Barbara Pym was born in Oswestry, Shropshire, the elder daughter of Frederic Crampton and Irene Thomas Pym. She was educated at a private school in Liverpool and at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, where ...
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Barbara Pym received by far her greatest acclaim, which included frequent comparisons between her work and that of Jane Austen, just prior to and after the end of her life. Her early novels were publi...
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Critical Essay by A. L. Rowse
[Barbara Pym possesses] the advantages of a subtle writer where everything is toned down as against the appalling crudity and obviousness, the outrageous barrage (with i...
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Critical Essay by Jeremy Treglown
After her brief charitable sortie into geriatric bedsitterdom in Quartet In Autumn, Barbara Pym [in The Sweet Dove Died] is back in Knightsbridge, exploring the roma...
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Critical Essay by Karl Miller
In London last year, the Times Literary Supplement asked a number of writers to draw up a list of overrated and underrated writers. By no means a thankless task, but amo...
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Critical Essay by Philip Larkin
[The narratives of Barbara Pym's novels] have the air of being picked up almost at random: the characters have usually been living for some time in the circumst...
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Critical Essay by Susannah Clapp
At one point in [The Sweet Dove Died] a lady declares her intention of taking up residence in St. Basil's Priory, "a delightful country house for elderl...
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Critical Essay by Peter Kemp
[Emma, the protagonist of A Few Green Leaves,] is a single woman, the last in Barbara Pym's line of observant female celibates.
As an anthropologist, she scruti...
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Critical Essay by A. N. Wilson
[In reading A Few Green Leaves] one gets the best of both the early and the late Pym manner; a full and distinctive taste of what her novels are like.
That taste is ...
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Critical Essay by Francis King
Barbara Pym was a good novelist—which, God knows, is rare; but she was not an outstanding one.
Just how good she was, her posthumously published A Few Green L...
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Critical Essay by Penelope Fitzgerald
[A Few Green Leaves] is both elegiac and hopeful. It gives a sense of pity for lost opportunities, but at the same time a courageous opening to the future.
Hi...
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In the following essay, Rubenstein examines the difficulties of self-expression and interpersonal communication among male and female characters in Pym's novels as a source of humor and pathos....
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In the following essay, Cooley contends that The Sweet Dove Died is among Pym's most effective literary creations. According to Cooley, "The book is a triumph of artistic consistency and...
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In the following essay, Bradham reevaluates Pym's portrayal of unmarried women, dismissing superficial comparison to the work of Jane Austen and association with feminist literature. Bradham ex...
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In the following essay, Moseley provides a critical overview of Pym's fiction through discussion of her recurring preoccupation with unmarried women, the Anglican church, English literature, an...
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In the following essay, Doan examines Pym's portrayal of unmarried women as a reflection of the author's personal struggle to reconcile her own feelings about marriage and sexuality. Doa...
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In the following essay, Kennard considers comparisons between Pym and Jane Austen, concluding that, unlike Austen, Pym subverts the traditional romance plot by focusing on older, unmarried female char...
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In the following review, Phillips praises the posthumous publication of A Few Green Leaves.
Barbara Pym died on January 11 of last year, in a small Oxfordshire village cottage which she had come to...
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In the following essay, Kapp provides an overview of the major themes and characters in Pym's novels, noting the "sheer spinal firmness and imperturbable detachment that puts her into th...
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In the following essay, Wymard considers commonplace gatherings and planned activities in Pym's novels as attempts to impose order on chaos and to alleviate loneliness of modern life.
Most c...
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In the following review, Long praises the posthumous publication of A Very Private Eye. According to Long, the volume of autobiographic writings "testifies to Pym's modest yet potent spe...
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In the following essay, Benet examines Pym's treatment of the Christian church and religious sentiment in A Few Green Leaves and several earlier novels. As Benet notes, Pym's concern ove...
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In the following essay, Sadler considers Pym's depiction of unmarried women and male characters in her novels. "In the Pym world," Sadler concludes, "bores and boors can be...
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Barbara (Mary Crampton) Pym
Critical Essay by A. L. Rowse
