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Less Than Angels
It is surely appropriate that anthropologists, who spend their time studying life and behavior in various societies, should be studied in their turn," says Barbara Pym. In a wonderful twist on her subjects, she has written a book inspecting the behavior of a group of anthropologists. She pits them against each other in affairs of the heart and mind. Academia is an especially rich backdrop. There is competition between the sexes, gender, and age groups. With Pym's keen eye for male pretensions and female susceptibilities, she exploits with good humor. Love will have its way even among the learned, one of whom is in a quandary between an adult and a young student. This is the world of research, grants, libraries and primitive cultures. Here is a particularly interesting contrast between the tribes of Africa and the social matrix of London. As the title implies, civilized society fares not too well on moral grounds to the more primitive societies. Barbara Pym does a masterful job with the mores of the cloistered society of academia.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
431 people are currently reading
2856 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Pym
39 books964 followersPeople know British writer Barbara Pym for her comic novels, such as
Excellent Women
(1952), of English life.
After studying English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, Barbara Pym served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II. From 1950 to 1961, she published six novels, but her 7th was declined by the publisher due to a change in the reading public's tastes.
The turning point for Pym came with a famous article in the 1975 Times Literary Supplement in which two prominent names, Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Pym and Larkin had kept up a private correspondence over a period of many years. Her comeback novel, Quartet in Autumn, was nominated for the Booker Prize. Another novel, The Sweet Dove Died, previously rejected by many publishers, was subsequently published to critical acclaim, and several of her previously unpublished novels were published after her death.
Pym worked at the International African Institute in London for some years, and played a large part in the editing of its scholarly journal, Africa, hence the frequency with which anthropologists crop up in her novels. She never married, despite several close relationships with men, notably Henry Harvey, a fellow Oxford student, and the future politician, Julian Amery. After her retirement, she moved into Barn Cottage at Finstock in Oxfordshire with her younger sister, Hilary, who continued to live there until her death in February 2005. A blue plaque was placed on the cottage in 2006. The sisters played an active role in the social life of the village.
Several strong themes link the works in the Pym "canon", which are more notable for their style and characterisation than for their plots. A superficial reading gives the impression that they are sketches of village or suburban life, with excessive significance being attached to social activities connected with the Anglican church (in particular its Anglo-Catholic incarnation). However, the dialogue is often deeply ironic, and a tragic undercurrent runs through some of the later novels, especially Quartet in Autumn and The Sweet Dove Died.
After studying English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, Barbara Pym served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II. From 1950 to 1961, she published six novels, but her 7th was declined by the publisher due to a change in the reading public's tastes.
The turning point for Pym came with a famous article in the 1975 Times Literary Supplement in which two prominent names, Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Pym and Larkin had kept up a private correspondence over a period of many years. Her comeback novel, Quartet in Autumn, was nominated for the Booker Prize. Another novel, The Sweet Dove Died, previously rejected by many publishers, was subsequently published to critical acclaim, and several of her previously unpublished novels were published after her death.
Pym worked at the International African Institute in London for some years, and played a large part in the editing of its scholarly journal, Africa, hence the frequency with which anthropologists crop up in her novels. She never married, despite several close relationships with men, notably Henry Harvey, a fellow Oxford student, and the future politician, Julian Amery. After her retirement, she moved into Barn Cottage at Finstock in Oxfordshire with her younger sister, Hilary, who continued to live there until her death in February 2005. A blue plaque was placed on the cottage in 2006. The sisters played an active role in the social life of the village.
Several strong themes link the works in the Pym "canon", which are more notable for their style and characterisation than for their plots. A superficial reading gives the impression that they are sketches of village or suburban life, with excessive significance being attached to social activities connected with the Anglican church (in particular its Anglo-Catholic incarnation). However, the dialogue is often deeply ironic, and a tragic undercurrent runs through some of the later novels, especially Quartet in Autumn and The Sweet Dove Died.
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July 18, 2018
Less Than Angels is my introduction to Barbara Pym, and I must say that I found this piece to be very appealing and surprisingly witty. I needed to fulfill a challenge requirement to read a book about anthropology. I dithered for a while in fear of getting myself stuck with a dry, textbook-like experience. Then I happened to stumble across this book, one which tells the story of a group of anthropologists and academicians living in London during the 1950s. Furthermore, I’ve been meaning to read Pym for a couple of years now, so the timing was just right.
Not much really ‘happens’ in this novel. It is solely character-driven, and those that rely on plot for entertainment would likely feel little love for this one. I, however, delight in the subtle nuances of human behavior. I was certainly in good hands with Pym. The book really begins with the return of Tom Mallow, a twenty-nine-year-old anthropologist who has been in Africa studying a primitive tribe for the past couple of years. If you are hoping to ‘visit’ Africa yourself through this book, you will be disappointed. Pym does not take us into the heart of that continent. Rather, we only see the anthropologists at their base camp in the city of London and in the London suburbia. We get a glimpse into their hearts. At first I was dismayed to find I would not get to learn about this particular tribe. Instead, I was pleasantly rewarded with the realization that there is just as much to observe and glean from those that work in the field and in academics itself. A point that Pym herself was trying to convey in this book.
"It is often supposed that those who live and work in academic or intellectual circles are above the petty disputes that vex the rest of us, but it does sometimes seem as if the exalted nature of their work makes it necessary for them to descend occasionally and to refresh themselves, as it were, by squabbling about trivialities."
Catherine Oliphant is a novelist and in a relationship with Tom. She is eager for his return to the flat they share together. Upon his homecoming, it quickly becomes evident that something may be lacking in their relationship with one another. Are the two of them a good match if she doesn’t understand Tom and his work? She writes romance and he’s working on a scholarly thesis. Can she possibly understand people the way he does? He soon meets Deirdre, a young student in the field of anthropology who lives at home with her widowed mother and spinster aunt. She is impressionable and sympathetic, and perhaps just what a guy like Tom could use right now. "She was conscious of little vague longings and a slight feeling of discontent, but these were not unusual. She wished she were cleverer and had a flat of her own and she would have liked to be in love."
Barbara Pym is actually quite brilliant. At first it seemed that we would get a brief overview of several characters. Then I realized that she was in fact placing them under a microscope. It was done very subtly. I never thought I was studying each individual so thoroughly. But a clever sentence here and there managed to fully illuminate each character’s distinct personality. There are the unseasoned students of anthropology as well as the more experienced and eccentric lot. Mark and Digby provided the majority of little laughs – they are like those guys that sit off to the side with their own snarky commentary. Somehow you couldn’t help but like them, even if you completely disagreed with their ‘insights’. Alaric Lydgate is a mystery to Deirdre’s mother and aunt. He recently moved in next door and could occasionally be spotted wearing an African mask. He has trunks full of notes on his research of an African tribe - which he hordes completely to himself, rather than sharing with his collegiate community. Central to the story, however, is the intricate relationship between Tom and Catherine and Deirdre. I adored Catherine. She exhibits the most growth in the novel and Tom really has her all wrong. She may ‘just write novels’, but she has as much insight into human character as Barbara Pym herself.
"She had often wondered why it was that anthropologists seemed to explore only the lower strata of their own society. Perhaps it was a kind of hidden fear that they might prove unworthy in some way, for she was sure that the experience of a debutante dance in Belgravia would be as rewarding for them as any piece of native ceremonial."
I was quite pleased with my introduction to this author and will not hesitate to read another of hers in the future. I believe I have a copy of Excellent Women sitting on my shelf at home, so may grab that one next time I’m due for another Pym.
"What odd turns life does take! And how much more comfortable it sometimes was to observe it from a distance, to look down from an upper window, as it were, as the anthropologists did."
