Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York, N.Y. : New American Library, 1986, c1985.
Description
'A wonderfully accomplished farce beginning with the . . .unsuitabe romantic entanglements of a curate and a pretty young girl, both of whom live in the same rooming house, and a starry-eyed university professor and his female student.'
User reviews
LibraryThing member brenzi
Completed around 1940, but not published until five years after her death in 1985, Barbara Pym’s Crampton Hodnet is an early example of what can only be described as “vintage Pym.” As expected, this novel is replete with bumbling academics, clueless prelates, gossiping spinsters, gay men and
Miss Doggett’s companion, Jessie Morrow (Hello old friends!), “a thin, used-up looking woman in her middle thirties,” has become a kind friend to new, handsome curate Reverend Stephen Latimer, who has come to live with them during his time in the parish. He gets the idea that he “might do worse than marry Miss Morrow.” The skeptical Jessie Morrow is apparently looking for something a wee bit more…..tempting.
At the same time, Francis Cleveland, a University lecturer in English Literature, is bored with his humdrum life with his wife, Margaret and daughter Anthea, and is gravitating more toward the lovely Miss Barbara Bird, a student that he is tutoring. He sees a future for them while she sees a platonic friendship. Anthea, meanwhile, is head over heels for twenty year old Simon Beddoes, whose only goal right now is to be Prime Minister.
Overseeing all that goes on in North Oxford is Miss Doggett, whose laser-like ability to nose out any story and insert herself into all predicaments is quite astounding. When it becomes apparent that Mr. Latimer is not going to be easy to push around, Pym gives us this hysterical bit:
“Miss Morrow knew that it was the beginning of the end. Mr. Latimer was starting to break away, if he had not already broken. It would not be long now before Miss Doggett would have to be finding herself another curate, preferably an old, disillusioned one with no spirit left in him, who had long ago given up the struggle. One who would be thankful just to have a bed and food and a corner in a dark Victorian-Gothic house in North Oxford where he might end his days in peace.” (Page 155)
I can’t overstate my admiration for Barbara Pym’s ability to depict with wit and irony the everyday occurrences in this genteel Oxford community. Highly recommended.
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failed romances. It’s the funniest Pym I’ve read yet and absolutely charming.Miss Doggett’s companion, Jessie Morrow (Hello old friends!), “a thin, used-up looking woman in her middle thirties,” has become a kind friend to new, handsome curate Reverend Stephen Latimer, who has come to live with them during his time in the parish. He gets the idea that he “might do worse than marry Miss Morrow.” The skeptical Jessie Morrow is apparently looking for something a wee bit more…..tempting.
At the same time, Francis Cleveland, a University lecturer in English Literature, is bored with his humdrum life with his wife, Margaret and daughter Anthea, and is gravitating more toward the lovely Miss Barbara Bird, a student that he is tutoring. He sees a future for them while she sees a platonic friendship. Anthea, meanwhile, is head over heels for twenty year old Simon Beddoes, whose only goal right now is to be Prime Minister.
Overseeing all that goes on in North Oxford is Miss Doggett, whose laser-like ability to nose out any story and insert herself into all predicaments is quite astounding. When it becomes apparent that Mr. Latimer is not going to be easy to push around, Pym gives us this hysterical bit:
“Miss Morrow knew that it was the beginning of the end. Mr. Latimer was starting to break away, if he had not already broken. It would not be long now before Miss Doggett would have to be finding herself another curate, preferably an old, disillusioned one with no spirit left in him, who had long ago given up the struggle. One who would be thankful just to have a bed and food and a corner in a dark Victorian-Gothic house in North Oxford where he might end his days in peace.” (Page 155)
I can’t overstate my admiration for Barbara Pym’s ability to depict with wit and irony the everyday occurrences in this genteel Oxford community. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Cariola
One of Pym's earliest novels, Crampton Hodnet doesn't quite equal No Fond Return of Love; still, it is delightful and shows the promise of what's to come. Set in Oxford, it's not quite what I would call an academic novel; the university is more of a background for the novel's tighly knit social
Pym is a master of the light touch, particularly when she makes her readers privy to the thoughts and observations of her characters. For example, when Margaret Cleveland notices that her husband (who has taken Miss Bird to tea and sent he a bouquet of lilies--without telling his wife) looks unwell, her immediate question is:
"Have you got indigestion?"
"I don't think so," he answered shortly.
