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previously rejected by many publishers, was subsequently published to critical acclaim, and several of her previously unpublished novels were published after her death.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.
0 有用 风挑一点灯 2019-03-18 15:50:56
trivial comic yet not really amusing episodes.
0 有用 俏皮猫 2018-07-01 19:51:16
这本书写平凡女性的平凡生活。她们没有有趣和令人兴趣的工作和冒险。日常不过是去教堂和义卖,但作者总能以一种触及心灵的方式写那么乏味和世俗。书中女主角大龄剩女Mildred并不认为“婚姻是所有事情的答案”的观点放在如今看也很睿智。
0 有用 ZZ 2021-02-08 09:23:33
生活中的小事,小乐趣,小确幸。语句诙谐,轻松愉快读物。
0 有用 ZZ 2021-02-08 09:23:33
生活中的小事,小乐趣,小确幸。语句诙谐,轻松愉快读物。
0 有用 风挑一点灯 2019-03-18 15:50:56
trivial comic yet not really amusing episodes.
0 有用 俏皮猫 2018-07-01 19:51:16
这本书写平凡女性的平凡生活。她们没有有趣和令人兴趣的工作和冒险。日常不过是去教堂和义卖,但作者总能以一种触及心灵的方式写那么乏味和世俗。书中女主角大龄剩女Mildred并不认为“婚姻是所有事情的答案”的观点放在如今看也很睿智。