Not much really ‘happens’ in this novel. It is solely character-driven, and those that rely on plot for entertainment would likely feel little love for this one. I, however, delight in the subtle nuances of human behavior. I was certainly in good hands with Pym. The book really begins with the return of Tom Mallow, a twenty-nine-year-old anthropologist who has been in Africa studying a primitive tribe for the past couple of years. If you are hoping to ‘visit’ Africa yourself through this book, you will be disappointed. Pym does not take us into the heart of that continent. Rather, we only see the anthropologists at their base camp in the city of London and in the London suburbia. We get a glimpse into their hearts. At first I was dismayed to find I would not get to learn about this particular tribe. Instead, I was pleasantly rewarded with the realization that there is just as much to observe and glean from those that work in the field and in academics itself. A point that Pym herself was trying to convey in this book.
"It is often supposed that those who live and work in academic or intellectual circles are above the petty disputes that vex the rest of us, but it does sometimes seem as if the exalted nature of their work makes it necessary for them to descend occasionally and to refresh themselves, as it were, by squabbling about trivialities."
Catherine Oliphant is a novelist and in a relationship with Tom. She is eager for his return to the flat they share together. Upon his homecoming, it quickly becomes evident that something may be lacking in their relationship with one another. Are the two of them a good match if she doesn’t understand Tom and his work? She writes romance and he’s working on a scholarly thesis. Can she possibly understand people the way he does? He soon meets Deirdre, a young student in the field of anthropology who lives at home with her widowed mother and spinster aunt. She is impressionable and sympathetic, and perhaps just what a guy like Tom could use right now. "She was conscious of little vague longings and a slight feeling of discontent, but these were not unusual. She wished she were cleverer and had a flat of her own and she would have liked to be in love."
Barbara Pym is actually quite brilliant. At first it seemed that we would get a brief overview of several characters. Then I realized that she was in fact placing them under a microscope. It was done very subtly. I never thought I was studying each individual so thoroughly. But a clever sentence here and there managed to fully illuminate each character’s distinct personality. There are the unseasoned students of anthropology as well as the more experienced and eccentric lot. Mark and Digby provided the majority of little laughs – they are like those guys that sit off to the side with their own snarky commentary. Somehow you couldn’t help but like them, even if you completely disagreed with their ‘insights’. Alaric Lydgate is a mystery to Deirdre’s mother and aunt. He recently moved in next door and could occasionally be spotted wearing an African mask. He has trunks full of notes on his research of an African tribe - which he hordes completely to himself, rather than sharing with his collegiate community. Central to the story, however, is the intricate relationship between Tom and Catherine and Deirdre. I adored Catherine. She exhibits the most growth in the novel and Tom really has her all wrong. She may ‘just write novels’, but she has as much insight into human character as Barbara Pym herself.
"She had often wondered why it was that anthropologists seemed to explore only the lower strata of their own society. Perhaps it was a kind of hidden fear that they might prove unworthy in some way, for she was sure that the experience of a debutante dance in Belgravia would be as rewarding for them as any piece of native ceremonial."
I was quite pleased with my introduction to this author and will not hesitate to read another of hers in the future. I believe I have a copy of Excellent Women sitting on my shelf at home, so may grab that one next time I’m due for another Pym.
"What odd turns life does take! And how much more comfortable it sometimes was to observe it from a distance, to look down from an upper window, as it were, as the anthropologists did."
December 16, 2020
”Catherine was small and thin and thought of herself, with a certain amount of complacency, as looking like Jane Eyre or a Victorian child whose head has been cropped because of scarlet fever. It was natural for her to look a little ragged and untidy; and the fashions of the day, when women in their thirties could dress like girls of twenty in the flat-heeled shoes and loose jackets, their hair apparently cut with nail scissors, suited her very well.”
Catherine Oliphant writes gossipy columns by day and reads depressing Victorian poets by night. She probably drinks too much, eats too little, and would be considered a modern woman;... after all, she lives with a man...out of wedlock. Tom Mallow is an anthropologist who has detribalized himself from the upper classes he was born to. He has that ”glamour of darkest Africa” about him that certainly sets him apart from other men his age. He has just come back from Africa and soon realizes that he wants to return as soon as possible.
Instead of racing home, as I would, for a shag and a healthy dose of Catherine’s sparkling wit, which was certainly in short supply in Africa, he stops by the anthropology department at the university, looking for some mates to go have a drink with. He has to settle for an undergraduate by the name of Deirdre Swan. She is an impressionable little thing, doe-like, the grand opposite of Catherine. ”She darted an amused look at him, and he thought how different her merry sardonic grey eyes were from Deirdre’s intense brown ones with their spaniel-like look of devotion.”
The men of the anthropology department are fascinated by Catherine and Tom’s relationship. ”It would be a reciprocal relationship--the woman giving the food and shelter and doing some typing for him and the man giving the priceless gift of himself.” Okay, so I nearly spit out a martini olive when I read that line…priceless gift of himself just slays me. I do wonder if Barbara Pym is speaking from personal experience; certainly, we have all witnessed this manifestation among our coupled friends.
There is one other fascinating character by the name of Alaric Wydgate. He is another darkest Africa gentleman, but it doesn’t make him look glamorous as much as it makes him look weird. Of course, maybe this has something to do with it: ”At the thought of Africa the expression on Alaric’s face might have been seen to soften, had his face been visible, but it was concealed under a mask of red beans and palm fibre….He often thought what a good thing it would be if the wearing of masks or animals’ heads could become customary for persons over a certain age. How restful social intercourse would be if the face did not have to assume any expression--the strained look of interest, the simulated delight or surprise, the anxious concern one didn’t really feel.” We’ve experienced this to some degree recently with the masks during COVID, but the eyes are the windows to the soul and, therefore, must reveal all. Our eyes must tell people whether we are smiling or frowning.
Catherine finds Alaric quite interesting. Maybe, it is the maudlin side that goes so well with her depressing Victorian poets. Has our odd, little three-way relationship expanded to four?
This book was published in Britain in 1955, but in the US in 1957 by Vanguard Press. The cover is quite fun, much more fun than the Dutton cover that I had to select out of the options available. Unfortunately, the book sold less than 1400 copies, so I feel very fortunate to have found one. This dismal showing kept American publishers from publishing her work again until the 1970s when there was a resurgence of interest. Barbara Pym lived her life very similarly to Catherine Oliphant. She never married, nor had kids. She did have some long-term relationships with men, but must have made it clear that she wasn’t interested in Beyoncing her finger. The dust jacket makes comparisons to Nancy Mitford and Eveyln Waugh. I agree with the Mitford reference, but not so much with the Waugh. Pym’s humor has a cutting, witty edge that is more subtle than Waugh’s humor. I found this book to be hilarious, but many reviewers I see were expecting a Waugh-type experience and, for whatever reason, could not enjoy the more out-of-the-side-of-her-mouth humor that Pym used so brilliantly to show the ridiculousness of most of our lives.
This is the second Pym book I’ve read. I also enjoyed The Sweet Dove Died, which you can read my thoughts here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Louise Erdrich, in her travel book Books and Islands, mentions what pleasures reading Henry James and Barbara Pym were for her. I adore Henry James and realized, the moment I read those words, that I have neglected Pym. I quickly rectified that oversight and will soon be tracking down more of her books to read.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
Catherine Oliphant writes gossipy columns by day and reads depressing Victorian poets by night. She probably drinks too much, eats too little, and would be considered a modern woman;... after all, she lives with a man...out of wedlock. Tom Mallow is an anthropologist who has detribalized himself from the upper classes he was born to. He has that ”glamour of darkest Africa” about him that certainly sets him apart from other men his age. He has just come back from Africa and soon realizes that he wants to return as soon as possible.
Instead of racing home, as I would, for a shag and a healthy dose of Catherine’s sparkling wit, which was certainly in short supply in Africa, he stops by the anthropology department at the university, looking for some mates to go have a drink with. He has to settle for an undergraduate by the name of Deirdre Swan. She is an impressionable little thing, doe-like, the grand opposite of Catherine. ”She darted an amused look at him, and he thought how different her merry sardonic grey eyes were from Deirdre’s intense brown ones with their spaniel-like look of devotion.”
