 First edition | |
| Author | Barbara Pym |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 1955 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 254 pp (hardback edition) |
Less Than Angels is a novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1955. [1]
Catherine Oliphant is a writer of magazine stories and articles who lives with anthropologist Tom Mallow. Tom begins a romance with a student, Deirdre Swan, and moves out of Catherine's flat. At the same time, she becomes interested in reclusive anthropologist Alaric Lydgate, who has recently returned from Africa and lives next-door to Deirdre and her family. [2]
A sub-plot involves the activities of Deirdre's fellow-students Mark and Digby, and their attempts to curry favour with influential academics as they seek grants to facilitate the next phase of their careers. Tom departs for Africa, where he is killed during a time of political unrest. Deirdre begins to return Digby's fondness for her, and Catherine seems about to begin a relationship with Alaric.
Less Than Angels was Pym's fourth novel and was published by Jonathan Cape in October 1955. It received muted reviews, in contrast to the success of her first two novels in particular. [3] The novel's 1955 sales totalled 3,092 copies, which the publisher commented "isn't good enough". [4] By the end of the decade, it had sold only 3,569 copies. The book did not lose money for the publisher but was not considered a success. [5]
Less Than Angels was the only Pym novel to be published in the United States before the 1970s. It was published by The Vanguard Press in April 1957, selling 1,386 copies, which was considered a failure. [6] The novel was republished in the United States by E.P. Dutton in 1980, alongside the rest of Pym's canon.
In the 1980s, the novel was released as an audiobook by Chivers Press read by the actress Joanna David. In 2013, Hachette released the novel as an audiobook, narrated by Patience Tomlinson. The novel was published in Spain as Un poco menos que ángeles, Italy as Un po' meno che angeli and in France as Moins que les anges
Less Than Angels is set in a period of social change which is subtly represented within the novel's plot and setting. [7] Pym sought to precisely describe life in post-war England, with life slowly returning to normal but the impacts of rationing and great loss of life still evident.
The novel is largely concerned with the activities of a group of anthropologists, and is to some extent based on the author's own experiences working at the International African Institute in London. Pym wrote, "It is surely appropriate that anthropologists, who spend their time studying life and behaviour in various societies should be studied in their turn". [8]
The central character, Catherine, is considered by many to represent the author, being a writer of short stories who observes the actions of other characters with an air of detachment. Anne Wyatt-Brown writes that "Catherine represents Pym’s view of the world. She shares her author’s imagination, her amused reaction to anthropologists, and her detachment." [9]
Several characters from Pym's earlier novel Excellent Women reappear, including Mildred Lathbury, Rocky Napier, Everard Bone, and Esther Clovis. Catherine Oliphant, Less Than Angels' central character, will be mentioned in Pym's A Glass of Blessings , as a writer. In No Fond Return of Love we learn that Deirdre did indeed marry Digby.
Less Than Angels was the first Pym novel to be considered for a film adaptation, with Twentieth Century Fox showing some interest in the 1950s. However, nothing came of this. [10]
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, the second published novel by Barbara Pym, first appeared from Jonathan Cape in 1952. A novel of manners, it is generally acclaimed as her funniest and most successful in that genre.
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.
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.
Roberto Weiss was an Italian-British scholar and historian who specialised in the fields of Italian-English cultural contacts during the period of the Renaissance, and of Renaissance humanism.
St Michael and All Angels Church is a Grade II listed Church of England church in Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located at 39 Elm Bank Gardens, London SW13 0NX.
Hester: A Story of Contemporary Life is an 1883 novel written by Margaret Oliphant. It examines the cycle of history through the lives of the Vernon family. The book was published in three separate volumes corresponding to three parts of the story. The novel was adapted by Kate Clanchy and Zena Forster for broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 2013, showing Hester as a determined organizer successful for years but ultimately defeated by the male world of Victorian business.
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 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.
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.
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