dual personalities

I was casting about recently, as I am wont to do, trying to find something to read. I have plenty of books at home and usually can come up with something rather easily. And I did.

I started re-reading Civil to Strangers by Barbara Pym, which I had read back in the 1980s when I went through a Pym period. She had recently been re-discovered by the English-speaking world after the biographer David Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin both nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my re-introduction to Pym.

Her books are very English, full of very English characters.

‘I suppose every author gets stuck occasionally,’ said Mrs. Gower.

‘The inspiration flows less easily,’ interposed Mrs. Wilmot, thinking that it was a more suitable phrase.

Cassandra smiled at both of them. ‘That’s just it,’ she said, making each woman feel that she had said exactly the right thing. ‘It’s so nice of you to ask after Adam’s book,’ she said, turning to Janie. ‘People are so kind,’ she added vaguely, almost as if her husband were an invalid who needed sympathetic enquiries.

I’m sure you know what I mean. Alexander McCall Smith even likens her to Jane Austen: “Like Jane Austen, Pym painted her pictures on a small square of ivory, and covered much the same territory as did her better-known predecessor: the details of smallish lives led to places that could only be in England. Neither used a megaphone; neither said much about the great issues of their time.”

So I have ordered Excellent Women, her most well-known novel, from Amazon and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

‘I wonder, when you are working here, have you ever given a thought to all those who have died in Bodley’s Library, or as a result of working there?’

Adam was forced to admit that he had not.

‘You should, you know, it is quite an education.’

‘It would surely do one more good to concentrate on one’s work,’ said Adam austerely.

‘That is my work,’ said the clergyman simply. ’I am writing a thesis on that subject for the degree of Bachelor of Letters.’

Adam said nothing, but looked at him in some surprise.

‘Since my wife died,’ said the clergyman, ‘I have thought much of death. And your wife?’ He looked suddenly at Adam. ’You have a wife?’

‘She is not with me here,’ said Adam, hypnotised by the old man.

‘No, she is not with you here. But,’ his voice rose, ‘you must believe that you will meet again, that she will be waiting for you, in that other life, perhaps?’

‘She is in Budapest,’ said Adam shortly.

‘Oh, well, that’s another pair of shoes, isn’t it?’ said the clergyman surprisingly.

— Civil to Strangers

So if you are casting about for something to read, and the thought of the London Olympics ending makes you sad, I suggest you try Barbara Pym. You’ll be glad you did.