Some Tame Gazelle | Barbara Pym #ComfortRead

A number of years ago, I read a few Barbara Pym books. I enjoyed them so much I decided to go back and read her books in chronological order. Some Tame Gazelle (1950), her first published novel, has been waiting patiently on my shelf for nearly 7 years now. It took a pandemic to give me the time as well as the desire to embrace another Pym comfort read!

One of the elements in Some Tame Gazelle that appealed to me was knowing that she wrote the book imagining what she and her sister, Hilary, might be like thirty years older. Naturally this made me curious to know a little bit more about Pym and her sister.

Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was born on the 2nd June 1913 and died on the 11th of January 1980.

She was the eldest daughter of a Shropshire couple who encouraged her creative efforts from a young age. Hilary was born in 1916.

During WWII, Pym served in the Women's Royal Navy Service. In 1944 she was posted to Naples for the duration of the war. When she returned to London, she moved into a Pimlico flat with her sister, who was recovering from a broken marriage. Pym had her own share of romantic affairs, but none of them stuck.

She wrote social comedies featuring unmarried women living alone in a community of clergymen and college types. Mavis Cheek wrote the Introduction in my copy of Some Tame Gazelle and claimed that 'as with all the best writers of comedy, she is non-judgemental and, though beady-eyed, she is also sympathetic, particularly in matters of the heart and how foolishly they can make us act.' I suspect her sympathy may have came from hard-won personal experience.

Pym was a popular post-war writer until her work went out of favour in the more modern times of the 1960's. In 1977 however, everything changed, when she was nominated as the most under-rated writer of the century by Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin.

She is buried beside her sister (Hilary died in 2004) in a cemetery in Finstock, Oxfordshire.

Some Tame Gazelle was written in 1935 and features two fifty-something women living quietly in a small English village, where the goings-on in their local Anglican church absorb all their attention. One sister becomes ridiculously attached to each new young curate assigned to their parish; while the other carries a torch for the Archdeacon, her once upon a time beau, now married to another - the rather odious, Agatha. One spends her time berating herself for thinking unkind thoughts about Agatha; the other is busy knitting vests and scarves for the latest curate.

It's all very charming and rather sweet. There's a suffusing warmth and tenderness that I don't remember from her other books. Certainly, a few days in the company of Belinda and Harriet Bede, was the perfect antidote to the Covid-19 lockdown blues.

If you love Angela Thirkell or E. M. Delafield, then Pym is the gal for you too!

Excellent Women

An Academic Question
Jane and Prudence

Emma by Jane Austen

I do love August and Adam@Roof Beam Reader's Austen in August meme.

This year I reread Emma for the third time in my lifetime (so far!)
Emma is now a classic study of friendship, truth and character, but each reread reveals hidden depths and layers.

There is already an incredible array of opinions and analysis about all of Jane Austen's novels and right now I feel unequal to adding to this body of scholarship.

Perhaps the best I can do is discuss what I have discovered with each reading of Emma.

Over the years I have realised that it is the rereading of Austen that reveals her true genius. All her stories contain puzzles, misunderstandings and hidden agendas that only become apparent with a reread, but none more so than Emma.

When I first read Emma as a teenager, I struggled to find any merit in the story.

Title page of my Folio Society copy of Emma.

It's first problem was that it wasn't Pride and Prejudice! Emma wasn't Lizzie and there didn't appeared to be any tall, dark, brooding hero to fall in love with.

I also didn't like and couldn't relate to Emma herself. I got frustrated by all the secrets, 'in-jokes' and duplicity.

My second reading (in my early 30's) revealed Austen's mastery though.

Austen had in fact carefully presented to the 'knowing' reader all the clues required to see through the many deceptions and secrets. With this insider knowledge we could all see how the characters misconstrued or deceived themselves to suit their own purposes. Very cleverly done Jane Austen! Brilliant writing and plotting. Bravo!

It was during this reread that I also fell in love with Mr Knightley.

But it was my current reading of Emma that allowed me to enjoy and appreciate all the players for who they really are, even the Elton's!

Their friendships, their connections and motivations were all so delicately drawn.
Their nuances, flaws and depth (or shallowness as the case may be) of character were all carefully crafted.

