Authorpreneur Dashboard – Harrison Solow
Felicity & Barbara Pym
Literature & Fiction
“…A fantastic combination of solid scholarship and genuinely arresting narrative. It's a great book and is the heir to the best kind of scholarly writing, i.e. Trilling, that was once appreciated by a literate, general public, as opposed to the indecipherable, navel-gazing garbage that hack Ph.D.'s churn out by the ton these days.” ~ Thomas Vinciguerra, NY Times "A splendid book! Original, controversial, academic, readable, serious, light-hearted, sensible, charming..." - Hazel Holt, Literary Executor of the Barbara Pym Estate, author of Barbara Pym’s biography, A Lot to Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym and editor (with Hilary Pym) of Barbara Pym’s unpublished work, Civil to Strangers and Other Writings; leading crime novelist. "It should be mandatory reading for all undergraduate students of English Literature; no American students of English Literature should be allowed to set foot upon campus without having proved that they have read it..." - Peter Miles, Emeritus Fellow of the English Association.
Book Bubbles from Felicity & Barbara Pym
"O Tempora - O Mores!"
It is all very well to read a novel for entertainment, pleasure, even edification, but without substantial knowledge of the world from which it springs - the context, the culture, the everyday assumptions, the unspoken agreements, the societal expectations, the subtext of common language, the "tempora - the mores" - it would stretch the truth somewhat to say that one understands it. Here, Mallory, the tutor, tries to open the door into a lost world (and, to be sure, a privileged one - but a true world all the same) for her student, Felicity, believing that literature, not unlike life, if it is based on guesses and assumptions, projections and ignorance, isn't worth serious engagement.
Clear-Sightedness
Learning literature - as opposed to learning about it, like the learning of any art, requires discernment. Without that crucial quality, a young and/or impressionable student might simply accept anything that any professor says about it. While I am not a believer in the democracy of all opinions, in which the views of the uninformed, ignorant and/or inexperienced hold as much weight (or even any weight at times) as someone who has studied, reflected, lived a great deal of life in the pursuit knowledge and in the company of other experts/authorities on this/her subject, it is patently clear that the sensibilities of many people are limited or obscured by self-interest and this includes those who teach literature. This is not to denigrate the profession - on the contrary - it is to elevate it. Mallory believes in Felicity's perceptiveness, and urges her to use it in choosing to whom to listen and from whom to take direction.
Juxtapositions in Literature
"The context of this excerpt is at the heart of Felicity
Clear-sightedness
Learning literature - as opposed to learning about it, like the learning of any art, requires discernment. Without that crucial quality, a young and/or impressionable student might simply accept anything that any professor says about it. While I am not a believer in the democracy of all opinions, in which the views of the uninformed, ignorant and/or inexperienced hold as much weight (or even any weight at times) as someone who has studied, reflected, lived a great deal of life in the pursuit knowledge and in the company of other experts/authorities on this/her subject, it is patently clear that the sensibilities of many people are limited or obscured by self-interest and this includes those who teach literature. This is not to denigrate the profession - on the contrary - it is to elevate it. Mallory believes in Felicity's perceptivity, and urges her to use it in choosing to whom to listen and from whom to take direction.
"Why should you read literature?"
"Perhaps you should not." Not everyone is suited to the study of literature ("read" in the context of a British university means "study"). Nor is a university education superior to other kinds of education. Felicity's tutor points this out to her later in the book (and later in their relationship) by saying: "When there are so many kinds of intelligence – so many talents and skills – and so many people of good character and judgment, it is repugnant that an historical and stupid belief in the supremacy of the university has trained us to give credence to only one."
Assumptions
Often when we approach new books, new cultures, new societies (that is, those that are new to us) even if we study assiduously, research conscientiously, and approach them with respect, we find we are lacking the key to understanding them. This may be due to many causes, but in my experience, particularly in cultures that seem similar to us on the surface, the main cause of "not getting it" is the assumptions that we make, and the assumptions that those with whom we are interacting make. One of the significant contributions of the relatively obscure Barbara Pym to the body of English Literature is that she quietly examines the assumptions of her own world and extends them into the world of her readers.
Literary Theory
Mostly, I'm against it.
Tea
Part of Barbara Pym's literary mastery - and charm - is the way in which she is able to both revere and (gently) mock cultural traditions simultaneously. Nowhere is this more evident than in her descriptions of various comestibles and the rituals that surround them, the most iconic of which is Tea. Barbara Pym's work is valuable for many reasons, but among them, one stands out: her authorial kindness toward her characters, whose virtues are never overbearing and whose faults are never condemned. The emotional attachment to customs surrounding food and drink provides a rich sphere for the exploration of character in all of Pym's novels.
An Uncommon Language
The tutor in this book, Mallory Cooper, is determined to see that her young student, Felicity, is fully prepared to enter the world of Letters. Whereas other disciplines confer a title upon their successful graduates (Biologist, Anthropologist, Engineer, Historian, Physicist, etc.) English, or the study of Literature, does not. No one who graduates with a degree in English is called an Englishist. Mallory attempts to give Felicity a thorough background in both the history of English literature and its language so that one day, she may be able to call herself literate. :)
From the Foreword to Felicity
I am indebted to Hazel Holt for her kind assessment of my exploration into literature and into the world of Barbara Pym. I include it to demonstrate the nature of this work. It fits multiple genres, but cannot be contained by a single one.
the nebulous category of "other"
Insight is pending...
Those who can...
This little passage has raised some controversy among a few readers, particularly those who read it on my blog and did not read the book, which goes on to say that there are shining examples of beautifully educated professors, gifted with insight, who understand the process of producing literature and who offer valuable insights on literary process: how literature is engendered - how it forms, grows, eventuates - without any experience of it themselves, but they are few. The intent here was not to purport that anyone who teaches Shakespeare must have written a Shakespeare-quality work but simply that it is *generally* wiser to teach from experience and not from reading about the experience of others. The formation of a text must be taken seriously. Even if a professor has only written critical material (and I consider all writing a "creative" act if it is born of original thought and not merely synthesis of others' ideas) and has not produced original fiction, poetry plays, etc., s/he has a better chance of conveying that formation than someone who is entirely divorced from the creative act and serves only as a critic/pontificator. This is not altogether a popular view.
