JUL.20.2013
Walking around the center of Enfield town this morning I saw
a Marks & Spencer store. All of a sudden, I remembered how while reading
through Barbara Pym’s manuscripts at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, I
discovered a Pym scandal. Perhaps it was only a storm in a teacup, but the
Legal Department at Marks & Spencer took it very seriously.
It all started with what Barbara Pym called a “completely
innocent" sentence from her new novel, at the time, Jane and Prudence.
“‘Oh yes’ Jane agreed; ‘When we become distressed we shall
be glad of an old dress from Marks and Spencer’s, as we’ve never been used to
anything better!’
Mrs. Doggett did not
answer, and Jane remembered that of course she went to her dressmaker for
fittings and ordered hats from Marshall’s and Debenhams.’”
On 30th October 1953m a letter arrived from the Legal
Department of Marks & Spencer: addressed to Barbara Pym c/o Messrs.
Jonathan Cape. The content was a comment on p. 125 of Jane and Prudence.
“This reference is clearly derogatory of this company as
both in terms and by implication it suggests that dresses sold by the company
are of inferior quality, and unfit for wear by persons of the class who buy
their hats from Marshall’s and Debenhams’
We are proud of the quality of the goods sold by us , and
take great exception to this passage in a book which being a Book Society’s
recommendation and being written by an author whose work, according to the
publishers’ ‘ blurb’ on the dust cover is at times “worthy of Jane Austen” no
doubt enjoys a large circulation.
We must, therefore, ask you to inform us at once what steps
you propose to take to correct the harm done by the publication of this matter
and to prevent further publications.”
Wren Howard, Pym’s editor from Jonathan Cape, suggested that
Pym not reply, and after consulting with the company’s solicitors H.F.
Rubinstein wrote a letter to Marks & Spencer ’s Legal Department, dated 5th
November, 1953
“We would point out, however, that, in its context the
allusion in question is not derogatory of goods sold by your Company, of which,
if we may say so, you have every reason to be proud. We suggest that if you
will reconsider the passage quoted in your letter, in the light of the general
atmosphere and characterization of Miss Pym’s novel, you will appreciate an
ironical note underlying the dialogue and the implications of snobbishness
betrayed by Miss Doggett, arising precisely out of the fact that the name of
your firm is a ‘household word’ for goods remarkable no less for their
inexpensiveness than for their high quality. . .
P.S. Since writing the above, we have received a letter from
Miss Barbara Pym, in which she says;-
“I need hardly tell you that I certainly never intended
anything derogatory to Marks & Spencer, for whom I have the greatest
respect. The ironical thing is that I regularly buy and wear their clothes and
think them excellent!”
In his letter to the solicitor, Howard phrased this
sentiment a little different: “I suggest
that it could be argued that the passage is in no way intended to be derogatory
of the goods sold by Messrs. Marks & Spencer, which, however, are
notoriously inexpensive and that furthermore, the business is now so well-known
as to have become a household word.”
The matter went on for a while, and in a letter to Pym
Howard referred to Marks & Spencer
as "these tiresome people.”
Finally Pym sent her
editor an alternative sentence
“‘Oh, yes,’ Jane agreed; ‘when we become distressed we
shan’t expect to receive anything very grand, considering the sort of clothes
we’re wearing now!’.”
As a result of this unpleasant incident, Pym became extra
careful with her references. Two of the
main topics in A Glass of Blessings are the clergy and the wine trade, and here
is her description about choosing names:
“I can truthfully say that I have been most careful to check
as far as possible, I have not used names belonging to real people. I have looked
up all the clergy in the latest Crockford and have also consulted the London
telephone directory for their names and those of other characters. I have even
(today) consulted the directories of London and Oporto to make sure that one
character (whose parents were in the wine trade) has no counterpart in reality.
I am not sure that I have actually written anything that could be considered as
a libel about anybody, even supposing that the name did have the bad luck to
coincide with a real one, but I can assure that I have been very careful with
the names.”
“As to ‘giving offenses’. . . I shall be very careful in
going through the proofs, but I cannot at that moment remember anything that
might offend anybody. I have no wish to get involved in any unpleasantness
myself. I haven’t forgotten the worry over Jane and Prudence and my unfortunate
reference to Marks and Spencer, so completely innocent on my part.”
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