What is Felicity & Barbara Pym about?
“It’s about literature. It’s about reading. It’s about writing. It’s about becoming educated, about not assuming things aren’t happening just because you don’t see them happening, about not ever believing that language is a true vehicle for communication – and it’s about knowing that sometimes, in order to get a true education, you have to turn to your butcher.”
Advance Reviews for Felicity & Barbara Pym
“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author of Barbara Pym’s biography, A Lot to Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym and editor (with Hilary Pym) of Barbara Pym’s unpublished work, Civil to Strangers and Other Writings; leading crime novelist, best known for her 20 “Mrs Malory” books and her recent epistolary novel, My Dear Charlotte, based on Jane Austen’s letters.
“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.
“Dryden, a great writer as well as a great critic, created a work of art about works of art. Harrison Solow, in her incisive and delightful study of the novels of Barbara Pym has accomplished a similar feat.” – Mayo Simon, New York playwright, writer of Academy Award winning film, Why Man Creates, lecturer in drama and film writing at Columbia University and California Institute of the Arts, author of The Audience & The Playwright, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2005.
“A terrific piece of writing - I would order it for all first year and second year English students.” – Dr. Thomas Strychacz, Full Professor, Former Dean of Letters, Chair, English Department, Mills College, Former Lecturer at Princeton University, Author of Modernism, Mass Culture, and Professionalism, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
“These ruminations offer unexpected insights that would escape a more mundane critic… a dazzling performance and it fills me with the most exquisite professional envy!” – Thomas Vinciguerra, Deputy Editor of The Week, New York; Contributing Writer, The New York Times.
“… a dramatic monologue which reveals how a life spent reading and thinking about literature has directed consciousness and informed the content of the thinking mind…A fascinating, intriguing presentation, which demands a sequel.” – Christopher Terry, PhD, Examiner for Cambridge University, Scholar at Downing College Cambridge, reviewer for the Times Higher Education Supplement, author of The Ogre of Downing Castle, Revisited: Recollections of Dr F. R. Leavis and Morris Shapira, Libertas Publishing, 2009.
“Harrison Solow seamlessly weaves form and content to create an engrossing hybrid work: epistolary novel cum memoir cum literary critique cum advice column…Masterfully done.” – Heather Hughes, Assistant Editor, Harvard University Press.
