Saturday, June 8, 2013

Excellent Women - Barbara Pym

I had plans for this week - mostly involving rather more reading and blogging about Barbara Pym but a series of minor frustrations and discomforts - everything ranging from the under wire on my bra snapping at a most inopportune moment and stabbing me hours before I could get home to dispose of the dratted thing to my email account being hacked - long term it's the email which has caused more pain. I cannot regain access to it despite spending what turned into hours of trying, which was followed by more hours of setting up a new account and changing passwords on everything else, eventually I'll have to track down some lost addresses as well and there were a few outstanding things for work. Otherwise I'm hoping that's an end to it and it is at least nice to no longer open my inbox to find nothing but spam and mailing list bumph.

Meanwhile I have been slowly working my way through 'Excellent Women' again, which was the first Pym I ever read. Although I still have a few to read for the first time (I have, but haven't read, 'Quartet in Autumn' and 'Civil to Strangers', don't have, and haven't read 'The Sweet Dove Died' or 'A Few Green Leaves') I was really in the mood for 1950's Pym where if she's not at her best (though I suspect she is) I'm certainly most comfortable with her. 

The first thing that struck me about 'Excellent Women' was that it's much better than I remembered, I mean I remember it being good, but second time around it felt much more than that. I see a lot of my own life in this book; I live alone, am increasingly set in my ways (as is my partner, if we ever do live together it will have to be in a very big house, or a house with a very big shed) and know my share of excellent women. There is also Mildred's preoccupation with food, something I particularly associate with Pym's writing.  'Excellent Women' mentions a lunch she throws together of lettuce dressed with olive oil, some Camembert, and fresh bread which I assume is at least partly a reference to Elizabeth David's writing as well as the influence of her own time in Naples, she also has a Chinese cookbook on her shelf amongst the religious texts one might expect from a vicars daughter. 

I doubt that I picked up on the food references as much first time round, but they point to the romantic element of Mildred's character, suggesting a passion that's well disguised behind sensible fawn skirts, brown hats, and  the obligatory cups of tea. It also makes me question how reliable a narrator she is when it comes to her own affairs, especially her relationship with Everard Bone...

I have noticed that a few people reviewing Pym books this week have mentioned how they like rather than love her (this includes me) and I wonder if this is partly because plot plays a secondary role to character. I've undoubtedly enjoyed 'Excellent Women' more this time because knowing the plot, such as it is, has left me free to enjoy the detail and appreciate the sly wit behind her observations. Mildred's life, though it has it's pleasures, clearly lacks - there are humiliating references to her spinsterhood and yet she's also clear eyed about the downside of marriage. 

When I say I think a book has aged well or stood the test of time, rather than being of it's time, I mean that what I notice are the things which haven't changed, this is why the best of Pym has stood the test of time. When I read about Mildred the 60 years since 'Excellent Women' was first published fall away, the odd detail may indicate the books vintage but in essence everything, and everybody, is recognisable so thank you for Pym reading week and the nudge to re-assess her work.

11 comments:

  1. Well, I'm beginning to think I must be one of the few people who can say I definitely love Pym. I love the way she makes me laugh, I love her wry observations of these clever, unfulfilled women and the ghastly men they fall in love with. I think I've read most, if not all, her novels over the years but always look forward to returning to them with at least equal pleasure. Glad you enjoyed this more the second time around!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I must have liked it a lot the first time round because I've bought and read anything I could find by her since, but reading it again I was mildly surprised by just how very good I thought it was. Maybe that's because the last Pym's I'd read were Crampton Hodnet and An Academic Question, neither of which I think are her very best work. Perhaps it's also a case that as with excellent women generally you have to spend a bit of time with them to realise just how excellent they are - I feel I might have been taking Pym a bit for granted.

      Delete
  2. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who can see herself in these books! I really like your point about how revealing the food becomes for understanding the women's characters - like Agatha in Some Tame Gazelle skimping on food for (we assume?) the sake of an elegant wardrobe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, like you said it's only a case of looking in the mirror to see some parallels. I felt Pym spent far more time on describing food and eating habits than anything else but it worked brilliantly for building a picture of different characters. The state of Allegra Grey's kitchen was very telling at the end of the book.

      Delete
  3. I thoroughly enjoyed my first reading of EW. I suspected it would improve and mature on rereading - your review confirms this :-)
    Something to look forward to.
    Even as a happily married woman I can see a lot of myself in Mildred.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm going to re read some of the others and see if I feel as strongly about them after - although it's always possible that I've improved and matured enough to appreciate Pym more fully. Mildred is such a good portrait of a woman old enough to know her own mind that I should think there's a lot of her in all of us!

      Delete
  4. I'd like to say that I love her and that is down to you. Thankyou! X

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh it's so annoying when pc/email goes down and blogging goes out of the window. Hope you get a full recovery.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've given up hope of, retrieving my old email account, which in itself is only a minor inconvenience, but I do resent the time wasted on trying to sort it out, and also the nuisance to people who got sent spam from my address. It reminds me of why I like dealing with people and not machines!

      Delete
  6. So many Pym books have been reviewed lately. This is another I've added to m TBR list. Thanks for blogging about it.

    ReplyDelete