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Barbara Pym

Born

in Oswestry, Shropshire, The United Kingdom

June 02, 1913

Died

January 11, 1980

Website

http://www.barbara-pym.org

Genre

Humor, Literature & Fiction, Women & Gender Studies

Influences

Aldous Huxley, Jane Austen

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People know British writer Barbara Pym for her comic novels, such as Excellent Women (1952), of English life.

After studying English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, Barbara Pym served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II. From 1950 to 1961, she published six novels, but her 7th was declined by the publisher due to a change in the reading public's tastes.

The turning point for Pym came with a famous article in the 1975 Times Literary Supplement in which two prominent names, Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Pym and Larkin had kept up a private correspondence over a period of many years. Her comeback novel, Quartet in Autumn, was nominated for the Booker Prize. A People know British writer Barbara Pym for her comic novels, such as Excellent Women (1952), of English life.

After studying English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, Barbara Pym served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II. From 1950 to 1961, she published six novels, but her 7th was declined by the publisher due to a change in the reading public's tastes.

The turning point for Pym came with a famous article in the 1975 Times Literary Supplement in which two prominent names, Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Pym and Larkin had kept up a private correspondence over a period of many years. Her comeback novel, Quartet in Autumn, was nominated for the Booker Prize. Another novel, The Sweet Dove Died, previously rejected by many publishers, was subsequently published to critical acclaim, and several of her previously unpublished novels were published after her death.

Pym worked at the International African Institute in London for some years, and played a large part in the editing of its scholarly journal, Africa, hence the frequency with which anthropologists crop up in her novels. She never married, despite several close relationships with men, notably Henry Harvey, a fellow Oxford student, and the future politician, Julian Amery. After her retirement, she moved into Barn Cottage at Finstock in Oxfordshire with her younger sister, Hilary, who continued to live there until her death in February 2005. A blue plaque was placed on the cottage in 2006. The sisters played an active role in the social life of the village.

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, with excessive significance being attached to social activities connected with the Anglican church (in particular its Anglo-Catholic incarnation). However, the dialogue is often deeply ironic, and a tragic undercurrent runs through some of the later novels, especially Quartet in Autumn and The Sweet Dove Died. ...more

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Barbara Pym’s books

Average rating: 3.91 · 59,813 ratings · 8,182 reviews · 40 distinct works • Similar authors

	Excellent Women 3.91 avg rating — 20,630 ratings — published 1952 — 84 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Quartet in Autumn 3.89 avg rating — 6,289 ratings — published 1978 — 63 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jane and Prudence 3.86 avg rating — 6,022 ratings — published 1953 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Some Tame Gazelle 3.92 avg rating — 4,338 ratings — published 1950 — 61 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Glass of Blessings 3.92 avg rating — 3,470 ratings — published 1958 — 59 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crampton Hodnet 4.05 avg rating — 3,245 ratings — published 1985 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Less Than Angels 3.93 avg rating — 3,266 ratings — published 1955 — 62 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	No Fond Return of Love 3.92 avg rating — 3,266 ratings — published 1961 — 57 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Unsuitable Attachment 3.95 avg rating — 2,416 ratings — published 1982 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sweet Dove Died 3.90 avg rating — 2,169 ratings — published 1979 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Polls

February 2025 New School Poll

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005) 288 pages

63 votes, 33.0%

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Last read October 2016, (1952), 581 pages

53 votes, 27.7%

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (1952) 231 pages

41 votes, 21.5%

A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa (2000) 159 pages

21 votes, 11.0%

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich (2001) 368 pages

13 votes, 6.8%

191 total votes

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