Throughout this reading, I felt for Jane Fairfax far more than before. Her reserve and restraint were painful to watch as she struggled with her moral conscience and her secret.

Wood-engravings by Joan Hassall

Frank Churchill also revealed himself as the (lovable) cad he is from start to finish - the non-attendance at his father's house, the secret engagement, the flirting with Emma, the teasing about Mr Dixon, the pianoforte ... just to name a few of his indiscretions.
He actually doesn't deserve Jane at all and I fear for their future together as she will be constantly have to remind him of what the right and moral thing to do is.

Being someone's appointed moral guardian is no happy place to be.
Jane will constantly feel the pain and embarrassment of his moral softness and Frank will constantly feel rebuked and criticized. He will wax lyrical about her goodness and put her moral standards up on a pedestal until it actually stops him from doing something he really wants to do.

My beautiful Folio Society edition has an Introduction by Richard Church. I found his opinion to be very thought-provoking:

It is the clarity of portraiture in the delineation of those characters which gives the book its authority as the masterpiece of the six novels. Most readers will agree about that, though there are some who prefer Mansfield Park, and others who think that Persuasion the most mature. But surely for sheer technical, literary perfection, Emma must bear the palm. Its flawlessness makes it elusive for the critic. It includes some autobigraphical allusions, with the author interpolating herself and her problems into the story....

Until recently I would have laughed off any idea that MP was a superior Austen novel, let alone, the superior novel.

But my reread of MP two years ago, changed my mind completely.

Persuasion will always be my preferred Austen - for story, for complexity and maturity and for it's heart that so appeals to mine. But MP has now overtaken P&P (on my Austen ranking scale*) thanks to it's 'literary perfection' and also thanks to Fanny.

I was also intrigued by Austen's real life 'interpolating' into Emma's story.

As I reread, I looked out for biographical examples.
There were Emma's comments to Harriet on marriage, woman and money "A single woman, with a narrow income, must be ridiculous, disagreeable old maid!", and Isabella's motherly horror about giving up a child to another branch of the family to raise. I also wondered about Mr Dixon, the suspected married lover who runs off to Ireland - could this be an oblique reference to Jane's Thomas Lefroy?

Which neatly reminds us all that Jane Austen herself also kept secrets.

My Austen Folio set

Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken.

*My Austen Ranking Scale:
1. Persuasion
2. Mansfield Park
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Sense and Sensibility
5. Emma
6. Northanger Abbey

The Blue Castle by L M Montgomery

L. M. Montgomery only wrote 2 adult novels. One of them was The Blue Castle published in 1926.

I had never heard of it until last year when I wrote a post about The Ladies of Missalonghi by Australian author Colleen McCullough. McCullough was accused of plagiarism because of the number of similarities between the two books.

I have to say, that it does look incredibly suspicious.

McCullough claims no knowledge of The Blue Castle.
Perhaps it was one of those books she picked up in the library as a little girl, browsed through it, liked the idea enough for it sneak into the back reaches of her memory, only to emerge in her adult years as an 'original creative idea'?

Whatever happened, The Blue Castle and The Ladies of Missalonghi are basically the same book. One is set in Ontario, Canada, the other in the Blue Mountains, NSW.

They both describe a quiet, genteel, unlovely young woman, slowly becoming a fearful, poor relation spinster. Suffocated by her controlling family, suffering pangs & pains of the heart and finding solace in her local library.

A visit to the doctor changes everything when she finds out she has only a year to live.

What happens next in both books is a sweet, delightful romance as Missy/Valancy throws off her cares and fears to embrace life. She speaks her mind, shocks the family, changes her hair and clothes, asks a man to marry her & runs away to live happily ever after.

The various plot twists are predictable and easy to spot. There is nothing challenging about either book, but, ohhh, they are just so soul-satisfying!

Missy/Valancy stand in for every shy, insecure girl in history. They give hope that every single one of us can be beautiful when loved. That everyone can dream of love and eventually find true love if only they are brave enough and honest enough to be themselves.

The Blue Castle AND The Ladies of Missalonghi are now two of my very favourite rainy afternoon comfort reads.

