Barbara Pym
Barbara Pym
Barbara Mary Crampton Pymwas an English novelist. In the 1950s she published a series of social comedies, of which the best known are Excellent Womenand A Glass of Blessings. In 1977 her career was revived when the biographer David Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin both nominated her as the most under-rated writer of the century. Her novel Quartet in Autumnwas nominated for the Booker Prize that year, and she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth2 June 1913
writing imagine wells
I imagine the proverb about too many cooks spoiling the broth can be applied to writing as well as anything else. The poetical or literary broth is better cooked by one person.
wine simple garden
She set about preparing her supper. It would have to be one of those classically simple meals, the sort that French peasants are said to eat and that enlightened English people sometimes enjoy rather self-consciously - a crusty French loaf, cheese, and lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. Of course there should have been wine and a lovingly prepared dressing of oil and vinegar, but Dulcie drank orange squash and ate mayonnaise that came from a bottle.
mind important odd
It was odd how one found oneself making trivial conversation on important occasions. Perhaps it was because one could not say what was really in one's mind.
people trying may
I pulled myself up and told myself to stop these ridiculous thoughts, wondering why it is that we can never stop trying to analyse the motives of people who have no personal interest in us, in the vain hope of finding that perhaps they may have just a little after all.
encouragement unrequited-love might
I realised that one might love him secretly with no hope of encouragement, which can be very enjoyable for the young or inexperienced.
depressing littles too-much
You know Mildred would never do anything wrong or foolish. I reflected a little sadly that this was only too true and hoped I did not appear too much that kind of person to others. Virtue is an excellent thing and we should all strive after it, but it can sometimes be a little depressing.
people paper toilets
The burden of keeping three people in toilet paper seemed to me rather a heavy one.
doors people house
Oh, this coming back to an empty house,' Rupert thought, when he had seen her safely up to her door. People - though perhaps it was only women - seemed to make so much of it. As if life itself were not as empty as the house one was coming back to.
long instinct spite
There are some things too dreadful to be revealed, and it is even more dreadful how, in spite of our better instincts,we long to know about them.
writing kind pleasure
Novel writing is a kind of private pleasure, even if nothing comes of it in worldly terms.
aunt laughing firsts
[The woman] paused and seemed to take a deep breath. 'You see,' she declared. 'I am Tom Mallow's aunt.' Catherine's first instinct was to burst out laughing. She wondered why there was something slightly absurd about aunts; perhaps it was because one thought of them as dear, comfortable creatures, somehow lacking in dignity and prestige.
smell drink librarian
Of course it's alright for librarians to smell of drink.
giving waiting inspire
Perhaps I need some shattering experience to awaken and inspire me, or at least to give me some emotion to recollect in tranquility. But how to get it? Sit here and wait for it or go out and seek it? . . . I expect it will be sit and wait.
oxford differences sick
There are no sick people in North Oxford. They are either dead or alive. It's sometimes difficult to tell the difference, that's all ...