Less Than Angels - A Novel by Barbara Pym - 1955

 

Less Than Angels- A Novel by Barbara Pym - 1955

“What would this Man? Now upward will he soar,

And little less than Angel, would be more;

Now looking downwards, just as griev'd appears

To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears.

Made for his use all creatures if he call,

Say what their use, had he the pow'rs of all?

Nature to these, without profusion kind,

The proper organs, proper pow'rs assign'd;

Each seeming want compensated of course,

Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force;

All in exact proportion to the state;

Nothing to add, and nothing to abate.”  From Essay on Man by Alexander Pope - 1733

Works by Barbara Pym I have previously read 

Some Tame Gazelle - 1950

Excellent Women - 1952

Jane and Prudence - 1953

A Glass of Blessing  - 1958

Earlier in the month I acquired four more of her novels, in Kindle Editions, for $1.95 each.  Besides Jane and Prudence, A Glass of Blessings, Less Than Angels and No Fond Return of Love.

Barbara Pym 

Born - June 13, 1913 - Oswestry, England

Died - January 11, 1980 - Oxford, England 

Barbara Pym is among the best chroniclers of a now lost, maybe lost when she was writing, world of curates, vicars and women whose lives are bound up the social world of post World War Two England, with rationing, the return of service men and endless meeting for tea. No one has children out of wedlock, of course. Many have small “private incomes”.

The more I read of the work of Barbara Pym, the deeper my appreciation becomes.  I know of no other writer who makes such brilliant usage of adverbs in describing the manner in which a characters says something, revealing much about their feelings.  The people in her novels read classic English fiction and poetry.  

In a bit of a departure from my previous reads of her works,the male characters in Less Than Angels are anthropologists   rather than clerics and vicars.  As potrayed all of the  anthropologists  work in sub-Sahara Africa.  Interstingly  anthroplogists by job requirements leave their English homes while clerics stay.  Both are involved in education, neither produce anything concrete.  The anthropologists  do seem a bit patronizing in their reports of their findings.

There are a few romances, no extreme emotions among characters as it would be “un-English”.

As I pass my 22nd Month on lock down in Metro Manila, going out only to see a doctor about a broken arm, I wondered the people in Pym’s books would deal with the pandemic, my guess is with great strength and a “stiff upper lip”

I will next read No Fond Return of Love.

A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym - 1958 - 256 Pages

 A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym - 1958 - 256 Pages 

The Barbara Pym Society - your first Resource 

“The Pulley”

BY GEORGE HERBERT

When God at first made man, 

Having a glass of blessings standing by, 

“Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can. 

Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie, 

Contract into a span.” 

So strength first made a way; 

Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure. 

When almost all was out, God made a stay, 

Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure, 

Rest in the bottom lay. 

“For if I should,” said he, 

“Bestow this jewel also on my creature, 

He would adore my gifts instead of me, 

And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature; 

So both should losers be. 

“Yet let him keep the rest, 

But keep them with repining restlessness; 

Let him be rich and weary, that at least, 

If goodness lead him not, yet weariness 

May toss him to my breast.” 

Works by Barbara Pym I have so far read 

Some Tame Gazelle - 1950

Excellent Women - 1952

Jane and Prudence - 1953

Earlier in the month I acquired four more of her novels, in Kindle Editions, for $1.95 each.  Besides Jane and Prudence, t A Glass of Blessings, Less Than Angels and No Fond Return of Love.

Barbara Pym 

Born - June 13, 1913 - Oswestry, England

Died - January 11, 1980 - Oxford, England 

Barbara Pym is among the best chroniclers of a now lost, maybe lost when she was writing, world of curates, vicars and women whose lives are bound up the social world of post World War Two England, with rationing, the return of service men and endless meeting for tea. No one has children out of wedlock, of course. Many have small “private incomes”.

The more I read of the work of Barbara Pym, the deeper my appreciation becomes.  I know of no other writer who makes such brilliant usage of adverbs in describing the manner in which a characters says something, revealing much about their feelings.  The people in her novels read classic English fiction and poetry.  A Glass of Blessings is a marvelous working out of the meaning of George  Herbert’s poem, from which the title derives.  Perhaps in 1953 her readers could be expected to know the poetry of Herbert.  

How can one not love this description:

“Evidently Mr Bason had been watching for our arrival in a rather Cranfordian way.”, or maybe imaging a World where people would understand this.

The novel is narrated by a woman, married to a civil servant.  They since marriage  have lived in the house of her mother in law, a long time widow.  She and her closen friend were in The Wrens together in World War Two, serving in Italy, before they found husbands.  Now she she mostly socializes with others from her Parrish.  Having Tea is a very big part of Life.  Clerics are of course very important.

The narrator has an interest in a man, I wondered if anything Will come ftom it.  He teaches Portuguese and she and Sybil, her mother in Law, take classes, thinking about a holiday in Portugal.  The man is a serious drinker, who has not done well with his past work.  

I really liked her  treatment of older women.

A lot  happens in the plot line with numerous exciting turns.

I will next read her Less Than Angels on my read through.

Mel u

The Reading Life

Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym - 1953

 Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym - 1953

“Once outside the magic circle the writers became their lonely selves, pondering on poems, observing their fellow men ruthlessly, putting people they knew into novels; no wonder they were without friends.” 

― Barbara Pym, Jane and Prudence

Works by Barbara Pym I have so far read 

Some Tame Gazelle - 1950

Excellent Women - 1952

Earlier in the month I acquired four more of her novels, in Kindle Editions, for $1.95 each.  Besides Jane and Prudence, t A Glass of Blessings, Less Than Angels and No Fond Return of Love.

