Sweet Dove Died

Rating:
Summary: Newly hooked on Barbara Pym
Review: I happened upon this slim volume by accident the other day - and what a happy accident it turned out to be. Barbara Pym's "The Sweet Dove Died" is a novel of unrequited love - an unnatural love of an older woman for a much younger gay man. There are shades of the Tennessee Williams classic "The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone," yet the writing style is more akin to Patrick Gale's early works "The Aerodynamics of Pork" and "Kansas in August."
Pym's novels are what used to be called "comedies of manners." Her work is immediately engaging, always amusing, and quite pointed in its depiction of a woman so consumed with the appearence of perfection that she misses every opportunity for happiness.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best novels I've ever read.
Review: I happened upon this slim volume by accident the other day - and what a happy accident it turned out to be. Barbara Pym's "The Sweet Dove Died" is a novel of unrequited love - an unnatural love of an older woman for a much younger gay man. There are shades of the Tennessee Williams classic "The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone," yet the writing style is more akin to Patrick Gale's early works "The Aerodynamics of Pork" and "Kansas in August."
Pym's novels are what used to be called "comedies of manners." Her work is immediately engaging, always amusing, and quite pointed in its depiction of a woman so consumed with the appearence of perfection that she misses every opportunity for happiness.

Rating:
Summary: "and he had loved them all"
Review: Leonora Eyre is a vain, self-focused, middle-aged spinster whose fading beauty and sense of refinement attracts antique dealer Humphrey Boyce and his nephew, James when they meet--by-chance--at an antique auction. Humphrey's attraction to Leonora is very understandable, and they certainly have enough in common--a love of antiques, fine wines, expensive restaurants,and leisurely drives in the country. Leonora, however, while perfectly content to permit Humphrey's attentions--as long as they don't stray to the baser instincts--is far more attracted to James, and he's young enough to be her son. She enjoys having the exclusive attentions (and there's an emphasis on the word 'exclusive' here) of a handsome young beau, and she expects him to read to her, to soothe her forehead, and to generally lavish her with attention--just as long as the relationship isn't consumated. Leonora senses that James is content to accept the limitations of their relationship, but she also realises that Humphrey chafes against such restrictions.

For some reason, James finds himself accepting the role Leonora assigns him. Humphrey is a little perturbed, and even jealous of his rival, but he's at heart a rather simple, blustering chap, and so he consoles himself with the thought that Leonora must feel rather like a mother to his nephew--the motherless-James. It even crosses Leonora's mind to wonder exactly what her relationship is with James--she usually has nothing but mild contempt for females who make idiots of themselves for younger men. Leonora refuses to examine her relationship with James--just as she refuses to contemplate or confront any unpleasantness in life.

But what of James? He's a red-blooded, testosterone-infused male--why does he accept the eunuch's role in Leonora's life? To James, Leonora is made of "some brittle unreal substance," and their relationship is simultaneously intimate and remote. Why does he feel compelled to hide his relationship with the intriguing Phoebe? James doesn't understand himself or the relationships that are most important to him. He seems unable to control his relationships, and soon all the people in his life are on a collision course, and James is ill-prepared for the consequences.

This well-crafted novel of manners is a small masterpiece. Written with elegant brilliance by the greatly underrated Barbara Pym, this novel centres on relationships--the needs relationships fill, and the voids that remain, and the need humans have to convert love, ultimately, into possession of the beloved. Leonora and James are fascinating characters--perfect foils for Humphrey and Phoebe, and it is the relationship between Leonora and James that warrants the most scrutiny.

This is not some sappy romance or a love story. This is a novel of sterling calibre, and Pym should never be underestimated. She is an extremely skillful writer, and her novels have a consistent quality that do not disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Entanglements
Review: The definition of entangle is to write or knit together confusedly. This rather describes the progress of the characters in Barbara Pym's THE SWEET DOVE DIED.

Humphrey Boyce has an antiques shop. James, his orphaned newphew, commences to work at the shop after finishing at Oxford. At an auction they meet Leonora Eyre. Later Humphrey plans to have lunch with Leonora who is in her fifties. This is a novel of manners and amusement. Leonora, whose dinner with a friend and two very young men is described as being disappointing, regrets that James is not present, too. She finagles the interactions with Humphrey to go back to the shop to see James and accepts a ride with James because conveniently he is going in the direction of her house. James is too young to assume tht a woman living alone is to be pities.

For Christmas Leonora receives a paperweight from Humphrey and a card from James. She puts James's card near her bedside table. After Christmas Leonora's new social life with Humphrey and James picks up again. When the shop is the subject of a burglary Leonora sends flowers. Through various machinations she actually sends James's young woman friend to Majorca, but she cannot best a male friend Ned who, for a time, captures James's attention.

I am certain Barbara Pym has been compared to Jane Austen many times. Clearly the thrust of their works differ. Barbara Pym is not concerned with setting up a young person for life in some sort of matrimonial arrangement. Nevertheless, the means used, the comedy, the irony, the light touch and excellent writing are similar. "A sweet dove died" comes from a Keats poem.

Rating:
Summary: Newly hooked on Barbara Pym
Review: This was the second Barbara Pym book I have ever read and it confirmed to me that she is greatly underrated as a writer. Though not perhaps as brilliantly comic as Excellent Women, Sweet Dove Died is gently satirical in the most delicious way. The type of woman she deals with is, this time, the affected 'lady of a certain age', rather than the humble and worthy types. One could almost imagine that this is how Madame Bovary may have turned out, had she had lived a city life. There is nothing prudish about Pym and readers today may be struck by how 'modern' she still appears, particularly in her depiction of the younger male characters in this novel. Greatly enjoyable.