The men of the anthropology department are fascinated by Catherine and Tom’s relationship. ”It would be a reciprocal relationship--the woman giving the food and shelter and doing some typing for him and the man giving the priceless gift of himself.” Okay, so I nearly spit out a martini olive when I read that line…priceless gift of himself just slays me. I do wonder if Barbara Pym is speaking from personal experience; certainly, we have all witnessed this manifestation among our coupled friends.
There is one other fascinating character by the name of Alaric Wydgate. He is another darkest Africa gentleman, but it doesn’t make him look glamorous as much as it makes him look weird. Of course, maybe this has something to do with it: ”At the thought of Africa the expression on Alaric’s face might have been seen to soften, had his face been visible, but it was concealed under a mask of red beans and palm fibre….He often thought what a good thing it would be if the wearing of masks or animals’ heads could become customary for persons over a certain age. How restful social intercourse would be if the face did not have to assume any expression--the strained look of interest, the simulated delight or surprise, the anxious concern one didn’t really feel.” We’ve experienced this to some degree recently with the masks during COVID, but the eyes are the windows to the soul and, therefore, must reveal all. Our eyes must tell people whether we are smiling or frowning.
Catherine finds Alaric quite interesting. Maybe, it is the maudlin side that goes so well with her depressing Victorian poets. Has our odd, little three-way relationship expanded to four?
This book was published in Britain in 1955, but in the US in 1957 by Vanguard Press. The cover is quite fun, much more fun than the Dutton cover that I had to select out of the options available. Unfortunately, the book sold less than 1400 copies, so I feel very fortunate to have found one. This dismal showing kept American publishers from publishing her work again until the 1970s when there was a resurgence of interest. Barbara Pym lived her life very similarly to Catherine Oliphant. She never married, nor had kids. She did have some long-term relationships with men, but must have made it clear that she wasn’t interested in Beyoncing her finger. The dust jacket makes comparisons to Nancy Mitford and Eveyln Waugh. I agree with the Mitford reference, but not so much with the Waugh. Pym’s humor has a cutting, witty edge that is more subtle than Waugh’s humor. I found this book to be hilarious, but many reviewers I see were expecting a Waugh-type experience and, for whatever reason, could not enjoy the more out-of-the-side-of-her-mouth humor that Pym used so brilliantly to show the ridiculousness of most of our lives.
This is the second Pym book I’ve read. I also enjoyed The Sweet Dove Died, which you can read my thoughts here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Louise Erdrich, in her travel book Books and Islands, mentions what pleasures reading Henry James and Barbara Pym were for her. I adore Henry James and realized, the moment I read those words, that I have neglected Pym. I quickly rectified that oversight and will soon be tracking down more of her books to read.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
August 4, 2024
I'm reading Pym's novels in sequence and this, her fourth, a tale of anthropologists and their loved ones in 1950s English suburbia, didn't grab me nearly as much as the first three. Not at first. But at a certain point Pym set her character Catherine, a nonconforming romance novelist, aflame: I was suddenly gobsmacked, wondering just how far the blaze might carry us.
January 9, 2019
After having finished two very heavy, very depressing books, I definitely needed something light and amusing, but not insipid. My intelligence was still intact, my spirit just needed uplifting. I was looking at my bookshelves, and this Barbara Pym novel subtly jumped into my lap. I say subtle because that's what Pym excels at. Subtle humor, subtle sarcasm, subtle plot developments. All delivered so gently that the characters sometimes never get it, but the reader is doing fist pumps and loving what they know is going to happen.
An older woman with experience versus a nineteen year old in love, clueless men, widows, old-maids, vicars, and English middle class values, mixing it up with anthropologists, grants and thesis papers, make for a wonderful couple of days or me, de-stressing and re-charging with a favorite author who never disappoints.
An older woman with experience versus a nineteen year old in love, clueless men, widows, old-maids, vicars, and English middle class values, mixing it up with anthropologists, grants and thesis papers, make for a wonderful couple of days or me, de-stressing and re-charging with a favorite author who never disappoints.
March 8, 2017
More complicated and sad than Excellent Women, much better than Jane and Prudence. As grey a world as you'd expect, with people as small as you'd think, but shot through with at least a few characters that try to stay alive- I loved Catherine. The stock secondary younger set were entertaining. A lot more open and biting humor than I'd seen in either of the other two novels I'd read. Less patience as well, in a good way. The leading men were less than inspiring, per usual. Digby is the only one who can come over for dinner with Catherine, go hang the rest. I think I'd quite like to read Quartet in Autumn next.
August 2, 2022
I chose another Pym to read so soon because I needed something “light” and reliable. Though her recurrent themes are present, the focus is on a group of anthropologists. A few are still in university, working in the library, and hoping for grants to work in the “field.”
The satire arises through Pym’s stock characters, including two sisters who live together, one the mother of a student. The two women, especially the aunt, watch and comment on the other characters. Their genteel voyeurism encompasses their next-door neighbor who dons African masks at night in the privacy of his own yard.
The anthropologists talk about past experiences, some of them anticipating a return to the field, while the sisters perform their own anthropological studies on them, especially when it comes to their mating patterns.
I enjoyed this for the most part, but some of the characters seemed superfluous and, as is the way with satire, not fleshed out.
The satire arises through Pym’s stock characters, including two sisters who live together, one the mother of a student. The two women, especially the aunt, watch and comment on the other characters. Their genteel voyeurism encompasses their next-door neighbor who dons African masks at night in the privacy of his own yard.
The anthropologists talk about past experiences, some of them anticipating a return to the field, while the sisters perform their own anthropological studies on them, especially when it comes to their mating patterns.
I enjoyed this for the most part, but some of the characters seemed superfluous and, as is the way with satire, not fleshed out.
December 14, 2021
In my subscription to a London bookshop, I received Excellent women one month, and Pym’s biography next. As I had not yet read any Pym and before embarking on the 600-page account of her life I thought I had to read at least two more of her novels.
This was my second Pym. Her novels seem to continue each other, not the plot, but as if they were contiguous vignettes of the same world populated with similar characters (some of her characters do pop up in more than one book). The reader is to observe them, establish their patterns of behaviour, their prejudices, their fears, their customs and particularly the way they interact with each other establishing their relative hierarchies and kinship. The reader will inevitably feel like an anthropologist. But in her witticism Pym gives her work another twist as those specimens observed are anthropologist too – who are less than angels.
In many ways Barbara Pym reminds me of Agatha Christie. No murder, no crime, although there is something to solve in Pym too. Both writers also situate their fictional contexts very close to other subjects, Archaeology for Christie, Anthropology for Pym. And all this done in a mode of utter Englishness.
This will not be my last Pym novel.
January 15, 2024
She lived on the shabby side of Regent’s Park in a flat over a news agent’s shop which she had taken cheaply at the end of the war. She sometimes felt, as she climbed the worn linoleum-covered stairs, that she was worthy of a more gracious setting, but then there are few of us who do not occasionally set a higher value on ourselves than Fate has done. (p. 26)
August 7, 2020
Thus far, I have really enjoyed Barbara Pym's work. Mind you, I’ve read only three books, but I've purchased a stack of them to be enjoyed (I hope) in the future. Less Than Angels seems to explore the opposite end of life to Quartet in Autumn, studying university students instead of retiring civil servants. Having been an undergraduate and having taken a number of archaeology & anthropology courses, I remembered some of my own experiences and realize that I was just as green as these young people.
Pym's experience as assistant editor of the anthropological journal Africa is on display in this novel. She writes confidently about departmental politics and finances, relations between faculty members, and the unacknowledged underpinning of single female secretaries & assistants who make the whole thing run smoothly. I wonder if Edith Clovis was based on someone she knew?
Usually, Pym's observations are quite gentle, but this novel seems a bit more ruthless, somehow. As when she has one of the young men comment on Tom & Catherine's common law relationship:
Apparently male entitlement was fully recognized in 1955!
Pym would have been in her early 40s when this was published and have been living with her formerly-married sister, Rhoda to her sister's Mabel in terms of this book. Still young yet, which may have been the source of the observation of Deirdre: “She was as yet too young to have learned that women of her aunt's age could still be interested in men; she would have many years to go before the rather dreadful suspicion that one probably never does cease to be interested.”
