by Paula Byrne
Pym, Barbara, PERSONAL LIFE: physical appearance, 2, 23, 84, 188, 323, 492; childhood at Morda Lodge, 7–11; birth of in Oswestry (2 June 1913), 7; family background of, 8–11, 12–14; passion for flowers, 8, 247; sense of humour, 9, 23, 27, 39, 52, 92, 191, 242, 367, 402–3, 599, 605–6, 611–12; at boarding school in Liverpool, 10, 15, 16–18, 22; cousins in Hatch End, 10, 76, 87, 88; ‘Crampton’ name, 13; self-confidence, 19, 21, 52, 69, 84, 303, 358; cigarette smoking, 27, 36, 94, 555; home from Oxford for the holidays, 28–9, 30–1, 35, 45–50, 75–7, 78–81, 88–90, 98–101; habit of ‘stalking,’ 33, 61, 62–3, 72, 82, 84, 92, 248–9, 253, 449, 450–2, 466, 467–8, 533; drawn to unattainable men, 41, 127–8, 134, 433, 453–5, 456–8, 509, 534, 609; hard edge to character, 47; alter ego Sandra, 64–6, 69, 76, 78–81, 82–4, 86, 88–9, 113, 117–18, 126, 128, 136, 418, 492; tendency for self-punishment, 66; bouts of misery/depression, 73–4, 75–6, 77, 86–7, 93, 176, 195–6, 202, 264, 336, 339, 340, 370, 533; obsessive aspect to personality, 73–4, 77, 81, 86–7, 105, 456–8, 609; as sensitive and emotional woman, 73–4, 195–6, 285–6, 554, 608–9, 611; visits Nazi Germany (1934), 105–8, 109–11, 112; love of German culture, 106, 112, 114, 116, 117, 140; awarded second-class degree, 120, 135; second trip to Nazi Germany (summer 1934), 123–5; ‘Pymska’ (Finnish alter ego), 126, 158, 159, 418; third trip to Nazi Germany (April 1935), 138, 139–40; develops German persona, 144–5, 146, 154; nasty incident on the Cherwell, 145–6; fourth trip to Nazi Germany (summer 1935), 148–9; involved in fatal car accident, 163–4, 165, 167, 168, 454; Paavikki Olafsson reincarnation, 192–3, 224; family concerns over pro-German sensibilities, 214, 216–17; personal trip to Dresden (spring 1938), 217–21, 222–3; as governess in Katowice (1938), 223–6, 227; return home through Germany (September 1938), 227–8, 371–2; lives at 27 Upper Berkeley Street with Hilary, 235–6; references to herself as a spinster, 247, 310, 344, 351, 380–1, 401–2, 578; training for first-aid certificate, 248; and ‘Birkenhead refugees,’ 258–61, 262–4, 279; finally turns against Nazi Germany, 270, 281; Christmas 1939 at Morda Lodge, 279; wartime hunger pangs, 280–1, 306; ill with measles (1940), 281–2; visits Oxford (spring 1940), 285–6; joins Oswestry ARP (June 1940), 289–92, 294–5, 298, 303, 307; works at army tented camp, 293, 294, 303; works at wartime baby clinic, 298, 300, 306; wartime reflections on relationship with Germany, 301–2; job in wartime Censorship Department, 302, 316–17, 323–4, 329, 340–1, 402, 605; and sale of Morda Lodge, 305–6, 316; love of food, 306, 385–6; views on men, 309–10, 404–5, 423–4, 439–40, 443, 610; friendship with Honor Wyatt, 321–3, 335, 338, 339–40, 343–5, 349, 350–1, 353–4, 356, 357, 359, 360–1; lives at The Coppice in Bristol, 321–4, 325–7, 330–1, 333–4, 335–40, 344–5, 349, 350–4, 359, 360, 408; Prue Glover’s pen portraits of, 323; fire-watching duties in Bristol, 324, 327; joins the Wrens, 340–1, 342–3, 352–3, 354, 355–8, 605; as officer in Wrens, 358, 359, 362–3, 364–70, 371–2; posted overseas to Naples, 363, 364–70, 371–2, 588; death of mother (September 1945), 373–4, 377, 378; leaves Oswestry for good (1945), 374; lives with Hilary in Pimlico, 377–9, 380–1, 383, 399; finances as often tight, 379, 382, 399, 471, 485–6, 502–3, 511; takes job at International African Institute (February 1946), 379, 381–3; lives with Hilary in Barnes, 411, 449–52; Holt’s biography, 412, 608; attends lying in of George VI, 436; views on academic writing, 438, 440; views on new post-war world, 441–2, 477–8; holiday in Portugal (1954), 443–5, 453; Bear and Squirrel saga at