"Then it must be the effect of the British Museum," she said.
That was exactly it, thought Francis, suddenly blaming it all on the British Museum. Everyone knew that libraries had an unnatural atmosphere that made people behave oddly. He felt that he had somehow made a mess of things this afternoon. But of course he was not used to dealing with situations like this; he had no practice. He had wasted his time in libraries, doing research about things that were no good to anybody. He thought of his companions in the Bodleian: Arnold Penge, Edward Killigrew, Professor Lopping . . . They wouldn't have done any better either. Probably not as well. This thought was some consolation to him, and he began to feel quite pleased with himself.
Or this little gem of an observed conversation. The aged Miss Doggett and her companion, Miss Morrow, discuss her grandneice Anthea's having made "a good impression" on her boyfriend's mother, Lady Beddoes:
"I believe she is very easy to get on with," said Miss Morrow.
"Well, she has that graciousness of manner that one would expect," said Miss Doggett, who did not somehow like the idea of her companion's finding someone of Lady Beddoes's position 'very easy to get on with.' "You see, Anthea is really nobody on her mother's side," she went on, "and even the Clevelands can hardly compare with the Beddoeses."
"But Anthea is such a sweet girl," protested Miss Morrow. "Anyone would like her. And Lady Beddoes's father was only an English professor teaching in Warsaw. She told Anthea."
"Miss Morrow, I don't think you understand these things," said Miss Doggett.
"No, I don't think I do,"said Miss Morrow humbly.
"It would be a splendid thing for Anthea, really splendid," purred Miss Doggett. "I wouldn't have thought she had so much sense."
But sense is just what a girl in love doesn't have, thought Miss Morrow, who didn't understand such things.
The Crampton Hodnet of the title is a nonexistent village created by the new young vicar, Mr. Latimer, to explain a suspicious absence; he claims to have been called to give a sermon in place of an ailing friend. It's the first of many lies, untold truths, and misunderstandings at the heart of the novel. Pym excels here, as in her other novels, at the little dramas in the lives of seemingly little people.
Overall, Crampton Hodnet is a charming novel that I read with a continual smile on my face.
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world. One of the main characters, Francis Cleveland, is a professor of sixteenth-century English poetry, and although a number of his students (notably a young woman named Barbara Bird) and colleagues figure into the story, the novel focuses not on academic rivalry but--like most of Pym's work--on the relationships and distances between family members, friends, and neighbors. Pym is a master of the light touch, particularly when she makes her readers privy to the thoughts and observations of her characters. For example, when Margaret Cleveland notices that her husband (who has taken Miss Bird to tea and sent he a bouquet of lilies--without telling his wife) looks unwell, her immediate question is:
"Have you got indigestion?"
"I don't think so," he answered shortly.
"Then it must be the effect of the British Museum," she said.
That was exactly it, thought Francis, suddenly blaming it all on the British Museum. Everyone knew that libraries had an unnatural atmosphere that made people behave oddly. He felt that he had somehow made a mess of things this afternoon. But of course he was not used to dealing with situations like this; he had no practice. He had wasted his time in libraries, doing research about things that were no good to anybody. He thought of his companions in the Bodleian: Arnold Penge, Edward Killigrew, Professor Lopping . . . They wouldn't have done any better either. Probably not as well. This thought was some consolation to him, and he began to feel quite pleased with himself.
Or this little gem of an observed conversation. The aged Miss Doggett and her companion, Miss Morrow, discuss her grandneice Anthea's having made "a good impression" on her boyfriend's mother, Lady Beddoes:
"I believe she is very easy to get on with," said Miss Morrow.
"Well, she has that graciousness of manner that one would expect," said Miss Doggett, who did not somehow like the idea of her companion's finding someone of Lady Beddoes's position 'very easy to get on with.' "You see, Anthea is really nobody on her mother's side," she went on, "and even the Clevelands can hardly compare with the Beddoeses."
"But Anthea is such a sweet girl," protested Miss Morrow. "Anyone would like her. And Lady Beddoes's father was only an English professor teaching in Warsaw. She told Anthea."
"Miss Morrow, I don't think you understand these things," said Miss Doggett.
"No, I don't think I do,"said Miss Morrow humbly.
"It would be a splendid thing for Anthea, really splendid," purred Miss Doggett. "I wouldn't have thought she had so much sense."
But sense is just what a girl in love doesn't have, thought Miss Morrow, who didn't understand such things.
