Barbara Mary Crampton Pym (June 2, 1913 - January 11, 1980) was an English novelist. 2 June is the 153rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (154th in leap years), with 212 days remaining. ... Link title1913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ...

Pym was born in Oswestry, Shropshire. After studying English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II. Her literary career is noteworthy because of the long hiatus between 1963 and 1977, when, despite early success and continuing popularity, she was unable to find a publisher for her richly comic novels. Map sources for Oswestry at grid reference SJ2929 Oswestry (Welsh: Croesoswallt; pop. ... Shropshire (abbreviated Salop or Shrops) is a traditional, ceremonial and administrative county in the West Midlands region of England. ... St Hildas College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... The Womens Royal Naval Service (WRNS, popularly known as Wrens) was a non-combat branch of the United Kingdom Royal Navy that recruited women. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was by far the bloodiest, most expensive, and most significant war in... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ...

The turning point for Pym came with a famous article in the Times Literary Supplement in which two prominent names, Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Her comeback novel, Quartet in Autumn, was nominated for the Booker Prize. The Times Literary Supplement (or TLS) is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation. ... Lord Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil (April 9, 1902 – January 1, 1986), was an English aristocrat, literary scholar, biographer and academic. ... Philip Arthur Larkin (August 9, 1922 – December 2, 1985) was an English poet, novelist and jazz critic. ... The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in...

Pym worked at the African Institute in London for some years, and played a large part in the editing of its scholarly journal, Africa, hence the frequency with which anthropologists crop up in her novels. She never married, despite several close relationships with men, notably Henry Harvey, a fellow Oxford student, and the future politician, Julian Amery. After her retirement, she shared a cottage at Finstock in Oxfordshire with her younger sister, Hilary, who continued to live there until her death in February 2005. Barbara Pym died of cancer. The sisters are buried in Finstock churchyard. The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος, human) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ... Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh (March 27, 1919 - 1997) was a British conservative politican. ... Oxfordshire (abbreviated Oxon, from Latin Oxonia) is a county in South East England, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. ...

Her novels include:

• Some Tame Gazelle (1950)
• Excellent Women (1952)
• Jane and Prudence (1953)
• Less than Angels (1955)
• A Glass of Blessings (1958)
• No Fond Return Of Love (1961)
• Quartet in Autumn (1977)
• The Sweet Dove Died (1978)
• A Few Green Leaves (1980)
• Crampton Hodnet (completed circa 1940, published 1985)

Several strong themes link the works in the Pym "canon", which are more notable for their style and characterisation than for their plots. A superficial reading gives the impression that they are sketches of village or suburban life, with excessive significance being attached to social activities connected with the church. However, the dialogue is often deeply ironic, and a tragic undercurrent runs through some of the later novels, especially Quartet in Autumn and The Sweet Dove Died. Some Tame Gazelle is Barbara Pyms début novel, first published in 1950. ... Excellent Women is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1952 and generally acclaimed as the funniest and most successful of her comedies of manners. ... No Fond Return Of Love is a novel in which the author Barbara Pym makes an appearance in the manner of Alfred Hitchcock. ... Quartet in Autumn is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1977 and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. ...

External link

• The Barbara Pym Society based at St Hilda's College, Oxford.