Daily Pym
An occasional dose of Barbara Pym
Another revival is overdue. I return to her books regularly, receiving as much solid pleasure as ever. Her wit is ever-fresh, and often so subtly embedded in the prose that it surfaces only after multiple readings. Pym generously peppers her prose with observations that both sting and tickle: “Prudence’s flat was in the kind of block where Jane imagined people might be found dead, though she had never said this to Prudence herself; it seemed rather a macabre fancy and not one to be confided to an unmarried woman living alone.” (via Second Glance at Barbara Pym | Open Letters Monthly - an Arts and Literature Review)
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‘Oh, this is a most reputable and old-established business,’ said Mr Bason. ‘They tell me that Queen Mary often used to pop in — in the old days, of course.’
‘That does sound reassuring,’ I said. ‘Any connection with royalty is that, don’t you think?’
‘With our royal family certainly,’ Mr Bason agreed, ‘though some one could mention wouldn’t inspire quite the same confidence.’
— A Glass of Blessings, chapter twenty one
Belinda moved towards him and introduced herself. ‘I don’t suppose you remember me,’ she said, smiling rather awkwardly. Nor did she remember him, if it came to that, for she could have sworn that she had never seen him in all her life. Could a beautiful curate have grown into this tall, stringy-looking man, with a yellow, leathery complexion? His expression reminded Belinda of a sheep more than anything; his face was long, his forehead domed and his head bald. He was even rather toothy…
— Some Tame Gazelle, chapter fifteen
The Dominion of the Birds
‘And that’s not the worst,’ she went on, rummaging in a small desk which stood open and seemed to be full of old newspapers. ‘Read this.’ She handed me a cutting headed OWL BITES WOMAN, from which I read that an owl had flown in through a cottage window and bitten a woman on the chin. ‘And this,’ she went on, handing me another cutting which told how a swan had knocked a girl off her bicycle. ‘What do you think of that?’
— Excellent Women, chapter sixteen
The people sitting or standing around us were all in the fresh bloom of youth; they were the young people one saw and read about but seldom met. They made a person who was only ten or so years older feel very old indeed.
— A Glass of Blessings, chapter twenty one
‘Quick, Edwin, go to her,’ said Daisy, ‘and see what you can do.’
Edwin hurried to where Sister Dew lay in a tumbled heap. In his veterinary practice he specialised in the treatment of small animals, and the sheer bulkiness of Sister Dew reminded him that his work had been with cats and pet dogs rather than with horses and cows, but he examined her ankle as best he could.
— An Unsuitable Attachment, chapter fifteen
‘Poor Mr. Driver — it seems unkind to leave him all alone this evening.’
‘Yes,’ Miss Doggett agreed. ‘One does feel that men need company more than women do. A woman has a thousand and one little tasks in the house, and then her knitting or sewing.’
Jane, who did not seem to have these things, made no answer.
— Jane & Prudence, chapter eleven
‘Now if only he were a widower,’ mused Harriet.
‘But he isn’t,’ said Belinda stoutly.
‘No, and Agatha’s very tough in spite of her rheumatism,’ lamented Harriet.
— Some Tame Gazelle, chapter fourteen
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