 First edition | |
| Author | Barbara Pym |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
Publication date | 1984 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 360 |
A Very Private Eye: An Autobiography in Diaries and Letters is a 1984 publication of writings by the English novelist Barbara Pym. Released after Pym's death, the volume was edited by Pym's sister Hilary and her literary executor Hazel Holt.
The volume contains excerpts from Pym's letters, diaries, and notebooks from 1932 to 1979. The sections contain commentary by Holt and Hilary Pym to provide context on Pym's life, relationships, and career as a novelist.
Pym was a dedicated journalist, who detailed her daily life as well as observations about people around her which she might use for a future novel. Pym kept a formal diary separate to her writing observations from 1931 to 1948, after which time she recorded both personal and literary ideas in the same series of notebooks. [1]
Most years of Pym's adult life are represented, although the diaries are limited for the period 1950–1962. During this era, as well as publishing six novels, Pym was working full-time at the International African Institute in London and thus had less time to devote to keeping her notebooks. In 1990, Hazel Holt published A Lot To Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym , her biography of Pym. The two books are designed to complement each other; thus, Holt focuses much of her time on the years 1950–1962, filling out the gaps in the text of A Very Private Eye.
Heavily featured are letters between Pym and the poet Philip Larkin. The two authors shared a two-decade correspondence from 1961 until Pym's death, although they did not meet in person until 1975.
The volume was published by Macmillan in England and by E.P. Dutton in the United States.
Barbara Pym's career had stalled after 1961. Having published six novels, she was no longer able to attract a publisher, and did not publish again until 1977, when she was rediscovered after being profiled in the Times Literary Supplement . [2] Upon her rediscovery, Pym published three further novels and was nominated for the 1977 Booker Prize for Quartet in Autumn. She became a sensation in England and especially in the US. [3] After her death from breast cancer in 1980, there was a strong demand from publishers for further content. As a result, Holt and Hilary Pym made available several previously unpublished novels, and followed those with this autobiography.
The New York Times reviewed the volume positively, [4] as did the New York Review of Books . [5] Kirkus Reviews acknowledged the appeal the volume would have for Pym fans but felt that too much material was included, some of it uninteresting or overly detailed. [6]
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was an English novelist. In the 1950s she published a series of social comedies, of which the best known are Excellent Women (1952) and A Glass of Blessings (1958). In 1977 her career was revived when the critic Lord David Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin both nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Her novel Quartet in Autumn (1977) was nominated for the Booker Prize that year, and she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Excellent Women is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1952, her second published novel and generally acclaimed as the funniest and most successful of her comedies of manners.
Quartet in Autumn is a novel by British novelist Barbara Pym, first published in 1977. It was highly praised and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the top literary prize in the UK. This was considered a comeback novel for Pym; she had fallen out of favour as styles changed, and her work had been rejected by publishers for 15 years. This followed her successful record as a novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s. As a novel, it represents a departure from her earlier style of light comedy, as it is the story of four office workers on the verge of retirement.
Some Tame Gazelle is Barbara Pym's first novel, originally published in 1950.
No Fond Return of Love is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1961.
(John) Robert Liddell was an English literary critic, biographer, novelist, travel writer and poet.
Less Than Angels is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1955.
A Glass of Blessings is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1958. It deals with the growing estrangement of a well-to-do married couple and the means by which harmony is restored.
Crampton Hodnet is a comic novel by Barbara Pym, published posthumously in 1985, and originally written in 1940.
An Unsuitable Attachment is a novel by Barbara Pym, written in 1963 and published posthumously in 1982.
The Sweet Dove Died is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1978. The title is a quotation from a poem, "I Had a Dove", by John Keats.
Thomas Michael Maschler was a British publisher and writer. From 1960, he was influential as the head of publishing company Jonathan Cape over a period of more than three decades. Maschler was noted for instituting the Booker Prize for British, Irish and Commonwealth literature in 1969. He was involved in publishing the works of many notable authors, including Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Heller, Gabriel García Márquez, John Lennon, Ian McEwan, Bruce Chatwin and Salman Rushdie.
Jane and Prudence is the third novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1953.
Honor Ellen Wyatt was an English journalist and radio presenter, known for her association with Barbara Pym, Robert Graves, and Laura Riding as well as for her own work. She was the mother of the actor Julian Glover and the musician Robert Wyatt.
Civil to Strangers and Other Writings is a collection of novels and short stories by Barbara Pym, published posthumously.
An Academic Question is a novel by Barbara Pym, written in the early 1970s and published posthumously in 1986.
A Few Green Leaves is the final novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1980, the year of Pym's death. Although several novels were published posthumously, A Few Green Leaves was the final novel she worked on.
A Lot To Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym is a 1990 biography of the English novelist Barbara Pym. The author, Hazel Holt, worked with Pym in the 1950s at the International African Institute in London before embarking on her own literary career. The pair remained friends, and Holt functioned as Pym's literary executor after the latter's death from breast cancer in 1980.
À La Pym: The Barbara Pym Cookery Book is a 1988 cookbook by Hilary Pym and Honor Wyatt collecting recipes for meals served, or mentioned, in the novels of Hilary's sister, Barbara Pym. The book was published in the United States by E.P. Dutton in 1988, and in the United Kingdom by Prospect Books in 1995.
Jean Rhys: Letters 1931-1966 is a posthumous compilation of author Jean Rhys's letters, first published in 1984 by André Deutsch and from 1985 by Penguin Books.
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