The Crampton Hodnet of the title is a nonexistent village created by the new young vicar, Mr. Latimer, to explain a suspicious absence; he claims to have been called to give a sermon in place of an ailing friend. It's the first of many lies, untold truths, and misunderstandings at the heart of the novel. Pym excels here, as in her other novels, at the little dramas in the lives of seemingly little people.
Overall, Crampton Hodnet is a charming novel that I read with a continual smile on my face.
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LibraryThing member thorold
This is Pym's earliest completed novel, written in 1939 but not published until after her death. Unlike her later works, which tend to be set in and around London, this is set in North Oxford, the residential area north of the University Parks that grew up in the late 19th century when colleges
As usual in Pym - in fact, rather more obviously than in the later books - the conventional romantic comedy plot is turned upside down. None of the characters who form romantic attachments really want to marry (or even go to bed with) their counterparts: ultimately they are all happy with their lives as they are, and when things don't work out they heave a private sigh of relief and go about their business as before, having had a nice bit of pleasurable excitement on the way.
It would be interesting to know how much editing went on to prepare the manuscript for publication. There was little in the published text that struck me as particularly dated - I lived in North Oxford for a while about forty years after the book was written, and it didn't seem to have changed much. In fact, I'm sure some of my neighbours had been there since the thirties...
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relaxed their rules to allow Fellows to marry and live outside college.As usual in Pym - in fact, rather more obviously than in the later books - the conventional romantic comedy plot is turned upside down. None of the characters who form romantic attachments really want to marry (or even go to bed with) their counterparts: ultimately they are all happy with their lives as they are, and when things don't work out they heave a private sigh of relief and go about their business as before, having had a nice bit of pleasurable excitement on the way.
It would be interesting to know how much editing went on to prepare the manuscript for publication. There was little in the published text that struck me as particularly dated - I lived in North Oxford for a while about forty years after the book was written, and it didn't seem to have changed much. In fact, I'm sure some of my neighbours had been there since the thirties...
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LibraryThing member bookwoman247
A fairly young cleric who declares his intentions for a comfortable, spinster companion to the rock of North Oxford society, an aging Oxford don who falls foolishly in love with a bright, pretty student in spite of the fact that he has been comfortably married to a worthy woman for many years, and
This was my first exposure to Barbara Pym, and I really enjoyed it.
The characters were great archetypes, (especially the forbidding Mrs. Doggett), and Pym wrote about the follies of love and romance almost as well as Jane Austen. Her observations of human character are just as keen and timelessly relevant as Austen's.
I also loved the feeling at the end that no matter what would go wrong in the lives of the characters there was a dual sense of fresh new beginnings like that of the new school term, and a sense of solid timelessness and comfort like the university, itself.
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his young adult daughter who is madly in love with a shallow young man, who on the surface, seems to be a perfect match - these are the characters that inhabit North Oxford in Barbara Pym's first novel.This was my first exposure to Barbara Pym, and I really enjoyed it.
The characters were great archetypes, (especially the forbidding Mrs. Doggett), and Pym wrote about the follies of love and romance almost as well as Jane Austen. Her observations of human character are just as keen and timelessly relevant as Austen's.
I also loved the feeling at the end that no matter what would go wrong in the lives of the characters there was a dual sense of fresh new beginnings like that of the new school term, and a sense of solid timelessness and comfort like the university, itself.
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LibraryThing member alexdaw
How delightful to curl up with a book that makes you snort and snicker. I know I do keep going on about Barbara Pym but she really is just so thoroughly dependable, that it is balm to the ravaged soul to pick up one of her volumes at the end of a wearying day, doing whatever it is that you do.
I cannot possibly hope to supersede any of the gazillion reviews that have no doubt been written about this particular tome.
For my money, now having read a few of her works, yes it is pretty good, but not so fabulous as say Excellent Women. Or maybe that's because it was my first Barbara Pym.
The best part about this little book is its very title - Crampton Hodnet. Go on. Say it out aloud. You can just see who lives there can't you? It sounds frightfully ...well....English. I have a friend who lives in England at a place called Temple Guting. Can you believe it? I couldn't. And of course it isn't pronounced the way it is written...well, Temple is, but Guting isn't.....well not the way I would pronounce it, but then I am probably ignorant. And yes I know that someone from Orstralia can hardly talk when we have place names like Indooroopilly and Woolloomooloo. But I digress.