The Blue Castle counts as my book for The Colour Coded Reading Challenge hosted by My Readers Block.

The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough

Today I was chatting with one of my book reps about what we were reading. She mentioned she would like to read McCullough's new book, Bittersweet as she preferred her earlier works and this seemed more in line with the those books.

I tentatively agreed as my experiences with McCullough had not necessarily been rave ones.

I read Thorn Birds and Tim about the time they were both made into movies/TV series and I was probably too young to really enjoy them for anything more than the naughty sex scenes! I enjoyed the beginning of her Roman series, but got tired of it about half way through and never finished it off. So I was feeling lukewarm about Bittersweet...until I suddenly remembered The Ladies of Missalonghi.

I blurted it out and my rep looked at me with delight and exclaimed, "I love that one too. I've never met anyone else who even knows about this book, let alone loves it too!"

It was published in 1987.
It's set in the Blue Mountains in a little town called Byron just before WWI. It's a slight, easy read that caught me by surprise at the time. I found it utterly delightful and charming for all its improbabilities and flaws. It became my "I'm bored" rainy Sunday afternoon read. I loved it!
I loved quiet, submissive Missy who learnt to stand up for herself. I loved the setting & the quiet build-up of tension and I loved the rather mixed up feminist messages on display.

Just talking about it again today makes me want to read it again - right now!

A quick google before posting this has revealed a whole new world though.

Apparently there were plagiarism accusations made against McCullough for this book because of its similarities to a lesser known L.M. Montgomery book called The Blue Castle. I even found a discussion page on the topic from 2008.

I'm sure I will always have a deep and abiding love for The Ladies of Missalonghi, but the temptation to check out The Blue Castle for myself is now lurking in the back of mind!

I have reviewed this book for Flashback Friday hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies and in preparation for my hosting of AusReading Month in November.

Jane Austen

When I first read this month's meme question for the Classics Club I felt that it was almost too obvious to bother to answer.

"Do you love Jane Austen or want to “dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone”? (Phrase borrowed from Mark Twain).

1. Why? (for either answer)?
2. Favourite and/or least favourite Austen novel?"

I love Jane Austen, always have, and probably always will (the link will take you to my earlier CC post that featured my Austen-love).

Therefore, not much else to say that would be of interest or relevant really. Short post. March meme answered!

However, over the past couple of weeks we have been close to overwhelmed by family drama's.

Each night I lay in bed trying to sleep, but found myself exhausted from endless discussions, decisions and heightened emotions. My usual recourse during times of trouble is reading. I can always count on books to keep me sane, to provide a respite from the day and to calm my mind so I can sleep well enough most nights.

But last week nothing worked.

As per usual, I had several books on the go.
I had a couple of non-fiction choices, a teen read, a meditation book and book 3 of 1Q84 to tempt me. But there was simply too much going on. I couldn't focus on any of them. The words swam in front of my eyes. Nothing sank in. Nothing could make a dent on the day's dramas.

By the third night I was beginning to feel desperate. I needed solace. I needed comfort. I needed the literary equivalent of chicken soup, sweetened tea and grandma's crocheted blanket.

I needed Jane and I needed her quick!

And not just any Jane, only Pride and Prejudice would do.

Pride and Prejudice has been my constant companion since I was 16. I've read it and watched the 1980's BBC production so many times I am almost word perfect.

From the opening lines..."It is a truth universally acknowledged..." I knew I had chosen wisely. Calm washed over me. A smile found its way to my lips and by the time my husband came to bed I was happily quoting sections out loud for his amusement and my gratification.

Jane had worked her magic on both us.

Rereading such a favourite allows me the pleasure of anticipation. I know what is coming and I revel in the set-up. Each word is so carefully placed and considered by Austen, it's a delight to see her craftmenship. Each comment and scene is arranged to perfection.

Every rereading allows me to relish the story anew.

I particularly love Darcy's letter to Lizzy in the middle of the book and how Austen uses it turn everything that has gone before on its head.

