Minor-key world …

… Pride and Perseverance - NYTimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Pym, who started working on her first novel as soon as she finished at Oxford in 1934, was so pleased to be a published writer that she didn’t worry a great deal about receiving mixed reviews. She had a day job editing academic publications, so she didn’t have to live on her royalties. The positive notices appeared often enough to keep her buoyant. Then came the long drought. She was bewildered, humiliated and frustrated, but there was never a break in the writing. She completed two more novels, and filled notebook after notebook with the morsels of daily life she cherished. “MrC in the Library — he is having his lunch, eating a sandwich with a knife and fork, a glass of milk near at hand. Oh why can’t I write about things like that any more — why is this kind of thing no longer acceptable?”