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Some Tame Gazelle Revisited



Harriet, Belinda, and the Archdeacon were lovingly scrutinized at the September 1-2 Annual Meeting of the Barbara Pym Society at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Some Tame Gazelle was the theme of the meeting, attended by about sixty members, mostly from the United Kingdom but from Austria, Germany, Belgium, Canada, and the U.S. as well.

Setting the stage for the program was Yvonne Cocking's thorough and illuminating report on reviews of Some Tame Gazelle, gleaned from her research into the Pym Archives at the Bodleian Library. The book reviews were appreciative and complimentary and Antonia White's summary that, "Barbara Pym is a modest and original writer who owes nothing to anyone" resounded frequently throughout the meeting.

Next, Frauke Lenckos, lecturer at the University of Chicago and the Newberry Library, and from our own North American Barbara Pym Society, spoke on "The Caterpillar in the Cauliflower: Defining the Gentlewoman through Some Tame Gazelle." By way of background, Frauke studied "gentlewomen" of the 16th to 18th centuries as the guardians of gentility and morality. She then viewed Harriet, Belinda, and Miss Prior (whose cauliflower cheese enclosed the offending caterpillar) through the prism of the gentlewoman as she is defined in the 20th century.

At the next session, attendees had an opportunity to exchange views on STG in a general discussion with Barbara Pym's sister, Hilary Walton, who, of course, is Harriet in the novel, and Barbara Everett, Pym scholar, Shakespearean authority, and teaching fellow at Somerville College, Oxford. Barbara commented on the changes Pym made to STG over time and asked the audience why this is a good book. "Its realism," "nostalgia for childhood," "sweet but not saccharine" were some of the responses. Hilary was asked whether the commonly held view that the unflattering portrayal of the Archdeacon Hoccleve reflected Barbara's vindictiveness toward Henry Harvey was accurate. "No," she replied emphatically. "Barbara was really working on becoming a novelist, not on being vindictive toward Henry." Barbara Everett summarized: "Pym is a romantic novelist, but her fictions do not lead to marriage. In fact, her male-female relationships [in STG] are pretty grim."

It is worth noting, parenthetically, that throughout this session, Oxford church bells could be heard in the distance chiming their traditional Saturday afternoon concert, a lovely and melodious backdrop to our discussion--and one that Barbara Pym herself would have heard in her own University days.

The dinner speaker on Saturday evening was Dr. Nicholas Bennett, librarian of Lincoln Cathedral, who entertained and informed us about "The Secret Life of Archdeacon Hoccleve, or Was Belinda Right After All?" Illuminating the exasperating Archdeacon and his motivations did make him appear more human and less a comic device, although Dr. Bennett could not adequately defend Belinda's thirty-year love for this flawed man.

On Sunday morning, Robin Joyce, an Australian writer doing research on Pym at the Bodleian, spoke on "Troublesome Women: Our Validation in the Novels of Barbara Pym, Fay Weldon, and Zoe Fairbairns." Robin explored the subversive role of women as portrayed by these writers, especially their views on love and marriage. "Barbara Pym," she notes, "creates 'dragons of niceness' and then proceeds to tear them down." She then viewed Pym's portrayal of sisterhood and spinsterhood: "Harriet and Belinda want to be together, and marriage is not in the picture," she concluded. Robin also quoted Pym scholar Jane Nardin who wrote, "Some Tame Gazelle turns Austen on its head. Spinsterhood is the goal . . . and [Pym's] women have the freedom to enjoy themselves."

Eileen Roberts, director of alumnae development at St Hilda's and conference organizer, presented a view of Oxford in the 1930s and 1940s, based on Barbara's diaries and letters and a book of essays, My Oxford, by Anne Thwaite. Eileen offered a brief social history of the times and narrowed the focus to academic life where, in that period, "the goal was to get students through exams. There was no emphasis on research then." Barbara's diary entries and letters of the time, were filled with dreamy thoughts of "Lorenzo," and she took no notice of actual world events in the late '30s when the winds of war were brewing.

The final session was devoted to the now-traditional dramatized readings, this year prepared and organized by Elizabeth Proud, former chair of the Barbara Pym Society. The actors brought the beloved characters of Some Tame Gazelle to vivid life, and their skillful interpretation created a heightened appreciation of Barbara Pym's gifts as a writer. Hearing her words underscored the reason we read and reread Pym--not only for comfort and familiarity, but in hopes of plumbing some newly discovered and delicious morsel from the pages of her well-thumbed novels.

-- Ellen J. Miller

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