Barbara Pym 

Born - June 13, 1913 - Oswestry, England

Died - January 11, 1980 - Oxford, England 

Barbara Pym is among the best chroniclers of a now lost, maybe lost when she was writing, world of curates, vicars and women whose lives are bound up the social world of post World War Two England, with rationing, the return of service men and endless meeting for tea. No one has children out of wedlock, of course. Many have small “private incomes”.

 Jane and Prudence centers on The  relationship of Jane, a forty year old vicar’s wife and Prudence, twenty nine and single. Jane was Prudence’s tutor at Oxford and they have stayed good friends.

Jane’s husband Nicholas has just take over as a Vicar in small community.  We see their efforts to get to know the parrisioners.  Of course having teas are a big factor.

Prudence works for an academic foundation of some sort. She is infatuated with the married Director who has never shown any reciprocal interest.  There are two other women employed and one man.  We never learn the precise purpose of the foundation.

Prudence has had a few  romances but Jane thinks she should be married before she becomes a spinster. She attempts to set up a relationship with Prudence and Fabian Driver, a widower with a reputation as a womanizer, having cheated on his late wife.  There is also a rival for Fabian.

This is a very funny novel with marvelous character development.   I was very struck by How Pym used adverbs to characterize something said and define a conversation.

 I greatly enjoyed Jane and Prudence.I will next read her A Glass of Blessings.

Some Tame Gazelle- by Barbara Pym - A Novel - 1950 - 252 Pages

 Some Tame Gazelle- by Barbara Pym - A Novel - 1950 - 252 Pages 

Born - June 13, 1913 - Oswestry, England

Died - January 11, 1980 - Oxford, England 

Barbara Pym is among the best chroniclers of a now lost, maybe lost when she was writing, world of curates, vicars and women whose lives are bound up the social world of post World War Two England, with rationing, the return of service men and endless meeting for tea. No one has children out of wedlock, of course. Many have small “private incomes”.

This is my second venture into the fiction of Barbara Plym.  I began with her Excellent Women as it seems her consensus best work. (The Kindle edition was on sale for $2.95, another incentive.)

The second of her novels I have read  is Some Tame Gazelle.  It was completed  in 1935 when Pym was 18 but not published until 1950, with minor revisions.

Even more than Excellent Women, Some Tame Gazelle, the title comes from an 18th century poem by Thomas Bailey, very much Is taken up with the relationship of the women characters to Church of England Clerics serving in their locale.

The plot line centers on two sisters, spinsters (is “spinster” now an offensive expression?) Belinda in her fifties and her younger sister Harriet.  The have always lived together. Belinda since her university days has loved archdeacon Haccleve.  He ended up marrying a well connected Bishop’s daughter.  Harriet enjoys looking after young curates.  She does have an admirer,an Italian count Ricardo Bianca whose marriage proposal she regularly declines.  I found him a very interesting addition to the clerics.

Curates come and go, each unmarried one bringing drama.  There is a curate newly returned from Africa, a head of a library and his student. 

There are lots of quotes from 18th century and even earlier English poetry that has to be an impressive display of erudition from an 18 year old.

Foodies will enjoy the many references.  Tea service seems the glue that holds the  world of Some Tame Gazelle together.  

I hope to continue my reading of Pym

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym - 1952 - A Novel - with an introduction by A. N. Wilson - 225 pages

 Excellent Women by Barbara Pym - 1952 - A Novel - with an introduction by A. N. Wilson - 225 pages

“I suppose an unmarried woman just over 30, who lives alone and has no apparent ties, must expect to find herself involved or interested in other people’s business,” Miss Lathbury goes on, “and if she is a clergyman’s daughter then one might really say that there is no hope for her.” Mildred Lathbury - from Excellent Women, regarded as Barbara Pym’s best novel.

Barbara Pym 

Born - June 13, 1913 - Oswestry, England

Died - January 11, 1980 - Oxford, England 

Barbara Pym is among the best chroniclers of a now lost, maybe lost when she was writing, world of curates, vicars and women whose lives are bound up the social world of post World War Two England, with rationing, the return of service men and endless meeting for tea. No one has children out of wedlock, of course. Many have small “private incomes”.

“Excellent Women” is a  tag attached to unmarried women who preform household 

duties for unmarried Vicars and Curates.

Knowing The difference betwen a Vicar and a Curate is important in world of Excellent Women.  A vicar is a priest of the Church of England who receives a stipend.  A curate is his assistant, often in time to become a Vicar.  Central to the novel, both can and are expected to marry.  A Vicar’s wife or Widow is a high status person. An unmarried Vicar was a figure of great interest.  First there is the quiet question of why he is unmarried and secondly who among the Ladies would be a good match.  

Vicars set the tone of the community but we do meet nonbelievers and even more shocking Roman Catholics.

Having tea with someone is part of the glue of society.  “Tea” appears 167 times in Excellent Women.  References to gray comes

up 27 times.  Many food stuffs are still rationed.  People serve “meat” of an unidentifiable sort.

Housing is in short supply, exacerbated by the return of men from the service.  As the novel opens, a married woman is  moving into a flat.  Mildred is thrown into a bit of a tizzy when she sees the woman in town with another man.  There are numerous literary references, all squarely within the lending library scope. A society for amateur anthropology students plays an important part.

Mildred does enter into a relationship of sorts with one Everard Bone, she starts working on the index for his forthcoming book.

There are several subplots involving romances. In this world women are helpers waiting for men to explain things to them.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit.  It looks like she has six more novels and I hope eventually to read through them.

If you like Jane Austen you will be happy with Excellent Women, if you don’t you probably will find her work a bit too gray