Barnes, 449–52, 458, 464, 466, 469, 470; enthusiasm for Denton Welch, 453–5, 456–8; feelings of self-loathing, 468; lives with Hilary in Brooksville Avenue, 470–1, 476, 477, 485–6, 495, 496, 498, 502–3, 559; holiday in Greece (May 1964), 505–6, 529; holiday in Malvern (1965), 523–4; holiday in Greece (June 1966), 527; feels her age in 1970 period, 543, 544–5, 546, 554; lump removed from breast (1971), 547–8, 549, 554, 580; life in Finstock, 555–6, 558, 559, 560, 562–5, 573, 574–7; move to Barn Cottage, 555–6, 558, 559; suffers minor stroke (1974), 558, 559–60, 565; retirement (1974), 560–1; health problems (‘Kissinger Syndrome’), 563, 565; rushed to hospital (November 1977), 585–6; ill health near end of life, 590, 595; has stomach cancer, 595–6, 598–9; visits Derbyshire with Harvey (1979), 596; death of (11 January 1980), 599; funeral of, 601
Pym, Barbara, RELATIONSHIPS: with Rupert Gleadow, 37–40, 41–4, 45–50, 52–6, 57–9, 347–9, 609; secret affair with Bill Hussey, 113; brief affair with Iain aka ‘Starky,’ 366–9, 370, 371, 407–8, 472; affair with Thomas Kendrick, 426–7 see also under individual entries for lovers and friends
Pym, Barbara, WORKS: ‘Young Men in Fancy Dress’ (unpublished novel), 19–21, 23, 177; ‘Beatrice Wyatt’/The Lumber Room (unfinished novel), 30–1, 231–5, 244, 381; Adam and Cassandra (unfinished novel), 148, 158, 173, 177–9; ‘They Never Write’ (short story), 150, 160; ‘Unpast Alps’ (short story), 150, 160; Gervase and Flora (‘Finnish novel’), 186, 188–91, 192, 198, 199–200, 202, 217, 230–1, 308; ‘Goodbye Balkan Capital’ (short story), 258, 259, 289–91, 292, 294–5, 311, 312–14, 316; home front novel (unpublished), 258, 259–60, 262–3, 264–7, 271–2, 273, 274–6, 277, 278–9, 439; Civil to Strangers (posthumously published fragment), 264; So Very Secret (spy novel), 307–10, 316; ‘The Jumble-Sale’ (short story), 399; Something to Remember (radio play), 399; Parrot’s Eggs (unperformed radio play), 412; No Fond Return of Love (novel), 465–9, 475–6, 477, 524, 597; An Academic Question (posthumously published novel), 549, 550–3; ‘a Defence of the Novel’ (article in Times), 585; ‘Across a Crowded Room’ (short story), 590; ‘The Christmas Visit’ (short story), 590; A Few Green Leaves (final novel), 591, 592–4, 597; A Very Private Eye (‘autobiography’), 608 see also individual entries for novels
Pym, Frederic Crampton (father), 7, 8, 9, 163, 377, 507; background of, 12–14; sale of Morda Lodge, 305–6, 316; remarries (1946), 380; bankruptcy of, 485–6
Pym, Hilary (sister): birth of (1916), 7; childhood and schooling, 8, 9–10, 15, 16, 76, 81; and young curates, 10, 16, 128; on her father’s background, 13; plays down Gleadow’s importance to Pym, 45; at Lady Margaret Hall, 87, 136, 199; in Some Tame Gazelle, 126, 127, 128–9, 131, 155–6, 555; as vehemently anti-Nazi, 153, 233, 270; and news of Harvey’s marriage, 191, 195, 591; and Julian Amery, 199, 326; Pym shops with in Liverpool, 224; secretarial course in London, 229, 235; in ‘Beatrice Wyatt,’ 233; lives at 27 Upper Berkeley Street with Pym, 235–6; at Cape’s cocktail party, 242; visits exhibitions with Pym, 247; works for BBC, 253, 258, 294, 295, 305–6, 316, 317, 321, 399, 471; on Churchill, 287; Pym lives with in Bristol, 317, 321–4, 325–7; Prue Glover on, 323; on Gordon Glover, 326; marries Sandy Walton, 330, 331, 333, 339; returns to the Coppice, 344, 359; country cottage in the South Downs, 353; sees Uncle Vanya with Pym, 354; death of mother (September 1945), 374; lives with Pym in Pimlico, 377–9, 380–1, 383, 399; separates from Sandy, 380; lives with Pym in Barnes, 411, 449–52; on Pym and Bob Smith, 433; Bear and Squirrel saga at Barnes, 449–52, 458; buys house in