Tom, the highly sought after anthropology student, would have been far more comfortable in a polygamous society where he could have been amourously attached to all three young women. The reactions of Digby & Mark on their interview weekend when their prof indicated that they should be celibate in the field was telling too. Oh, the good old double standard, where women are supposed to be chaste and put up with men who are not!
This is not the dark, distant past, but still it seems far from our reality. I love my glimpses into this world through the shrewd eyes of Miss Pym. Human nature doesn't change, so her observations still hit the mark for me.
Cross posted at my blog:
https://wanda-thenextfifty.blogspot.c...
Pym's experience as assistant editor of the anthropological journal Africa is on display in this novel. She writes confidently about departmental politics and finances, relations between faculty members, and the unacknowledged underpinning of single female secretaries & assistants who make the whole thing run smoothly. I wonder if Edith Clovis was based on someone she knew?
Usually, Pym's observations are quite gentle, but this novel seems a bit more ruthless, somehow. As when she has one of the young men comment on Tom & Catherine's common law relationship:
""It would be a reciprocal relationship--the woman giving the food and shelter and doing some typing for him, and the man giving the priceless gift of himself," said Mark, swaying a little and bumping into a tree. "It is commoner in our society than many people would suppose."
Apparently male entitlement was fully recognized in 1955!
Pym would have been in her early 40s when this was published and have been living with her formerly-married sister, Rhoda to her sister's Mabel in terms of this book. Still young yet, which may have been the source of the observation of Deirdre: “She was as yet too young to have learned that women of her aunt's age could still be interested in men; she would have many years to go before the rather dreadful suspicion that one probably never does cease to be interested.”
Tom, the highly sought after anthropology student, would have been far more comfortable in a polygamous society where he could have been amourously attached to all three young women. The reactions of Digby & Mark on their interview weekend when their prof indicated that they should be celibate in the field was telling too. Oh, the good old double standard, where women are supposed to be chaste and put up with men who are not!
This is not the dark, distant past, but still it seems far from our reality. I love my glimpses into this world through the shrewd eyes of Miss Pym. Human nature doesn't change, so her observations still hit the mark for me.
Cross posted at my blog:
https://wanda-thenextfifty.blogspot.c...
October 7, 2020
Less than Angels is a quality, character driven work by Barbara Pym with the plot being ostensibly around academia and anthropologists in London in the 1950s.
We meet the cast over a brief period in their lives where study, graduation and mid-period plans, including overseas expeditions, as well as grants collide with young love, flat sharing, families and backgrounds alongside the lives of experienced lecturers, anthropologists and clerical assistants.
Barbara Pym draws on her own experiences of people as a university student and a writer; her WWII service in the Royal Navy as a postal censor and, tellingly here, a assistant editor of the respected and scholarly journal Africa, to tell her story. It is a clever approach as we find ourselves not just being introduced to each character but through the book's progress being able to learn and consider their actions: in short the pen of Ms Pym allows us to study the anthropologists.
Alongside this we get a picture of 1950s London and the suburban areas that touch it. We also experience the country set; their family wishes, plans and disappointments for their "people", alongside the bed-sit existence and scraping food together of the young whilst studying.
There are also some quality touches on the role of the church in the story and some funny pieces on the various church figures' behaviour and actions - again we the reader are studying church folk and our wider casts connection and thoughts on ecclesiastical services (high church, low church and plain old modern stuff), church buildings and the people who go regularly, now and again or just because. The story also has a couple of surprise moments that create reaction, tension and other human responses for our people in the book.
Overall, this is a clever and enjoyable book from an author who is not as well read today as perhaps she should be. Being a former Booker nominee and writing in a style that cleverly deals with people and people's lives with humour, pathos and keen observation she is to be applauded and not hidden away.
My book was a Large Print edition published in 2010 by BBC Audio Books by arrangement with Little, Brown Book Group. 290 printed pages with an introduction on Pym by Salley Vickers. Originally published 1955 by Jonathan Cape.
We meet the cast over a brief period in their lives where study, graduation and mid-period plans, including overseas expeditions, as well as grants collide with young love, flat sharing, families and backgrounds alongside the lives of experienced lecturers, anthropologists and clerical assistants.
Barbara Pym draws on her own experiences of people as a university student and a writer; her WWII service in the Royal Navy as a postal censor and, tellingly here, a assistant editor of the respected and scholarly journal Africa, to tell her story. It is a clever approach as we find ourselves not just being introduced to each character but through the book's progress being able to learn and consider their actions: in short the pen of Ms Pym allows us to study the anthropologists.
Alongside this we get a picture of 1950s London and the suburban areas that touch it. We also experience the country set; their family wishes, plans and disappointments for their "people", alongside the bed-sit existence and scraping food together of the young whilst studying.
There are also some quality touches on the role of the church in the story and some funny pieces on the various church figures' behaviour and actions - again we the reader are studying church folk and our wider casts connection and thoughts on ecclesiastical services (high church, low church and plain old modern stuff), church buildings and the people who go regularly, now and again or just because. The story also has a couple of surprise moments that create reaction, tension and other human responses for our people in the book.
Overall, this is a clever and enjoyable book from an author who is not as well read today as perhaps she should be. Being a former Booker nominee and writing in a style that cleverly deals with people and people's lives with humour, pathos and keen observation she is to be applauded and not hidden away.
My book was a Large Print edition published in 2010 by BBC Audio Books by arrangement with Little, Brown Book Group. 290 printed pages with an introduction on Pym by Salley Vickers. Originally published 1955 by Jonathan Cape.
July 18, 2023
This 1955 novel by Pym follows quite neatly on from her Excellent Women as Miss Clovis features strongly, Everard Bone gets some mentions , and the whole thing is set in London around what is probably UCL's anthropology institute.
What makes is all such fun is Pym's adoption of an anthropological eye herself as she observes and records the rituals and rites of students and academics: the jostling of students to get grants, the anxiety of finishing that thesis, the pressure of publishing, and push-pull of rivalry-collegiality.
Amidst all the academic shenanigans is young undergraduate Deirdre who falls for doctoral student and supposedly brilliant young anthropologist Tom Barrow - who, unfortunately, is less decisive: living with Catherine (the Pym character: a writer who forges her own life), and with a hankering for his first love, Elaine, in his home town.
I especially love Alaric Lydgate who prances around his garden hiding behind carved African masks, with trunks full of field notes he's never written up. And Pym's sending up of those 'excellent women' who hold colonial stereotypes of life in Africa.
With lots of comforting cups of tea and glasses of sherry, Pym mingles the riotous with a fascinating portrait of 1950s academic London.
What makes is all such fun is Pym's adoption of an anthropological eye herself as she observes and records the rituals and rites of students and academics: the jostling of students to get grants, the anxiety of finishing that thesis, the pressure of publishing, and push-pull of rivalry-collegiality.
Amidst all the academic shenanigans is young undergraduate Deirdre who falls for doctoral student and supposedly brilliant young anthropologist Tom Barrow - who, unfortunately, is less decisive: living with Catherine (the Pym character: a writer who forges her own life), and with a hankering for his first love, Elaine, in his home town.
I especially love Alaric Lydgate who prances around his garden hiding behind carved African masks, with trunks full of field notes he's never written up. And Pym's sending up of those 'excellent women' who hold colonial stereotypes of life in Africa.
With lots of comforting cups of tea and glasses of sherry, Pym mingles the riotous with a fascinating portrait of 1950s academic London.
March 13, 2018
'After all, life isn’t really so unpleasant as some writer make out, is it?' she added hopefully.
'No, perhaps not. It’s comic and sad and indefinite – dull, sometimes, but seldom really tragic or deliriously happy, except when one’s very young.'
