Barbara Pym -- An Excellent Woman. Documentary by Bill Richardson
The English writer Barbara Pym spent 16 years in what she described as "the wilderness." Between 1950 and 1961 she wrote six well-received, gently ironic novels about spinsters and vicars and undervalued office workers. And then, suddenly, she found herself out of fashion. No one wanted to hear from her or publish her....
The English writer Barbara Pym spent 16 years in what she described as "the wilderness."
Between 1950 and 1961 she wrote six well-received, gently ironic novels about spinsters and vicars and undervalued office workers. And then, suddenly, she found herself out of fashion. No one wanted to hear from her or publish her.
But in 1977, thanks to a few lines in the Times Literary Supplement, her wheel of literary fortune turned. And ever since, growing numbers of devoted Pymians have sung her praises - from the Pymbook one might say - and parsed her prose.
Winnipeg writer and broadcaster Bill Richardson has been a furtive fan for years.
On the 100th anniversary of her birth, he emerged from the closet with a centennial tribute. His documentary is called An Excellent Woman.