I love the fuss and bother of Elizabeth's return to Longbourn with Jane. Lydia's noisy carriage trip, the drama of the militia leaving for Brighton, Lizzy finally have the time to tell Jane of Darcy's proposal and the truth about Wickham. Lots of long sentences and paragraphs, full of hustle and bustle, until Lizzy finally finds the time to observe how Jane is really doing....and.... "Jane was not happy".

Those four short, simple words after so much kerfluffle just stopped me in my tracks.

Every time I reread P & P I see something with new eyes or something speaks to me about my own situation. "Jane was not happy" was the gut-wrenching truth from this rereading.

Knowing that a happy ending was coming Jane's way, made this truth bearable.

Like Jane, we all go through the bad times, tough times, sad times, difficult times. They do not last forever and happiness can be just around the corner if we wait and have the right disposition to grab it wholeheartedly when it eventually arrives.

Jane Austen is like my best friend, a big sister.

If Jane were alive today, I would hug her.

What is My Favourite Classic

The Classics Club will be hosting a monthly meme alongside it's 5 year challenge to read 50+ classics!

Personally, I'm excited!

I'm also a little stressed about how I'm going to fit all this extra reading and blogging into my already crazy life!

The first Classic Club meme is 'What is your favourite classic? Why?'

Easy peasy....
Or so I thought!

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice came to mind straight away.
I read it for the first time when I was 17 studying for my HSC.
Twenty seven years later I can fairly safely say that I have now read Pride and Prejudice about 27 times!!

Yes, you read that correctly! 27 times!

I haven't read it every single year since my HSC, but I did read it 5 times during the HSC period.

During my teaching years, P & P became my comfort read at the end of the summer holidays just as I was feeling melancholy about going back to work. P & P invariably cheered me up or at least made me forget about hot, smelly classrooms for a little bit longer!

But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that P and P is not actually at the top of my favourite classic list.'

P and P is my comfort read. I love it for it's familiarity, it's humour, and it's delightfully constructed drama.

However Mr Darcy is not my favourite Austen hero and Elizabeth is not my all-time favourite Austen heroine. Lizzie is not a "kindred spirit" (to borrow from one of my favourite children's classics Anne of Green Gables).

That honour goes to Elinor Dashwood. 

Like me, Elinor would have spent her life spelling her name for others! Like me she was accused of being unfeeling because she chose to keep her feelings private. Like me she avoided dramas and drama queens, but was too polite to tell them to bugger off. Like me she was searching for a man of honour and loyalty. Elinor is a "kindred spirit".

But Sense and Sensibility is not my all-time favourite classic either.

My favourite Austen hero is Mr Knightley.

He's funny, intelligent, forgiving and patient.

And as I write these words, I realise that I am the luckiest woman in the world...because I did, in fact, marry my very own modern day Mr Knightley :-)

But I digress...

Emma is not my all-time favourite classic either and Emma is definitely not a "kindred spirit".

My all-time favourite classic read is....(drum roll please.............) Persuasion.

I've probably re-read Persuasion 5 or 6 times. 

I adore the long-lost love scenario (even before I had my own real life long-lost love scenario).

Although Anne Elliot can be a bit submissive at the beginning, I enjoy watching her character emerge as she matures and becomes more confident about her own abilities.

Persuasion also has one of the best lines ever about history and books being written by men...

Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. . . the pen has been in their hands," Anne tells Captain Harville. "I will not allow books to prove anything.

Given that many people thought that women from that era were meek and mild, Austen (a woman from that era) has her heroine (another woman from that era) using such powerful, intelligent words to show us how wrong that kind of thinking really is.

Anne is also a "kindred spirit" of mine and with her appalling family, she needs as many kindred spirits as she can get!

My only wish is that Austen had more time to develop the ending before she died.

I found both possible endings unsatisfactory (except for the obvious part where Anne and Wentworth get together). And I can't but help think that Austen would have reworked this a lot more if she had had a chance.

Maybe that is another reason why I love Persuasion so much. As a reader you can see the writer at work. You can appreciate Austen's craft by seeing the unfinished ending in the rough. I've always enjoy imagining how Austen would have polished the ending further.

Anne and Captain Wentworth are the most perfectly matched, well-suited, deserving lovers in history!

And I wish them all happiness together.