'After the war, I got a job at the International African Institute in London. I was mostly engaged in editorial work, smoothing out the written results of other people’s researches, but I learned more than that in the process. I learned how it was possible and even essential to cultivate an attitude of detachment towards life and people, and how the novelist could even do “field-work” as the anthropologist did. And I also met a great many people of a type I hadn’t met before. The result of all this was a novel called Less Than Angels, which is about anthropologists working at a research centre in London, and also the suburban background of Deirdre, one of the heroines, and her life with her mother and aunt. There’s a little church life in it too, so that it could be said to be a mixture of all the worlds I had experience of. I felt in this novel that I was breaking new ground by venturing into the academic scene.'
–Barbara Pym, “Finding a Voice” (1978 BBC radio talk)
Review to come.
'No, perhaps not. It’s comic and sad and indefinite – dull, sometimes, but seldom really tragic or deliriously happy, except when one’s very young.'
'After the war, I got a job at the International African Institute in London. I was mostly engaged in editorial work, smoothing out the written results of other people’s researches, but I learned more than that in the process. I learned how it was possible and even essential to cultivate an attitude of detachment towards life and people, and how the novelist could even do “field-work” as the anthropologist did. And I also met a great many people of a type I hadn’t met before. The result of all this was a novel called Less Than Angels, which is about anthropologists working at a research centre in London, and also the suburban background of Deirdre, one of the heroines, and her life with her mother and aunt. There’s a little church life in it too, so that it could be said to be a mixture of all the worlds I had experience of. I felt in this novel that I was breaking new ground by venturing into the academic scene.'
–Barbara Pym, “Finding a Voice” (1978 BBC radio talk)
Review to come.
March 1, 2025
I’ve long been a fan of Barbara Pym, having read most of her books when they were reissued (late 70s, early 80s?) after she was rediscovered for the first time. She’s currently much in favor again, and there is good reason for that.
Although her characters would be generally out of place in the contemporary world, her cool observations about them have a universal appeal. There are more women than men, and they are generally, though not always, unmarried. Although they may sometimes pine for romantic entanglements, very often they have become comfortable with their lives.
The focus of this book is not domesticity and parish life, a situation common to many of her books. The community here is the academic world of anthropologists. The action is triggered by Tom, who has just rejoined his live-in girlfriend Catherine after working in “the field” for two years. Tom and Catherine, who writes stories and articles for women’s magazines, sense a shift in their relationship and before long Tom becomes involved with Deirdre, a fresh and worshipful undergraduate. Also in their circle are four young anthropologists competing for a grant that will finance their own work in “the field”; several more seasoned academics and administrators; an eccentric colonial civil servant and wanna be scholar recently returned from Africa; and Deirdre’s family, his next-door neighbors.
Tom has lived a charmed life and spends much of the book undecided among the three women in his life. Catherine is a delicious character, something of a bohemian (she cooks with garlic!) who nevertheless relishes the occasional exposure to the warmth and concern of Deirdre’s close-knit, conventional family.
A running theme in the book is the parallel between how the anthropologists observe and record minutiae about people in “the field”, and the challenges the same individuals face as they navigate different social environments they encounter in and around London. Tom muses on this matter:
”It was odd to think that he himself had once been on the threshold of that kind of life and that he had thrown it all away, as it were, to go out to Africa and study the ways of a so-called primitive tribe. For really, when one came to consider it, what could be more primitive than the rigid ceremonial of launching a debutante on the marriage market?”
Although Less Than Angels may lack the brilliance of Excellent Women, there is much to admire here. Pym’s trademark wit is always present, and although nothing much actually happens over the course of the book, all the small elements are carefully rendered and the resolutions, such as they are, fit together admirably.
This fleeting, casual comment seems like a throwaway but captures much of the feeling of the book:
“She sometimes felt… that she was worthy of a more gracious setting, but then there are few of us who do not occasionally set a higher value on ourselves than fate has done.”
Although her characters would be generally out of place in the contemporary world, her cool observations about them have a universal appeal. There are more women than men, and they are generally, though not always, unmarried. Although they may sometimes pine for romantic entanglements, very often they have become comfortable with their lives.
The focus of this book is not domesticity and parish life, a situation common to many of her books. The community here is the academic world of anthropologists. The action is triggered by Tom, who has just rejoined his live-in girlfriend Catherine after working in “the field” for two years. Tom and Catherine, who writes stories and articles for women’s magazines, sense a shift in their relationship and before long Tom becomes involved with Deirdre, a fresh and worshipful undergraduate. Also in their circle are four young anthropologists competing for a grant that will finance their own work in “the field”; several more seasoned academics and administrators; an eccentric colonial civil servant and wanna be scholar recently returned from Africa; and Deirdre’s family, his next-door neighbors.
Tom has lived a charmed life and spends much of the book undecided among the three women in his life. Catherine is a delicious character, something of a bohemian (she cooks with garlic!) who nevertheless relishes the occasional exposure to the warmth and concern of Deirdre’s close-knit, conventional family.
A running theme in the book is the parallel between how the anthropologists observe and record minutiae about people in “the field”, and the challenges the same individuals face as they navigate different social environments they encounter in and around London. Tom muses on this matter:
”It was odd to think that he himself had once been on the threshold of that kind of life and that he had thrown it all away, as it were, to go out to Africa and study the ways of a so-called primitive tribe. For really, when one came to consider it, what could be more primitive than the rigid ceremonial of launching a debutante on the marriage market?”
Although Less Than Angels may lack the brilliance of Excellent Women, there is much to admire here. Pym’s trademark wit is always present, and although nothing much actually happens over the course of the book, all the small elements are carefully rendered and the resolutions, such as they are, fit together admirably.
This fleeting, casual comment seems like a throwaway but captures much of the feeling of the book:
“She sometimes felt… that she was worthy of a more gracious setting, but then there are few of us who do not occasionally set a higher value on ourselves than fate has done.”
December 1, 2023
En la Inglaterra 🏴 de postguerra muchas cosas han cambiado, las mujeres ya son parte activa de la vida académica y laboral, lo que hace que las relaciones humanas se vuelvan más ricas y complejas.
Ambientada en un entorno académico, antropólogos de todo tipo, estudiantes, profesores, investigadores, filántropos, nos sumergen en sus cuitas, desde las zozobras de los estudiantes por haber escogido esta carrera, los vericuetos y chismes en los pasillos, la pelea encarnizada por becas y donaciones, hacen de esta historia un entramado bastante entretenido, para distender un poco la cosa, se incluye una dosis de amor que conlleva las esperadas complicaciones.
Tom es un graduado exitoso, tiene una beca que le subvenciona sus investigaciones en Africa, tiene una pareja que es Catherine, mujer independiente que escribe artículos e historias ligeras y divertidas para revistas, viven juntos más por comodidad que por una decisión pensada.
Deirdre es una jovencita recién ingresada que anda como perrito sin dueño, por casualidad conoce a Mark y Digby, dos jovenes que son más avanzados y tratan de hacerse notar.
También está Félix un eminente investigador semiretirado que se dedica a endulzar el oído a señoras americanas millonarias para conseguir fondos, la Srita Clovis y la Srita Lydgate más allá de la mediana edad, administran los principales asuntos del lugar y tienen una relación extraña que oscila entre la amistad y algo más personal.
Existen varias historias que van en paralelo pero al mismo tiempo se enlazan en ciertos puntos, al ser un mundo cerrado, es gente que al final termina por toparse.
Me gusta que sigue manteniendo el orden británico, de algún modo hay aires de modernidad pero las convenciones siguen existiendo.
Por ejemplo hay un fragmento donde te explica que la Srita Clovis trabajaba en otra institución pero tuvo una terrible pelea con su jefe, tan horrorosa que nadie sabe bien los detalles y se omite hablar de ello, uno se imagina lo peor, pero nos dan ciertas pistas que provocan un poco de simpatía:
“El motivo de la trifulca con el presidente solo lo conocían unos pocos privilegiados e incluso ellos únicamente sabían que el asunto estaba relacionado con la preparación del té……. “parecía haber cometido alguna falta grave. Que hubiera usado agua caliente del grifo, que el agua del hervidor no hubiese hervido del todo, que la tetera no se hubiese calentado previamente…”
Las relaciones sentimentales son parte importante de la trama, aunque existen motivaciones distintas en cada personaje, la mayoría está enamorado o piensa estarlo, y conforme la trama continua, existen corazones rotos y personas confundidas, también existe la nota triste e irremediable, que irónicamente es la que vuelve a poner todo en su sitio.
