Pym, Barbara ___ 1913-1980 ___ British ___ editor, writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Pym was born in Oswestry, Shropshire, studied at Huyton College, and St Hilda's, Oxford. During the Second World War she worked for the censorship office in Bristol, then served in the Women's Royal Naval Service, in Britain and in Naples. After the war she joined the International African Institute, helping to edit one of its journals, and worked there until the mid-1970s. Her first novel, 'Some Tame Gazelle', was published in 1950; others, such as 'Jane and Prudence' and 'A Glass of Blessings', followed in the 1950s. In the 1960s, though, her manuscripts were rejected as being out of step with the times, and, in the early 1970s, her health deteriorated significantly. It was not until 1977, when she was named in the 'Times Literary Supplement' as one of the most under-rated novelists of the century, that, after more than 15 years in a literary wilderness, 'Quartet in Autumn' was published, a book which was then shortlisted for the Booker prize.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - A small square of ivory

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1932-1979 ___ literary military social love/sex health Italy

WEB TEXT LINKS
about and some quotes
about and some quotes
a few citations

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
A Very Private Eye; An Autobiography in Diaries and Letters
 

May 2005, July 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.