Back to Crampton Hodnet - I won't spoil the book for you 'cept to say that it is just as it sounds...The title is a bit of a conceit ...everything in the book is unbelievable. Quite simple really. Once you get the hang of it. We're not talking magical realism here or fabulism, mind you. We are talking incisive and witty observation of a slice of society (let's call it village life) that possibly still exists, despite its use-by-date being well and truly past. In my humble opinion, there is far too little eccentricity these days and the world is poorer for it.
Right. I've said my piece. Get thee to Crampton Hodnet without further ado. Go on - look it up on a map this instant and resolve to go there for a country drive this weekend. The change of air will do you good. And you never know who you might run into....
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Perfect bedtime material.I cannot possibly hope to supersede any of the gazillion reviews that have no doubt been written about this particular tome.
For my money, now having read a few of her works, yes it is pretty good, but not so fabulous as say Excellent Women. Or maybe that's because it was my first Barbara Pym.
The best part about this little book is its very title - Crampton Hodnet. Go on. Say it out aloud. You can just see who lives there can't you? It sounds frightfully ...well....English. I have a friend who lives in England at a place called Temple Guting. Can you believe it? I couldn't. And of course it isn't pronounced the way it is written...well, Temple is, but Guting isn't.....well not the way I would pronounce it, but then I am probably ignorant. And yes I know that someone from Orstralia can hardly talk when we have place names like Indooroopilly and Woolloomooloo. But I digress.
Back to Crampton Hodnet - I won't spoil the book for you 'cept to say that it is just as it sounds...The title is a bit of a conceit ...everything in the book is unbelievable. Quite simple really. Once you get the hang of it. We're not talking magical realism here or fabulism, mind you. We are talking incisive and witty observation of a slice of society (let's call it village life) that possibly still exists, despite its use-by-date being well and truly past. In my humble opinion, there is far too little eccentricity these days and the world is poorer for it.
Right. I've said my piece. Get thee to Crampton Hodnet without further ado. Go on - look it up on a map this instant and resolve to go there for a country drive this weekend. The change of air will do you good. And you never know who you might run into....
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LibraryThing member wishanem
An amusing but rarely laugh-out-loud funny story about romantic dalliances between upper class English people in a college town in the 1930's. I found the relationship between the Oxford Don and his graduate student to be a lot less amusing than the one between the curate and the lady's companion
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who works for his landlady. In the latter case, the very sensible woman in question responds to the curate's romantic overtures with thoughtful consideration and, when he shows that he doesn't really respect her, sarcastic wit. Show Less
LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
A total hoot from beginning to end. I need ALL the Barbara Pym in my life.
LibraryThing member lisalouhoo
This was my first introduction to Barbara Pym. I had decided that I should read some of her books when I found out that she was said to be "the most underrated writer of the century". I was not dissapointed, I found her writing to be very witty, intelligent, and just all around hilarous. As someone
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else on the list just wrote about a book, I found myself running to the drawer for a highlighter while reading the first chapter.Unfortunately I got so wrapped up in the story that I forgot to highlight many great little bits I would have liked to be able to find again. Definitely will be in my reread pile. A quote from the book: "Margaret Cleveland, who had at one time helped and encouraged her husband with his work, had now left him to do it alone, because she feared that with her help it might easily be finished before one of them died, and then where would they be?" This novle was published posthumously, and now having read two more of her books, I find this one to be a little bit more cohesive and flowing than the others, maybe because of a more modern editor. Show Less
LibraryThing member LyzzyBee
(7 Jan 1993)
A very early novel, published after Pym’s death, this is a hilarious portrait of North Oxford life with Miss Doggett and Miss Morrow, who were recycled for “Jane and Prudence“, taking centre stage.
We find the classic Pym clergymen and their wives, women who are bad at being a
A very early novel, published after Pym’s death, this is a hilarious portrait of North Oxford life with Miss Doggett and Miss Morrow, who were recycled for “Jane and Prudence“, taking centre stage.