Una historia sin pretensiones pero bien escrita, fluida, que lleva el sello de la escritora y que me ha hecho pasar buenos momentos, como que la literatura británica, sobre todo la buena, me hace sentir que todo puede componerse y equilibrarse en la vida.
Ambientada en un entorno académico, antropólogos de todo tipo, estudiantes, profesores, investigadores, filántropos, nos sumergen en sus cuitas, desde las zozobras de los estudiantes por haber escogido esta carrera, los vericuetos y chismes en los pasillos, la pelea encarnizada por becas y donaciones, hacen de esta historia un entramado bastante entretenido, para distender un poco la cosa, se incluye una dosis de amor que conlleva las esperadas complicaciones.
Tom es un graduado exitoso, tiene una beca que le subvenciona sus investigaciones en Africa, tiene una pareja que es Catherine, mujer independiente que escribe artículos e historias ligeras y divertidas para revistas, viven juntos más por comodidad que por una decisión pensada.
Deirdre es una jovencita recién ingresada que anda como perrito sin dueño, por casualidad conoce a Mark y Digby, dos jovenes que son más avanzados y tratan de hacerse notar.
También está Félix un eminente investigador semiretirado que se dedica a endulzar el oído a señoras americanas millonarias para conseguir fondos, la Srita Clovis y la Srita Lydgate más allá de la mediana edad, administran los principales asuntos del lugar y tienen una relación extraña que oscila entre la amistad y algo más personal.
Existen varias historias que van en paralelo pero al mismo tiempo se enlazan en ciertos puntos, al ser un mundo cerrado, es gente que al final termina por toparse.
Me gusta que sigue manteniendo el orden británico, de algún modo hay aires de modernidad pero las convenciones siguen existiendo.
Por ejemplo hay un fragmento donde te explica que la Srita Clovis trabajaba en otra institución pero tuvo una terrible pelea con su jefe, tan horrorosa que nadie sabe bien los detalles y se omite hablar de ello, uno se imagina lo peor, pero nos dan ciertas pistas que provocan un poco de simpatía:
“El motivo de la trifulca con el presidente solo lo conocían unos pocos privilegiados e incluso ellos únicamente sabían que el asunto estaba relacionado con la preparación del té……. “parecía haber cometido alguna falta grave. Que hubiera usado agua caliente del grifo, que el agua del hervidor no hubiese hervido del todo, que la tetera no se hubiese calentado previamente…”
Las relaciones sentimentales son parte importante de la trama, aunque existen motivaciones distintas en cada personaje, la mayoría está enamorado o piensa estarlo, y conforme la trama continua, existen corazones rotos y personas confundidas, también existe la nota triste e irremediable, que irónicamente es la que vuelve a poner todo en su sitio.
Una historia sin pretensiones pero bien escrita, fluida, que lleva el sello de la escritora y que me ha hecho pasar buenos momentos, como que la literatura británica, sobre todo la buena, me hace sentir que todo puede componerse y equilibrarse en la vida.
October 13, 2018
📚De los tres títulos de Barbara Pym publicados por Gatopardo ediciones este es mi favorito,los tres me han encantado pero en "Un poco menos que ángeles" la autora va un paso más allá de alguna forma nos lleva del mundo británico a África a través de estudiantes de antropología .
Como es propio de sus libros: mucha cotidianidad y sentido del humor pero con un final para uno de los personajes ...que sorprende y mucho!.
-Amorios...como es habitual en la autora,nos dam mucho "salseo".
💜En fin la esencia maravillosa de esta gran autora que además sorprende .
📎Me quedo con esta frase para mi vida personal 😂🔝”A él se le ha puesto el rostro bastante a la 🗿 Isla de Pascua”.
📚”(Cathetine)Estaba pensando que no somos solo nosotras,pobres mujeres,quienes pueden encontrar consuelo en la literatura.Los hombres también pueden consolarse imaginándose a sí mismos como Heathcliff o como el señor Rochenster.”
💜Se puede ser más genial!👏🏻
Como es propio de sus libros: mucha cotidianidad y sentido del humor pero con un final para uno de los personajes ...que sorprende y mucho!.
-Amorios...como es habitual en la autora,nos dam mucho "salseo".
💜En fin la esencia maravillosa de esta gran autora que además sorprende .
📎Me quedo con esta frase para mi vida personal 😂🔝”A él se le ha puesto el rostro bastante a la 🗿 Isla de Pascua”.
📚”(Cathetine)Estaba pensando que no somos solo nosotras,pobres mujeres,quienes pueden encontrar consuelo en la literatura.Los hombres también pueden consolarse imaginándose a sí mismos como Heathcliff o como el señor Rochenster.”
💜Se puede ser más genial!👏🏻
March 6, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2014
Another very pleasurable comedy by the marvelous Pym. I hesitate to call her novels comfort reads, lest someone think I mean fluffy, sugary, Nicholas Sparksy kind of stuff. But really, they are comforting, almost soothing. It's like immersing yourself into a hot bath scented with Earl Grey, with a glass of sherry on the edge of the tub. Her characters go about their mundane business of academic squabbling (this one is set among anthropologists), heavy tea-drinking and romantic entanglements, and somehow Pym manages to make it a riveting read. She gently teases these hapless scholars and their bizarre behavior, but never resorts to cheap satire, as a lesser writer might. The characters, while flawed, are sympathetic and lovingly portrayed. Even when they think they are being mean-spirited, they are really quite adorable, as in this conversation between two struggling young anthropologists discussing another, more successful peer:
'I should have thought that one might have discerned the faintest glimmer of his genius by now.'
'Certainly his conversation isn't brilliant, perhaps even ours is a little better than his', said Digby uncertainly. 'And I thought the paper he read in the seminar last term - well - confused', he added, plunging further into disloyalty. Mark took him up eagerly on this point and they went into a rather technical discussion at the end of which they had the satisfaction of proving, at least to themselves, that Tom, far from being brilliant, was in some ways positively stupid and not always even sound.
'Almost a diffusionist', said Mark, his eyes sparkling with malice.
'Oh, come', said Digby in a shocked tone. Feeling that they had perhaps gone a little too far, he changed the subject.
Maybe this is why I find her books so comforting, that the people in them are so very human, and yet basically decent.
'I should have thought that one might have discerned the faintest glimmer of his genius by now.'
'Certainly his conversation isn't brilliant, perhaps even ours is a little better than his', said Digby uncertainly. 'And I thought the paper he read in the seminar last term - well - confused', he added, plunging further into disloyalty. Mark took him up eagerly on this point and they went into a rather technical discussion at the end of which they had the satisfaction of proving, at least to themselves, that Tom, far from being brilliant, was in some ways positively stupid and not always even sound.
'Almost a diffusionist', said Mark, his eyes sparkling with malice.
'Oh, come', said Digby in a shocked tone. Feeling that they had perhaps gone a little too far, he changed the subject.
Maybe this is why I find her books so comforting, that the people in them are so very human, and yet basically decent.
August 6, 2024
Always a treat.
January 19, 2025
I've read almost all of Pym's novels and all of them so far deserve 5 stars. She was a brilliant writer and reading her novels makes me very happy. Having said that, this wasn't my favorite Pym, but by no means a disappointment.
