Barbara Pym

Author profile

born

June 02, 1913 in Oswestry, Shropshire, The United Kingdom

died

January 11, 1980

gender

female

website

http://www.barbara-pym.org

genre

Humor, Literature & Fiction, Women & Gender Studies

influences

Aldous Huxley, Jane Austen

About this author

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After studying English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II.

The turning point for Pym came with a famous article in the 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previously rejected by many publishers, was subsequently published to critical acclaim, and several of her previously unpublished novels were published after her death.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 Lond...more

combine editions
Books by Barbara Pym

Average rating: 3.92 · 6,128 ratings · 833 reviews · 21 distinct works

	Excellent Women 3.91 avg rating — 1,694 ratings — published 1952 — 23 editions	My rating:
	Jane and Prudence 3.92 avg rating — 582 ratings — published 1953 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Some Tame Gazelle 3.98 avg rating — 499 ratings — published 1950 — 17 editions	My rating:
	Quartet In Autumn 3.95 avg rating — 520 ratings — published 1977 — 18 editions	My rating:
	An Unsuitable Attachment 3.93 avg rating — 413 ratings — published 1982 — 10 editions	My rating:
	No Fond Return of Love 3.98 avg rating — 392 ratings — published 1961 — 11 editions	My rating:
	Less Than Angels 4.01 avg rating — 357 ratings — published 1955 — 15 editions	My rating:
	Crampton Hodnet 3.92 avg rating — 343 ratings — published 1985 — 8 editions	My rating:
	A Few Green Leaves 3.90 avg rating — 309 ratings — published 1981 — 10 editions	My rating:
	The Sweet Dove Died 3.87 avg rating — 345 ratings — published 1979 — 10 editions	My rating:

More books by Barbara Pym…

Quotes by Barbara Pym

“Of course it's alright for librarians to smell of drink.”
― Barbara Pym

tags: librarians

50 people liked it

“She had always been an unashamed reader of novels ...”
― Barbara Pym, Quartet In Autumn

17 people liked it

“Perhaps there can be too much making of cups of tea, I thought, as I watched Miss Statham filling the heavy teapot. Did we really need a cup of tea? I even said as much to Miss Statham and she looked at me with a hurt, almost angry look, 'Do we need tea? she echoed. 'But Miss Lathbury...' She sounded puzzled and distressed and I began to realise that my question had struck at something deep and fundamental. It was the kind of question that starts a landslide in the mind. I mumbled something about making a joke and that of course one needed tea always, at every hour of the day or night.”
― Barbara Pym, Excellent Women

13 people liked it

See all Barbara Pym's quotes »

Polls

what to read for may 2012 read

Village Witch by Latham Jones, Cassandra

3 votes 50.0%

Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym

2 votes 33.3%

The English Village: History and Traditions by Martin Wainwright

1 vote 16.7%

An Irish Country Village by Patrick Taylor

0 votes 0.0%

6 total votes

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