We find the classic Pym clergymen and their wives, women who are bad at being a
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wife, happy, wry spinsters and of course a curate, described deliciously here at one point as resembling a satisfied marmalade cat, with the addition of the adoration of a professor by his clever student and a delightfully waspish Bodleian librarian. Heavily edited by Hazel Holt, it remains a good, fun read, with plenty to say about love and marriage, spinsters and wives, and fussy and foolish men, with some great characters and some interesting insights into what Pym’s women actually do want out of their relationships with men. Show Less
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
One of Barbara Pym's first books, but never published during her lifetime, this book is set in the time before WWII when an Oxford don could still go to Paris for a dirty weekend -- or not. Crampton Hodnet centers around a group of people in North Oxford -- Miss Doggett, an elderly lady, and her
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paid companion (who considers herself middle-aged at 36; Miss Doggett's nephew, an Oxford don, his wife and daughter; the curate who comes to lodge with Miss Doggett; and Barbara Bird, a student of the don's with whom he begins to fancy himself in love. Various other characters are described with the sardonic wit that is a hallmark of Pym's writing. This is the third of her books that I've reread recently and I'm trying to recall whether it's true of all her major characters that they have virtually no sex drive. And yet, they seem to lead quite happy lives on the whole, and the books about them are far from dull. Crampton Hodnet was left in an unfinished state after Pym's death, and was completed for publication, using Pym's notes, by her friend and literary executor [author: Hazel Holt]. Show Less
LibraryThing member neverlistless
This was a funny and quick read. It's set in North Oxford and centers around a group of neighbors. To me, it showcased human curiosity and how quickly rumors spread and grow. One of the most successful things about this novel was Pym's ability to portray the thought processes of the characters.
Good fun for anyone who likes cozy English novels and wants a good laugh.
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Good fun for anyone who likes cozy English novels and wants a good laugh.
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LibraryThing member KayCliff
This novel was written in 1939, but only published posthumously in 1985. it is set in North Oxford, featuring the places, pleasures and romances of Oxford: the Botanical Gardens, Magdalen Bridge, punting, and private lunch in a man's college rooms (Anthea joins Christopher for lunch in his rooms at
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Randolph, as Pym did Jay in his at Balliol) occur both here and in Pym's published diary, A very private eye. Show Less
LibraryThing member oldblack
An interesting look at the early 20th century upper-middle classes in Oxford, England. The underlying hypocrisy and the constraints of social convention are seen as a framework around which the characters attempt to shape their lives. On one level it's amusing (and this is probably the only level
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it was intended for), but on another level the existence and acceptance of this sort of element in "our" western society is rather depressing. I guess the issue for the modern reader is the question of whether such a bizarre sub-society still could/does exist. Show Less
LibraryThing member ffortsa
An early novel by Barbara Pym, which neatly skewers the small-village pretensions of that very special English middle class set, connected by habit and church and flower shows and vaguely romantic hopes. Pym is subtle and humerous as always.
LibraryThing member ponsonby
Published posthumously, this very early work by Barbara Pym evokes so well the atmosphere of pre-War North Oxford and its various inhabitants. Gently comic but with sharp observation of human foibles. Draws on her own experience of Oxford at this time, of course, although she moved in a set which
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was slightly different from the one depicted in this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member Aspenhugger
"Crampton Hodnet is a consummate farce -- constructed, in recognizably 'Pym' fashion, around a pair of unsuitable attachments. The first involves a young curate and Miss Morrow, who are both residents at Miss Doggett's home, Leamington Lodge. Their attempt to provide a plausibly innocent account of
"In Crampton Hodnet Barbara Pym created characters and prototypes that were to appear time and again in her later novels. Here are early version of her famous clergymen and excellent women; the originals of Miss Doggett and Jessie Morrow from Jane and Prudence, and a new group of characters -- a very distinctively 'Oxford' cast of university dons, ingenuous students, and academic hangers-on."
~~front & back flaps
A charming book, the quintessential English comfort read where nothing much really happens overtly, but a great deal happens subterraneously as the characters entangle themselves in one unrealistic emotion after another. With the exception of Miss Morrow, of course, who has a good head on her shoulders and manages to stave off the certain disaster of an unsuitable marriage.
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a late afternoon excursion into the woods outside Oxford gives rise to the fanciful creation of a nonexistent vicar and village -- the Crampton Hodnet of the title. The second romance is that between a starry-eyed professor and his female student, who is continually falling into traps of her own devising."In Crampton Hodnet Barbara Pym created characters and prototypes that were to appear time and again in her later novels. Here are early version of her famous clergymen and excellent women; the originals of Miss Doggett and Jessie Morrow from Jane and Prudence, and a new group of characters -- a very distinctively 'Oxford' cast of university dons, ingenuous students, and academic hangers-on."
