Reimagining the Fictional Spinster: A Critical Reading of Barbara Pym’s Some Tame Gazelle

Abstract

In fiction, spinsters have always remained at the periphery of the narrative framework. Their presence in central and engaging roles has been marked by an invisibility. Even as secondary figures, their characterisation has been reduced to a set of demeaning stereotypes. A range of negative traits like lonely and miserable, frumpy and frustrated, manipulative and scheming have accompanied them. The fiction of 20^th century novelist Barbara Pym is remarkable for bringing these sidelined characters to the narrative forefront and delving deep into the unexplored realms of their lived realities. The present paper seeks to examine the representation of the spinster in the novels of Barabara Pym with reference to her maiden novel Some Tame Gazelle published in 1950. The narrative plot remains focussed on the lives of the Bede sisters-Harriet and Belinda and the course of their humdrum lives. Within this framework, the paper examines how the characters negotiate the multiple issues of love and marriage, heartbreaks and acceptance, social engagement and inner conflicts, body image consciousness etc. Through a textual analysis of the narrative plot, driven by microscopic investigation of their lives, the paper tries to understand whether Pym reinforces, subverts or reinvents stereotypes attached to the conventional depiction of spinsters. In the ultimate analysis, it transpires that contrary to societal perception, the lives of the spinster have its own worth and rewards.