Barbara Pym is the author of twelve novels and a posthumously published collection of semi-complete novels and short stories. She writes character-driven narratives that explore the disappointments and consolations of what, on the surface at least, may appear uneventful lives. The poet Philip Larkin commented that her stories are set in a particularly “English scene” – composed of parish churches, the offices of civil servants and academics, the library and tea-shop (Holt 1992 200). Her observational and unsentimental style is often comic and, as her career progressed, tinged with a pathos that was never fully allowed to swamp the quiet tenacity of her characters.

Born into a financially comfortable middle-class family on the June 2, 1913, Pym remembered her childhood as a happy

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Citation: Brennan, Zoe. "Barbara Pym". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 September 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3672, accessed 28 March 2024.]

3672 Barbara Pym 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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