Queen’s Park, 470–1, 477; lives with Pym in Brooksville Avenue, 470–1, 476, 477, 485–6, 495, 496, 498, 502–3; as the ‘more lively’ sister, 492; secretary of St Lawrence’s parish council, 498; holiday in Greece with Pym (May 1964), 505–6; travels in Greece, 505–6, 507, 547; role as Pym’s protector, 507, 517; ill health of, 517; intense dislike of Skipper, 530; retires from BBC, 553; life in Finstock, 555–6, 558, 560, 562–3, 573, 586; move to Barn Cottage, 555–6, 558; and Pym’s stroke, 560; and Maschler pudding, 574; during Pym’s final illness, 598, 599; and death of Pym, 602–3; Jock Liddell on, 602–3
Pym, Irena (mother), 8–9, 17, 30, 31, 79, 224, 362–3, 563; in Jane and Prudence, 9, 428–9; marries Frederick, 13; and Pym’s interest in Nazi Germany, 120, 149; involved in fatal car accident, 163–4, 165, 167, 168, 454; in ‘Beatrice Wyatt,’ 231, 233; and ‘Birkenhead refugees,’ 258, 259; in home front novel (unpublished), 258, 259; sale of Morda Lodge, 305–6, 316; death of (September 1945), 373–4, 377, 378
Pym, Phoebe
, 12–13
Pym Society, 612
Quartet in Autumn (’Four Point Turn’/’retirement’ novel): and Pym’s thoughts of retirement, 556–7; manuscript collected from Balcombe Street, 560; and Larkin’s encouragement, 562; and Pym’s health problems, 563; turned down by Hamish Hamilton, 564–5; revisions to, 569–70; Macmillan publishes, 572, 573, 575, 577; renaming of, 572; plot of, 579–81; characterisation in, 580–1; friends’ reactions to, 582–3; critical response, 582; shortlisted for the Booker Prize, 584–5; Woman’s Hour adaptation of, 585; Skipper’s praise for, 587; as pioneering, 611
Queen’s Park (North-West London), 470–1, 477, 485, 495, 498, 502–3, 559; burglaries at Brooksville Avenue, 486, 498, 525
Quick, Maurice, 494, 503
Radcliffe Camera, Oxford, 41, 82, 115, 184, 561
Radio Luxembourg, 75
Randolph Hotel, Oxford, 53, 193, 202, 203, 207, 212, 223, 234, 239, 561
Ravello, 472, 481
Ray, Man, 247
Redesdale, Lord, 141
Reith, Sir John, 75
religion: in Pym’s youth, 10, 16; Catholicism, 90, 224–5, 597; day of national prayer (26 May 1940), 288; Anglo-Catholicism, 377, 460, 470, 580; in A Glass of Blessings, 447, 460, 461, 470; declining size of congregation at St Lawrence’s, 511, 543; St Lawrence’s church closes down, 549; Holy Trinity, Finstock, 556, 564, 601 see also clergy, life of
Remarque, Erich Maria, 107
Renault, Mary, 505–6
Rendu, Marguerite, 346–7
Rent Act (1957), 471
Richardson, Samuel, Pamela, 3
Riding, Laura, 322, 335
Riefenstahl, Leni, Olympia, 219
Rilke, Rainer Maria, 212, 519
Robbins Report (1963), 551
Roberts, Freda Genevieve, 493, 501, 508, 524–5, 528, 549
Roberts, Richard Campbell (Skipper): Bob Smith introduces to Pym, 491; meets Pym, 491, 492; background of, 492–3, 501, 508, 551; character of, 493, 499, 507, 534; Pym’s love for, 493, 506, 507–11, 512–17, 518, 519, 523, 524–6, 527–8, 529–30, 557–8; Pym’s correspondence with, 494, 501–2, 508, 510, 512–13, 525, 528; and Pym’s social circle, 495–6, 497; views on Pym’s novels, 498–9, 508–9, 587; L’Atelier (antique shop in Sloane Street), 498, 502, 511, 514, 523, 539; and The Sweet Dove Died (novel), 499, 502, 503–4, 510, 512–13, 518, 531, 534, 535–9, 544, 587; at the opera with Pym, 503–4; hits Pym’s cat, 515–17; Pym bids on behalf of in sales rooms, 518, 524; Pym takes to FANY Club lunch, 523; romance with Gordon, 525–6; end of friendship with Pym, 529–30, 533–4, 539; in An Academic Question, 549, 551
Roberts, Sir George, 493, 508
Robinson, Edward G., 282
Rochester, Earl of, 133, 195
Röhm, Ernst, 121
Romantic Novelists Association, 560, 597
Rome, 371–2, 471–2, 480–1
Ross-on-Wye, 591
Royal Society of Literature, 589–90
Rucker, Barbara, 151–2
Rumbold, Richard, Little Victims, 76, 80, 89
