dove Died is Barbara Pym’s masterpiece. Anyone read it? Or have a view on it?