A review by michaelontheplanet
An Academic Question by Barbara Pym

3.0

Residuary legatee: I adore the works of Barbara Pym, her tart yet affectionate portraits of the struggling middle classes in the immediate post-war period, particularly those associated with the Church or Oxbridge being mostly pitch perfect. But whilst I can never be disappointed in her work, An Academic Question, published some years after her early death from cancer, is a bit of a different question indeed. Stitched together, scarcely seamlessly, from two manuscript versions, this is no case of invisible mending, and it’s also very much experimentation - first person narrative and a sullen, not terribly likeable, narrator in place of the usual warm, witty character descriptions. That said, there are still plenty of flashes of the trademark Pym shrewdness, such as Caro wanting to say “but it’s not for you…Nothing’s meant for you now,” to an old lady, with her “too bright lipstick and raddled face” moaning about “filthy plays” on television. She’s English, so she doesn’t of course.

Whether this should have seen the light of day is arguable - Pym herself may or may not have wanted it published as it was written during her wilderness years when she was considered unfashionable and out of touch - but it’s difficult to gainsay even a scrap more of her work however much it comes with a health warning. “Gentle cultured people taking a stand against a rising tide of mediocrity” is how she describes a group of her characters - fusty academics, fussy librarians, and a discontented mother and wife, getting together to write a letter of protest to the BBC about changes to Radio 3. That could almost be her epitaph.