~~front & back flaps
A charming book, the quintessential English comfort read where nothing much really happens overtly, but a great deal happens subterraneously as the characters entangle themselves in one unrealistic emotion after another. With the exception of Miss Morrow, of course, who has a good head on her shoulders and manages to stave off the certain disaster of an unsuitable marriage.
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LibraryThing member japaul22
I like to equate reading Barbara Pym to doing something super relaxing and a little indulgent, like getting a pedicure or an afternoon nap or a leisurely walk in a cool, scenic place. There's something about her writing that is very comforting to me. But at the same time it isn't boring. This book
This was one of her first books and wasn't published posthumously. I think it got some final editing after she died. It was a bit simpler than some of her other books, but I still liked it quite a bit.
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focuses on Miss Morrow, companion to an elderly spinster, and Mr. Cleveland, an Oxford professor. Most of the drama surrounds Mr. Cleveland as he starts an inappropriate relationship with one of his female students. Sounds rather dramatic, but actually it turns out being quite comical.This was one of her first books and wasn't published posthumously. I think it got some final editing after she died. It was a bit simpler than some of her other books, but I still liked it quite a bit.
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LibraryThing member RubyScarlett
I really enjoyed this. It's small scale drama about marriage, proposals and romance that's sharply written with a great deal of humour. No character is spared and that can be hard sometimes as you have nobody to cling to but the minutiae of the characterization is quite unbelievable. I'm very
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surprised I liked this so much as I've been told Barbara Pym is rather strange and definitely not everybody's cup of tea. This seemed harmless to me but again quite tight writing where every word counts. I'm glad I gave this a go. Show Less
LibraryThing member veracite
The moral of the story could be that we're never as important as we imagine we are. Pym could be read very sadly. It's possible to interpret her work as cruelly exposing the triviality of life but Miss Morrow's quiet but irrepressible joy in life is too full hearted. It's such a funny book and Pym
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can paint character in the smallest exchange. Show Less
LibraryThing member Karin7
A farce written by Barbara Pym before others she published first, this was published posthumously based on an old manuscript copy with the author's pencilled in correcitons. Excellent women, curates, professors, beautiful young students, meddling gossips and more work together in an early rendering
If you are a Barbara Pym fan and haven't yet read this book, then it's a must read for you. I liked it, but am not as keen on the humour; I suspect that this is a book I should have listened to.
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of the characters and sorts of characters that mark Barbara Pyms fiction. Crampton Hodnet isn't even a real place, just a last minute excuse made by a curate who inadvertently walked too long with a spinster (later known in her books as excellent women), but comes up a number of times in reference to various incidents.If you are a Barbara Pym fan and haven't yet read this book, then it's a must read for you. I liked it, but am not as keen on the humour; I suspect that this is a book I should have listened to.
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LibraryThing member pgchuis
This was one of the lighter, more humorous ones. Miss Morrow was the wry detached voice here, and I particularly enjoyed Francis and Barbara's 'relationship'. Very entertaining.
LibraryThing member mahallett
good characters. good stories.
LibraryThing member therebelprince
2020 has become my year of rereading the novels of Barbara Pym, my favourite novelist - "favourite" in the sense of "speaks most to my soul", not as in "greatest" or "best"; I believe she would have appreciated the distinction. This is my revised review.
"I feel there's something awkward about a
In sleepy 1930s North Oxford, university don Francis Cleveland tiptoes delicately toward an extramarital affair with one of his students, Barbara Bird, unaware that his idea of a discreet affair is in fact visible to half the town. Francis' daughter Anthea falls in love with the son of a wealthy woman, to the delight of her great-aunt Miss Doggett, whose primary characteristic for a marriage is the postcode of the parents. And Miss Doggett's paid companion, the homely Miss Morrow, has a momentary romance with their lodger, the curate Mr Latimer, which is based primarily on a secret walk along the moor and a conversation in a tool shed during a storm.
Crampton Hodnet is one of my favourite Barbara Pym novels. Its history is inauspicious: written when the author was in her 20s, the young Pym abandoned the novel due to the outbreak of World War II and later decided it was too dated to publish when she became a recognised author. After her death, it was dug out of the archives for publication. While the novel may have a slightly scruffy quality, this is a real joy, very funny, precise in its observations and touching in Pym's portrayals of the quietly unmarried (and the quietly married) residents of North Oxford.