Russell, Earl, 172
Sayers, Dorothy L., Gaudy Night, 150
School of Oriental and African Studies, 445
Scott, Paul, Staying On, 584
Scott, Walter, 304
Second World War: outbreak of (September 1939), 253–4, 257; women and war effort, 257–61, 262–4, 265–7, 269, 274–5, 280, 282, 284, 289–92, 293–4; national evacuation scheme, 257, 258–61, 262–4, 265–7, 279; Pym’s war journals and stories, 257, 258, 259–61, 262–7, 274–6, 278–9, 288, 289–92, 294–5, 303, 364; ARP (Air Raid Precaution), 258, 261, 275, 289–92, 294–5, 298, 303, 307; Pym joins WVS, 258; rationing, 261, 280–1, 300, 306; food supplies during, 263, 279, 280–1, 291–2, 294, 306, 329–30; and the Mitford sisters, 268–9; Amery’s service during, 269, 275–6, 277–8, 282, 311–14, 326, 327, 337, 363, 397; Russians enter Poland (1939), 269; in the Balkans, 278, 282, 283, 311–14; Phoney War, 279; propagandistic films, 282, 300–2; Nazi offensive in West (May 1940), 286–7; fall of France (10 June 1940), 289; Blitz (autumn 1940), 290–2, 294, 299, 303, 324, 403; YMCA mobile canteens, 293, 294, 303; Park Hall camp, 294, 298, 299, 303; Pym’s job in Censorship Department, 302, 316–17, 323–4, 329, 340–1, 402, 605; ‘Operation Bullseye,’ 312; Balkan states sign the Axis agreement (June 1941), 313; attack on Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941), 316; Pym’s fire-watching duties in Bristol, 324, 327; eastern front, 327; Pym joins the Wrens, 340–1, 342–3, 352–3, 354, 355–8, 359, 362–3, 364–70, 371–2, 605; ‘Up in the Morning Early’ (radio fitness programme), 350; Allied invasion of Italy (1943), 364; German surrender, 372; rationing continues in post-war period, 379, 391, 397
Seizen Press, 322
sex/sexuality: and young curates, 10, 16, 128; in Huxley’s Crome Yellow, 17; Oxford’s restrictions on in 1930s, 24, 25, 37–8, 43, 233–4; Pym finds Oxford ‘intoxicating,’ 26–7, 32–4; Pym’s crushes on youthful dons, 28, 32, 33, 34, 36–7, 38, 39, 41, 42, 52; and poetry, 35, 43, 57–8, 133; Pym’s summer of love at Oxford (1932), 42–4; triangular relationships, 43–4, 170, 463–4, 475–6, 537–8, 597; Pym and Gleadow’s activities, 48–50; and spanking, 49–50, 53, 58; incident with Gleadow (October 1932), 52–6, 57, 58–9, 64; and educated girls in 1930s, 64–5; male behaviour at Oxford, 64–5; contraception, 65, 486, 579; Pym’s first date with Harvey, 67–9, 91, 287; Pym develops ‘reputation’ at Oxford, 69–70; Pym’s sexual activity with Henry, 90, 93, 94, 95–7, 113–14, 116, 117–18, 122, 135–6, 174; Butler’s The Way of All Flesh, 112–13; in Compton-Burnett’s novels, 183, 185–6; and John Amery, 205; Stevie Smith on, 209; in So Very Secret (spy novel), 308; Pym’s affair with Iain aka ‘Starky,’ 366–9; in Less Than Angels, 438–9; in Denton Welch’s writing, 454–5; church scandals, 461, 471, 528; Lady Chatterley trial, 2, 486; liberalism of 1960s, 486–7, 579, 605; Kinsey Report, 487; Pym’s liberal attitude to, 487, 554, 609–10
The Shadow of the Swastika (BBC Home Service series), 278
Shakespeare, William, 89, 90
Sharp, Mary, 26, 32, 43, 72, 91, 98, 247
Sherford Lodge (Taunton), 12–13
Shipley, Mary, 67–8
Simpkin, Marshall (wholesale booksellers), 446–7
Sintra (Portugal), 445
Sitwell, Edith, 560
Smith, Bob, 451, 456–7, 461, 493, 498, 530, 533–4, 558; meets Pym, 421, 433; Pym’s fleeting attraction to, 433, 453, 499; on No Fond Return of Love, 469; ‘church crawls’ with Pym, 470; lends furniture to the Pyms, 471, 502; introduces Pym to Skipper, 491; Pym’s correspondence with, 492, 510–11, 524, 527, 529, 542, 549, 557, 563, 596; full review essay of Pym’s works, 543, 546–7, 550, 605; teaches in Nigeria, 543; on Quartet in Autumn, 569–70, 582–3; and The Sweet Dove Died, 588; and Pym’s stomach cancer, 596
