To all who read this and my other blogs, and to those who follow me on Twitter, avoid these groups allegedly created to celebrate Pym scholarship: The Barbara Pym Virtual Tea Party and The Barbara Pym Fan Club. They treated me very rudely and with great disrespect. Moreover, they are not really interested in Pym's actual work, just the surface attractiveness of her allegedly cozy life. They wax poetic over new book covers, but I doubt they have read her books, and they are very chauvinistic, even to their own members. They are a very watered down version who don't have a clue, and even when you are part of their group, they are professionally discourteous and think nothing of making personal attacks. I am very upset at the encounters I've had with them the last two days.
It is also ironic that this would happen to me during Women's History Month.
To be fair, over 50 people saw my post, yet only two were really rude and nasty, and two others made silly comments. They had not read the blog post, that much was obvious. Even after I told them who I was and posted my book cover so they could see it, they persisted in being rude. Unfortunately, that was enough to turn me off. I don't give in to literary fascists.
It will leave a bad taste in your mouth to deal with them.
I believe in free press and in freedom on the web, and I celebrate Pym for her humanity, artistry and scholarship, and certainly for her open mind. I don't think she would approve of these two groups,which appear to be the same FB group with two pages, but that is only my opinion It is also my personal opinion, and no one else's, that they are a prissy group of snobs who know just enough about Pym to be Dangerous, but who are not capable of actually reading through one of her books.
I love my readers, and my blog. These are my opinions, and not those of blog spot, but I feel there are many worthy groups out there that honor Pym. Stay away from these clowns.
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