Each week, our small class will read several chapters of Barbara Pym’s novel, A Few Green Leaves. In Pym’s novel, the women are the smart, supportive, repressed spinsters who men take for granted. In keeping with the daily works of these middle-aged women in every Pym novel, we will become “Pymian scholars” – recognizing how in 2026 women are still often invisible, ignored, and disrespected.
Format: Each class participant will read the novel, A Few Green Leaves, and be ready to analyze and discuss characters and the “busywork” of the women in the small English village. Outside reading is voluntary and if willing, class members can report on what they learn.
Resources/Expenses: A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym. Important: Please use the Perennial Library edition from Harper & Row available at Thrift books, used for $8.61. No other expenses anticipated.
Coordinator: Lily Trayes has coordinated several literature courses at LLC. She is a member of The Barbara Pym Society and recently attended their 3-day conference in Cambridge, MA. Lily has all her Barbara Pym novels that she purchased in the 1970s.