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Green leaves The Journal of the Barbara Pym Society Vol. XXII, No. 1, Spring 2016 “A few green leaves can make such a difference.” — Miss Grundy, A Few Green Leaves North American Conference Report, 11-13 March 2016 by Mary Person n the mild Friday evening of March 11, the 2016 North out that there may be more quotations in this novel than her O American Conference of the Barbara Pym Society got others, and noted that in the case of Belinda’s love for the off to a delightfully Pymmish start at the beautiful Gothic Archdeacon, obscure research and romantic suitability went Revival Church of the Advent in Boston. In the lovely hand in hand, and literature can provide a rich source of atmosphere of the parish hall old friends and new comfort. acquaintances socialized over drinks until Lunch consisted of sandwiches, chips, our host extraordinaire, Tom Sopko, rang and cookies in the Law School’s the gong announcing the buffet dinner. Wasserstein Hall — spacious, modern, Among the delectable dishes were roast loin comfortable and well-lit. This may not be a of pork, artichoke-encrusted salmon, baby style that evokes Pym, but there was greens with gorgonzola and dried nonetheless much Pymmish conversation cranberries, and a delicious cauliflower and observation. After lunch there was the cheese complete with green grape option to see a perennial favorite, the video ‘caterpillars’— not the kind that put Miss Tea with Miss Pym, or briefly stretch one’s Prior off her lunch in Some Tame Gazelle. legs before returning to Austin Hall. After a sinfully rich chocolate tiramisu torte There we had the pleasure of hearing the and fortifying coffee, we made our way into first winner of the Ellen J. Miller Memorial the church to sing some of Barbara’s Essay contest, Prashana Taneja, a favorite hymns, chosen by attendees from Bennington College senior studying hymnbooks and The Pymnal. (One wonders literature and foreign languages, present how Pym would have described eager ‘Sisters Together, Spinsters Forever: attendees jostling to have their favorite Resisting the Goblin in Some Tame hymns chosen.) Throughout, resident church Gazelle’. The reference here is to Christina cats, Simon and Schuster, handsome and Rossetti’s poem ‘Goblin Market’, the sociable black and white males, received goblins being the leering merchant men much admiration. The evening closed with an enthusiastic hoping to sell fruit to young sisters Laura and Lizzie. Similarly rendering of the now customary ‘Unsuitable Things’, ‘Land of Contents Hope and Glory’ and ‘Jerusalem’. 2016 North American Conference Report 1 Saturday morning dawned bright and crisp. Coffee, tea, Summaries of Conference Papers pastries, and conversation were in abundance in Austin Hall at Who’s Who in Some Tame Gazelle 2 the Harvard Law School, where the full complement of The Conflicting Purposes of ‘Obscure Research’ in STG 3 attendees registered then settled in with anticipation for the Rough Draft: Barbara Pym and the Nazis 4 morning’s talks. The splendid Romanesque classroom was Socks and Underthings... 5 adorned with a cheerful arrangement of daffodils and tulips; Love in Her Own Peculiar Way... 5 decorative banners with black and white photos of Pym (with The Ellen J. Miller student essay contest 6 her tortoiseshell cat) hung from the high ceiling. The Second Annual Ellen J. Miller essay contest announcement 7 Tom Sopko had a warm welcome for all, including nineteen Women: a Cultural Review 7 first-timers. (There was also a very young attendee, an infant The Mirror Never Lies (Review) 7 occasionally heard to coo appreciatively.) Tom announced Hazel Holt 1928-2015 8 that, regrettably, BPS founder member and archivist Yvonne Pym, Liddell and ‘Groupism’ in 1930s Oxford 9 Cocking was not able to be with us this year. In her place Talk at the Woodstock Literature Society 10 excellent woman Isabel Stanley read Yvonne’s paper ‘Who’s Siegfried Sassoon 10 Did Ianthe inherit her furniture or did she have to buy it? Who in Some Tame Gazelle’, describing the literary use to 11 Thoughts on a Spiky Problem: the Monkey-Puzzle Tree 11 which Barbara Pym put friends and acquaintances from her Members’ Corner 12 years at Oxford. Many of these friends recognized themselves Readers Recommend 13 and others, and encouraged Barbara’s writing. Dr. Stanley was Gleanings 13 ably assisted by Ann and Dan DiPietro who read appropriate Rambling Rose 14 passages from STG. Mingled with our hearty applause for the Chairman’s Chat 15 readers were our thoughts and good wishes for Yvonne. The Barbara Pym Society 2016–2017 15 Adam Shoemaker spoke next, on ‘The Conflicting Purposes Coming Events 15 of “Obscure Research” in Some Tame Gazelle.’ He pointed Photo Gallery 16 ©2016 The Barbara Pym Society, www.barbara-pym.org Green Leaves, Spring 2016, page 1 Belinda and Harriet Bede ultimately avoided marriage. perfect ending to the conference. After a heartfelt rendition of Laura Shapiro followed with ‘Rough Draft: Barbara Pym ‘Unsuitable Things’ Tom thanked the board for all their help and the Nazis’. Her experience at the Bodleian Library and announced the dates and theme for next year, attendees reading Pym’s first draft of Some Tame Gazelle was chilling gave Tom an enthusiastic round of applause and another — and we felt chilled as she read passages. She described wonderful Pym weekend came to a close. the writing as boring, bad, arch and insular; it was also horrifying to see in it Pym’s early fascination with the Nazis, perhaps influenced by her infatuation with Friedbert Gluck, To all members: if you would like to volunteer to an SS officer she met during a trip to Germany. As finally write a report for the UK conferences, or the Spring published in 1950 the novel is the Pym we know and love, Meeting, please email the Editor: filled with food, household details, knitting, and curates. But [email protected] the questions following Laura’s talk pondered ‘how could Pym have been so naïve?’ Who’s Who in Some Tame Gazelle by Yvonne Cocking arbara Pym used several of her friends from Oxford as B models for characters in Some Tame Gazelle. Barbara and Hilary were to become Belinda and Harriet Bede, of course, Henry Harvey was the Archdeacon, Robert ‘Jock’ Liddell was Dr Parnell, John Barnicot became John Akenside, Honor Tracy was Hester Carey (later Edith Liversidge), Alison West-Watson was Agatha Hoccleve and Roberto Weiss was Count Piozzi (later Count Bianco). In the earliest draft Barbara used her characters’ real names, but by November 1934 the characters had received their fictional names and the Tom Sopko first version of the novel was completed. The next presentation was truly, as Tom put it, ‘something completely different’. Victoria Patterson’s ‘Socks and Underthings: Desire, Seduction, and the Private Life of Spinsters in Some Tame Gazelle’ was a light-hearted look at the role played by ‘combinations’, corsets (such as Harriet’s, twice hidden in the sofa) and the ‘powerful sock-darning scene’ in a novel where seduction and sex are only obliquely suggested. Another lively Q&A was followed by coffee, tea, and cookies. For an afternoon with both Nazis and knitting, surely Pymmish refreshment was in order. Sunday, the last morning of the conference, started with a continental breakfast followed by Michelle Huneven’s talk ‘Love in Her Own Peculiar Way: Barbara Pym, Useless Of Belinda, Harriet and Archdeacon Hoccleve I shall say Longings, and Some Tame Gazelle An Essay in Six little, as much is known about them anyway. I shall Sections’. In the novel, village life was full of unrequited concentrate instead on several of the minor characters and love, as was Barbara’s own life. Dr. Huneven pointed out their real-life models. First, however, you should understand that both Pym and Proust craved ‘love from a dry source’. how these people came to know one another, and to form a close-knit clique. Henry Harvey first met Robert Liddell when he was only 18; Robert was 21, already at Oxford and reading Greats. When Henry went up to Oxford that autumn they became great friends, sharing digs in the Iffley Road, and later at 86b Banbury Road, by which time Robert had taken his degree and was working in the Bodleian Library. One of Robert’s colleagues at the Library was John Barnicot. Though he was four years Robert’s senior, he, Robert and Henry formed a close circle, which was widened by Barnicot’s friend, Count Roberto Weiss, who also did a stint at the Bodleian. Although John Akenside does not actually appear in Some Tame Gazelle, he is frequently referred to by his friend Count Singing ‘Unsuitable Things’ Bianco, who was engaged in preparing Akenside’s letters for The Mighty Pym Players closed out the conference with a publication, and would sit for hours brooding over them. Edith delightful dramatic reading called ‘Popping the Question: Liversidge had also known Akenside in her ‘Balkan Days’ and Marriage Proposal in Pym Novels’. Featuring six it was rumoured that he had been very fond of her, but had unforgettable (and often hysterical) proposals, it was a been too shy to declare himself. The model for Akenside was Green Leaves, Spring 2016, page 2 ©2016 The Barbara Pym Society, www.barbara-pym.org John Barnicot, who specialized in Old Slavonic books at the The Conflicting Purposes of ‘Obscure Research’ Bodleian Library. in Some Tame Gazelle Barbara’s friend Honor Tracy was the model for Hester by Adam Shoemaker Carey. I have to confess a complete failure to find out any more about her. iven the trajectory of Barbara Pym’s life, from her days Hester Carey evidently had the means to travel quite G at Oxford to her literary career and employment in the extensively in Europe, and like many other travellers she International African Institute, it’s not a surprise that her first adopted an eccentrically careless style of dress and behaviour published novel is concerned with the value of ‘obscure which Belinda secretly envied.

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