October 2, 2018
Compared with the other Barbara Pym novels I’ve read, I found ‘Less Than Angels’ more serious in tone and content. Although the little absurdities of social interaction and snobbery were definitely still present, the narrative often took the form of a stream of consciousness that reminded me of Mrs. Dalloway. There is one rather shocking plot development, and the whole felt more raw than, say, Jane and Prudence. The running theme of anthropologist-anthropologise-thyself was very astutely done. Beneath the apparent frivolities, Pym is a skilled and very perceptive writer. I was struck by this observation:
Although a nearly bewildering profusion of characters populate ‘Less Than Angels’, the strongest voice belongs to Catherine. For the mid-fifties, she is a radical woman, living with a man outside marriage, earning her own income, and having a very independent attitude. Her scenes are the most memorable and powerful of the book, particularly when she interacts with Tom’s family or with Deirdre. She is kind yet merciless in her understanding of Tom:
Social commentary aside, there are also many delightful moments of levity, usually involving the students. Their pursuit of free food and fieldwork funding is both amusing and strangely timeless. Student house-sharing has evidently not changed that much in sixty years, either: “Digby, what is this coming out in you, this hearty manner in the early morning?” said Mark irritably. “I feel it should be nipped in the bud.”
I never thought I’d find a novel that seemed equal parts Virginia Woolf and P.G. Wodehouse, but here we are. Pym bridges the two in wonderful style. Although ‘Less Than Angels’ wasn’t as much fun as Excellent Women or Jane and Prudence, I found it more moving and memorable as a result. Also, I read the first chapter aloud to a friend and found it well suited to declamation.
"Now who would like some potato salad?” said Rhoda, feeling like there was something a little unappetising about the conversation. She had imagined that the presence of what she thought of as clever people would bring about some subtle changes in the usual small talk. The sentences would be like bright juggler’s balls, spinning through the air and being deftly caught and thrown up again. But she saw now that conversation could also be compared to a series of incongruous objects, scrubbing-brushes, dish-cloths, knives, being flung or hurtling rather than spinning, which were sometimes not caught at all but fell to the ground with resounding thuds. In the haze brought about by Malcolm’s cocktail, she saw the little dark-skinned aborigines, swinging the kangaroo by its legs and hurling it onto the fire. Certainly she had to admit that the conversation was different from what it usually was and perhaps that was the best that could be expected.
Although a nearly bewildering profusion of characters populate ‘Less Than Angels’, the strongest voice belongs to Catherine. For the mid-fifties, she is a radical woman, living with a man outside marriage, earning her own income, and having a very independent attitude. Her scenes are the most memorable and powerful of the book, particularly when she interacts with Tom’s family or with Deirdre. She is kind yet merciless in her understanding of Tom:
"Your people wait for you,” said Catherine. “How soothing it will be to get away from all of this complexity of personal relationships to the simplicity of a primitive tribe, whose only complications are their kinship structure and rules of land tenure, which you can observe with the anthropologist’s calm detachment.”
Social commentary aside, there are also many delightful moments of levity, usually involving the students. Their pursuit of free food and fieldwork funding is both amusing and strangely timeless. Student house-sharing has evidently not changed that much in sixty years, either: “Digby, what is this coming out in you, this hearty manner in the early morning?” said Mark irritably. “I feel it should be nipped in the bud.”
I never thought I’d find a novel that seemed equal parts Virginia Woolf and P.G. Wodehouse, but here we are. Pym bridges the two in wonderful style. Although ‘Less Than Angels’ wasn’t as much fun as Excellent Women or Jane and Prudence, I found it more moving and memorable as a result. Also, I read the first chapter aloud to a friend and found it well suited to declamation.
May 10, 2022
I love many authors, and I love many many books. But there’s a much smaller group of authors whose books give me—to use a common phrase—“pure, unadulterated pleasure.”
Pym belongs in this smaller category. I sat with this novel for hours at a time, and whenever I parted with it I missed it, eager to be reunited. Her novels remind me of the joy of reading, of the value in the fun to be had with literary fiction. Writing this smooth and funny and addictive and breezily brilliant needs to be more of a priority.
She’s so good at what she does. On every page, in her clean scrupulous English, she hits nails squarely on their heads. Her authorial voice is perky, playful, and piercing. In this way she reminds me more than any other author of Jane Austen, to whom she’s been compared countless times.
This is a “community novel”, the kind of novel well-established and mastered in British fiction writing, where a group of interrelated characters in a city are each given their spotlight in turns as the narrative swoops in and out of their perspectives. Pym and Elizabeth Taylor are absolute maestros at this way of telling stories, and it’s possibly my favourite kind of novel.
What was this one about? Small things, everyday life – and all the things enfolded therein. It was electrifying.
Pym belongs in this smaller category. I sat with this novel for hours at a time, and whenever I parted with it I missed it, eager to be reunited. Her novels remind me of the joy of reading, of the value in the fun to be had with literary fiction. Writing this smooth and funny and addictive and breezily brilliant needs to be more of a priority.
She’s so good at what she does. On every page, in her clean scrupulous English, she hits nails squarely on their heads. Her authorial voice is perky, playful, and piercing. In this way she reminds me more than any other author of Jane Austen, to whom she’s been compared countless times.
This is a “community novel”, the kind of novel well-established and mastered in British fiction writing, where a group of interrelated characters in a city are each given their spotlight in turns as the narrative swoops in and out of their perspectives. Pym and Elizabeth Taylor are absolute maestros at this way of telling stories, and it’s possibly my favourite kind of novel.
What was this one about? Small things, everyday life – and all the things enfolded therein. It was electrifying.
August 23, 2020
4.5 stars
The back of this book describes Barbara Pym as "the wittiest of novelists." I could not agree more. Every one of her characters is at once a caricature and a living, breathing person whose feelings were as real as my own.
Less Than Angels focuses on a group of anthropologists, mostly students, who are competing for research money while moving in and out of relationships. Tom Mallow is the leading man, if you could call him that, and is living with a woman named Catharine Oliphant, a romance novelist. The two love each other in a way, but they have very different notions of the future. Tom has no intention of getting married, whereas Catherine expects it as a matter of course. Their domestic bliss is disturbed when Tom falls for Dierdre Swan, a young anthropology student.
On the side are two silly young men, Mark and Digby, who start as something of comic relief but grow into fully fledged characters by the end of the novel, as well as a host of older ladies connected in some way to the anthropology department.
There was a lot to praise about this book, so I'll try to keep it short. I adored the wit and sarcasm that ran through every line of Pym's writing. Catharine in particular was a keen observer and commenter on the happenings around her. A line I loved from her introduction in chapter two was "...there are few of us who do not occasionally set a higher value on ourselves than Fate has done." At once honest and charmingly phrased, this line and the scene that accompanied it were a brilliant way to meet Catharine Oliphant.
Pym's anthropologists spent the entire book fretting over and analyzing the social structure of African tribes. At first I thought this an odd profession to center a novel around, but my mind was quickly changed. Less Than Angels observes and comments on British society in much the same way that its characters comment on African tribes. Characters constantly found themselves in situations where, when the social norms where broken down and examined, even they didn't understand their own actions. The anthropologists' obsession with other cultures combined with a marked inability to understand their own to create a novel with layers of irony.
One example that springs to mind is when Catharine wore black earrings and a black top out to get a cup of coffee. The ladies sitting next to her took the black as a sign of mourning and asked if Catharine had recently suffered a bereavement. This interaction was exactly the kind of thing that Tom and his colleagues would have commented if observed in African society. For me, it was a great moment that drove home some of the themes of the book while also being straight up funny.
This was my first Pym novel, and now I will certainly look for more.
The back of this book describes Barbara Pym as "the wittiest of novelists." I could not agree more. Every one of her characters is at once a caricature and a living, breathing person whose feelings were as real as my own.
Less Than Angels focuses on a group of anthropologists, mostly students, who are competing for research money while moving in and out of relationships. Tom Mallow is the leading man, if you could call him that, and is living with a woman named Catharine Oliphant, a romance novelist. The two love each other in a way, but they have very different notions of the future. Tom has no intention of getting married, whereas Catherine expects it as a matter of course. Their domestic bliss is disturbed when Tom falls for Dierdre Swan, a young anthropology student.
On the side are two silly young men, Mark and Digby, who start as something of comic relief but grow into fully fledged characters by the end of the novel, as well as a host of older ladies connected in some way to the anthropology department.