In her trademark ironic third-person style, Pym gives us both the inner thoughts of every character (they're all resigned to lives of comfortable dissatisfaction) and also external views from other characters that remind us so much of life is a study in point-of-view. Pym is often compared to Austen, although I don't personally find their styles all that similar, but Crampton Hodnet is perhaps the closest match - unsurprising as it was written so young, when authors are usually still betraying their influences. The arch narrative voice is as strong here as it ever would be. I'd acknowledge that this book does not have the sheer staying power of Pym's later works, so it's perhaps not the best place for newcomers. But if you've enjoyed even a couple of her books, this should delight too.
Here also we have so many of the tropes of the author's canon. The lives of academics and the clergy, the experience of the women still in their 30s who have resigned themselves to never having love, the daffy young lovers and the imperious older women, the poetry quotations, and a profusion of tea and cake. (Here too we have Pym's first queer characters, in the two young art-lovers Gabriel and Michael; like all of her gay men, they are treated just like any other characters.)
Great fun.
"I feel there's something awkward about a
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silence in a tool shed..."In sleepy 1930s North Oxford, university don Francis Cleveland tiptoes delicately toward an extramarital affair with one of his students, Barbara Bird, unaware that his idea of a discreet affair is in fact visible to half the town. Francis' daughter Anthea falls in love with the son of a wealthy woman, to the delight of her great-aunt Miss Doggett, whose primary characteristic for a marriage is the postcode of the parents. And Miss Doggett's paid companion, the homely Miss Morrow, has a momentary romance with their lodger, the curate Mr Latimer, which is based primarily on a secret walk along the moor and a conversation in a tool shed during a storm.
Crampton Hodnet is one of my favourite Barbara Pym novels. Its history is inauspicious: written when the author was in her 20s, the young Pym abandoned the novel due to the outbreak of World War II and later decided it was too dated to publish when she became a recognised author. After her death, it was dug out of the archives for publication. While the novel may have a slightly scruffy quality, this is a real joy, very funny, precise in its observations and touching in Pym's portrayals of the quietly unmarried (and the quietly married) residents of North Oxford.
In her trademark ironic third-person style, Pym gives us both the inner thoughts of every character (they're all resigned to lives of comfortable dissatisfaction) and also external views from other characters that remind us so much of life is a study in point-of-view. Pym is often compared to Austen, although I don't personally find their styles all that similar, but Crampton Hodnet is perhaps the closest match - unsurprising as it was written so young, when authors are usually still betraying their influences. The arch narrative voice is as strong here as it ever would be. I'd acknowledge that this book does not have the sheer staying power of Pym's later works, so it's perhaps not the best place for newcomers. But if you've enjoyed even a couple of her books, this should delight too.
Here also we have so many of the tropes of the author's canon. The lives of academics and the clergy, the experience of the women still in their 30s who have resigned themselves to never having love, the daffy young lovers and the imperious older women, the poetry quotations, and a profusion of tea and cake. (Here too we have Pym's first queer characters, in the two young art-lovers Gabriel and Michael; like all of her gay men, they are treated just like any other characters.)
Great fun.
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LibraryThing member ParadisePorch
(Fiction, Vintage)
One of Pym’s favourite subjects is the behaviour of anthropologists as they study the behaviour of others. In Crampton Hodnet, she again examines this through a young anthropologist who has moved into her mother’s village home in North Oxford to complete a paper. She cannot
Read this if: you enjoy sly humour about the human condition. 3½ stars
One of Pym’s favourite subjects is the behaviour of anthropologists as they study the behaviour of others. In Crampton Hodnet, she again examines this through a young anthropologist who has moved into her mother’s village home in North Oxford to complete a paper. She cannot
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help observing the inhabitants of the community. This, of course, serves as an outlet for Pym’s observations of human nature. This story is a little more “tied-up” than some of her others and was first published posthumously in 1987.Read this if: you enjoy sly humour about the human condition. 3½ stars
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
This early novel by Barbara Pym, published posthumously, is a comic delight. Filled with misplaced affections between characters whose love lives are fumbled when not being dashed, the novel keeps the reader entertained throughout. While not at the level of a Jane Austen, Pym provides an exquisite
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rendering of the small Oxford society of an earlier time. This with characters that are timeless yields a wonderful read. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1985 (posthumous: completed 1939)
ISBN
0452258162 / 9780452258167
Local notes
fiction