A 20th century Jane Austin?

[Truthlover]

Dear Friends,

Have you heard of Barbara Pym's novels? Some have called her the new Jane Austin. Her novels are incredibly well written. Her way of describing everyday situations brings a perspective that makes me love what is normal or common in life. From the Chicago Tribune: "Though I believe taking Jane Austin's name in vain ought to be an indictable offense, I share the conviction of certain British critics that Pym's eye, style, comedic sense, and sensibility make the comparison inevitable."

[wessexgirl]

Dear Friends,

Have you heard of Barbara Pym's novels? Some have called her the new Jane Austin. Her novels are incredibly well written. Her way of describing everyday situations brings a perspective that makes me love what is normal or common in life. From the Chicago Tribune: "Though I believe taking Jane Austin's name in vain ought to be an indictable offense, I share the conviction of certain British critics that Pym's eye, style, comedic sense, and sensibility make the comparison inevitable."

Yes I've heard of her, but I haven't read her. She's often compared to Jane Austen, but I don't know if she's anything like Jane Austin, as I don't know her :p.

[Truthlover]

Dear Wessexgirl,

I found some of her novels at Border's. Since I live in a Spanish-speaking country, I had to buy two of the novels in the States. The others were older, tattered editions that I was given by an elderly friend who apparently was getting ready to die. Yes, I highly recommend Barbara Pym. No two authors are alike. Austen will always be inimitable. What I find in Pym is the capacity to draw incredible and subtle humor out of everyday observations. This is deep in Pym's psychology. As you go along, you get into her perspective while she thinks over what others are saying, what meanings can be hidden in their statements, given what she already knows about these persons. It's as if she were stopping to dissect the circumstances and the way people are coming across. I think she must have dwelt long hours on each scene (i.e., on each paragraph). Although I do not know how much time she took to write a novel, I would imagine she preferred to write as little as possible while Steven King, for example, would rather write reams. "There is no such thing as good writing; only good re-writing." (Or: Better to fix up one book twenty times, rather than write twenty.) An author who writes a book once a month is usually out to make money. I say "usually" because there are a few exceptions, no matter how fast computers can get the mess out. A good example of a cautious writer is Alessandro Manzoni. The only book of his I know of is The Betrothed. It turned out to be the best novel in all Italian literary history. But, it took him 20 years to write it. First it was in the Milanese dialect, then he brought it down to "wash in the Arno River" (Florence), where standard Italian has its origin. This meant rewriting the entire book. In the case of Pym, her books at first glance appear to be too easy to understand. If they are too easy, it means we are not comprehending what is going on in. And, the paradox of all this is that she is dealing with situations that you yourself live through each day. In this sense, she gives us the key to opening our own common experiences to find hidden treasures in them. These treasures should not be expected as incredible earth-shattering insights. Rather they are the little gems that are strewn along our paths. The only thing Pym does is show us the kind of attitude that helps us discover them. As Galileo said: "You cannot teach anyone anything; you can only show them how to understand themselves."

[Seasider]

Barbara Pym is often compared to Jane Austen because she wrote about the ordinary things of life but like JA with a wit and humour which makes them extremely enjoyable. She fell out of favour when the 60s started and her manuscripts were rejected even by the publishers who had brought out many of her earlier work. Then she was written about by Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil, both of whom described her as unfairly underrated. Their comments led to an upsurge of interest in her work and after a period of 14 years when she published nothing, she brought out several more books. The later books are darker than the previous ones. I don't know what you have read but I recommend Quartet in Autumn , The Sweet Dove Died and Excellent Women.Hope they are available where you are.