There was a lot to praise about this book, so I'll try to keep it short. I adored the wit and sarcasm that ran through every line of Pym's writing. Catharine in particular was a keen observer and commenter on the happenings around her. A line I loved from her introduction in chapter two was "...there are few of us who do not occasionally set a higher value on ourselves than Fate has done." At once honest and charmingly phrased, this line and the scene that accompanied it were a brilliant way to meet Catharine Oliphant.
Pym's anthropologists spent the entire book fretting over and analyzing the social structure of African tribes. At first I thought this an odd profession to center a novel around, but my mind was quickly changed. Less Than Angels observes and comments on British society in much the same way that its characters comment on African tribes. Characters constantly found themselves in situations where, when the social norms where broken down and examined, even they didn't understand their own actions. The anthropologists' obsession with other cultures combined with a marked inability to understand their own to create a novel with layers of irony.
One example that springs to mind is when Catharine wore black earrings and a black top out to get a cup of coffee. The ladies sitting next to her took the black as a sign of mourning and asked if Catharine had recently suffered a bereavement. This interaction was exactly the kind of thing that Tom and his colleagues would have commented if observed in African society. For me, it was a great moment that drove home some of the themes of the book while also being straight up funny.
This was my first Pym novel, and now I will certainly look for more.
March 3, 2023
Set in 1950s England, this book deals with a group of anthropologists and anthropology students. It covers their various interactions, relationships, and aspirations. The story focuses on a love triangle involving nineteen-year-old student, Deirdre, who has developed an infatuation with Tom, a working anthropologist who has just returned from Africa. Tom is initially living with writer, Catherine, and retains feelings for his first love, Elaine. Alaric Lydgate, another anthropologist, living nearby, is hoarding his research notes. Other characters include students Digby and Mark, Deirdre’s mother and aunt, Esther Clovis and Gertrude Lydgate, all of whom add humor and witty observations. This is the very definition of a “low key” book. It contains gentle humor and not much of a plot. This book “studies” the anthropologists themselves. I chuckled a few times and found it perfectly pleasant.
August 10, 2021
I enjoyed this very much. It was clever, witty, and it had more humor than I expected. It had quirky characters but no driving, boisterous story. It moved along smoothly and was really a quite calming read. I liked it a lot. I'll definitely read another by Barbara Pym :)
June 6, 2013
I had forgotten how funny and wry Barbara Pym's fiction is. I started marking particularly good passages in this story about English anthropologists and a writer, but there were too many--bad for underlining, but delightful reading.
"He often thought what a good thing it would be if the wearing of masks or animals' heads could become customary for persons over a certain age. How restful social intercourse would be if the face did not have to assume any expression--the strained look of interest, the simulated delight or surprise, the anxious concern one didn't really feel. "
"Do they understand the principles of cooking as we know it?" asked Rhoda.
"Oh, yes, a good many of them do," said Alaric. "In some very primitive societies, though, they would just fling the unskinned carcase on the fire and hope for the best."
"Yes, like that film of the Australian aborigines we saw at the Anthropology Club," said Deirdre. "They flung a kangaroo on the fire and cooked it like that."
"Now who would like some potato salad?" said Rhoda, feeling that there was something a little unappetizing about the conversation. She had imagined that the presence of what she thought of as clever people would bring about some subtle change in the usual small talk. The sentences would be bright jugglers' balls, spinning through the air and being deftly caught and thrown up again. But she saw now the conversation could also be compared to a series of incongruous objects, scrubbing-brushes, dish-clothes, knives, being flung or hurtling rather than spinning, which were sometimes not caught at all but fell to the ground with resounding thuds.
"He often thought what a good thing it would be if the wearing of masks or animals' heads could become customary for persons over a certain age. How restful social intercourse would be if the face did not have to assume any expression--the strained look of interest, the simulated delight or surprise, the anxious concern one didn't really feel. "
"Do they understand the principles of cooking as we know it?" asked Rhoda.
"Oh, yes, a good many of them do," said Alaric. "In some very primitive societies, though, they would just fling the unskinned carcase on the fire and hope for the best."
"Yes, like that film of the Australian aborigines we saw at the Anthropology Club," said Deirdre. "They flung a kangaroo on the fire and cooked it like that."
"Now who would like some potato salad?" said Rhoda, feeling that there was something a little unappetizing about the conversation. She had imagined that the presence of what she thought of as clever people would bring about some subtle change in the usual small talk. The sentences would be bright jugglers' balls, spinning through the air and being deftly caught and thrown up again. But she saw now the conversation could also be compared to a series of incongruous objects, scrubbing-brushes, dish-clothes, knives, being flung or hurtling rather than spinning, which were sometimes not caught at all but fell to the ground with resounding thuds.
July 18, 2018
Tercer libro que leo de Pym y, creo, el más melancólico y triste. Tienen algo sus novelas que me da mucha paz: la cotidianidad, la época y el lugar... Aunque quizá con esta he sentido un poco que había fórmulas repetidas que ya vi en "Amor no correspondido" y "Mujeres excelentes". Por cierto, hay spoilers de "Mujeres excelentes" en este, están conectados en cierto modo, así que mejor leer primero aquel y luego "Un poco menos que ángeles". Me ha gustado, pero pese a la tranquilidad que me aporta, tal vez sea el que menos me ha enganchado.
November 14, 2016
4.5 stars.
Excellent writing and the satire about anthropologists was a lot of fun, though the book is more about the relations between men & women in my opinion. I would guess that this is semi-autobiographical based on the little I know about Pym's life... maybe that is why she can hit the mark so accurately!
Excellent writing and the satire about anthropologists was a lot of fun, though the book is more about the relations between men & women in my opinion. I would guess that this is semi-autobiographical based on the little I know about Pym's life... maybe that is why she can hit the mark so accurately!
January 20, 2019
What a joy it is to return to the world of Barbara Pym, a place where the most difficult decision anyone has to make is what to serve the new vicar when he comes over for tea. (If only real life were like that, everything would be so much simpler.) While clergymen are in relatively short supply in Pym’s 1955 novel Less Than Angels, there are plenty of anthropologists to be found, drawing once again on the author’s own experiences of life at the International African Institute in London where she worked for a number of years.
The novel focus on the lives, loves and concerns of a group of British anthropologists and the individuals they interact with as they go about their business from one day to the next. Pivotal to the story is Tom Mallow, a twenty-nine-year-old academic who has just returned from Africa where he was tasked with observing the societal structure of a particular tribe.
To read my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
The novel focus on the lives, loves and concerns of a group of British anthropologists and the individuals they interact with as they go about their business from one day to the next. Pivotal to the story is Tom Mallow, a twenty-nine-year-old academic who has just returned from Africa where he was tasked with observing the societal structure of a particular tribe.
To read my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
April 14, 2013
This one is full of anthropologists, and what could be better? And then there is also wonderful Catherine Oliphant, who is a writer, but as Pym makes clearer and clearer in each of her books novelists are like anthropologists in that they too study and document the human condition. Catherine lives with Tom, who has been away for two years doing his fieldwork in Africa. When he returns, he moves back in, but theirs is a relationship that is more comfortable than passionate. Tom soon becomes interested in the young and adoring undergraduate Deidre, who lives with her mother and maiden aunt, who conduct their own sort of anthropological research by peering over the hedges into their neighbors' back yards and lives. It's all wonderful. I think I smile the whole time I am reading a Barbara Pym novel.
November 30, 2008
Loved, loved, loved it! I was a bit afraid when I read Jane and Prudence and found myself disliking the characters so much, but the characters in this one were once again written with the compassionate detachment that I'd appreciated in Pym's first two. I think this is my favorite so far. Catherine Oliphant's such a lovable character, and Digby and Marks, too.
I'm appreciating how the separate novels are beginning to be so connected--a character from a previous one pops up in passing reference, and it's like being pleasantly surprised to discover a mutual acquaintance.
I'm appreciating how the separate novels are beginning to be so connected--a character from a previous one pops up in passing reference, and it's like being pleasantly surprised to discover a mutual acquaintance.
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