Reading Barbara Pym

Reading Barbara Pym stakes out new territory in Pym criticism byquestioning the assumptions and predispositions by which her novelshave been received and judged. Early in Pym's career, reviews of hernovels likened her books in relaxed fashion to delicious tastes andsmells. Later (when mention of her twice in a TLS survey as one of thecentury's ten most underrated novelists secured and altered her criticalreception), and since her death in 1980, commentary in oppositelyvigilant fashion discovered in Pym's novels academic themes andgender/political issues ripe for exploration. But the traditional concernsof academic and popular criticism have sidestepped the morechallenging task of locating the power and quality of Pym's narrative, the reasons her novels are important to read personally as well asstudy academically