A loyal and fervent advocate

   

    A letter from Philip Larkin to his Faber editor Charles Monteith, the latter having turned down Barbara Pym's latest novel An Unsuitable Attachment:

   ' "... what I feel is this: by all means turn it down if you think it's a bad book of its kind, but please don't turn it down because it's the kind of book it is ... Personally, too, I feel it is a great shame if ordinary sane novels about ordinary sane people doing ordinary sane things can't find a publisher these days. This is the tradition of Jane Austen and Trollope and I refuse to believe that no one wants its successors today."

    Larkin was writing his own manifesto: "I like to read about people who have done nothing spectacular, who aren't beautiful or lucky." He wanted to read about people who can see "in little autumnal moments of vision, that the so called big experiences of life are going to miss them". That such things "are presented not with self-pity or despair or romanticism, but with realistic firmness and even humour." Larkin, now excessively riled, went out on a limb, saying that this was the "kind of writing a responsible publisher ought to support (that's you, Charles!)".  ...

    Monteith had suggested that Pym had not sufficiently developed as a writer, but Larkin was having none of it: "I think development is a bit of a myth; lots of writers don't develop, such as Thomas Hardy or P.G. Wodehouse, nor do we want them to. That is how I feel about Miss Pym." '

    From The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne.

    As we know, Barbara Pym did not remain out of favour for she went on to be (re-)published to great acclaim, but it was Larkin's championing of her, along with Lord David Cecil's, that eventually turned the tide.

Comments

[callmemadam]

it was Larkin's championing of her, along with Lord David Cecil's, that eventually turned the tide.

Although I agree with Larkin's principles about fiction as expressed here, I don't think he did the reading public any favours. But I'm a notorious Pym sceptic.

[Fran H-B]

I deliberately avoided listening to the recent Radio 4 abridged version of the Miss Pym biography, preferring to wait in the queue at library reservations and read the full book. May have to wait awhile but can see it will be worth it.

[Alexandra]

Sound like an interesting biography, must put it on my list. I have never read Pym (think I ought to!)but I do agree that there is nothing wrong with reading books about perfectly ordinary people so I am glad Larkin rooted for her. I wonder if the same would have been said about a male writer of the time?

[Karen K]

I really want to read this but am dismayed that it won't be published in the US until next June! Haven't decided if I want to cough up $35 for this. I may just wait until April for the UK paperback release.