One of the things that I love about Barbara Pym’s novels is that her characters never set out to impress anyone. They acknowledge that their choices – for example, attending an academic conference as treatment for a broken heart – are eccentric. They’re vulnerable, interesting, and sometimes fooled by imposters. I wonder if Pym ever read William Zinsser’s famous book On Writing Well, which describes the “intangible” qualities of good writing – such as the writer’s confidence, enjoyment, integrity, and humanity. The quality of good writing, Zinsser says, is determined by the nature of the relationship between the reader and the writer.
Pym, Barbara. No Fond Return of Love. Open Road, 1961. p. 1.