A Fictional Saga of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Backward Place and The Householder

Abstract

The Fictions of Ruth Prawar Jhabvala represents a special bond to Indian literature in English. She was European by birth, married an Indian architect and lived in India for twenty five years. To a large extent her work fits in the Indian English literature as being an outsider she writes about the insider. Her close watch examines the social life of Indians which she portrays in her fiction. She never forgets her roots i.e, European amalgamation with the Indians, which is so much herself. Conceivably, she writes fiction about Indian elite socials, her proficiency in dialogue and plot is extensively high. She knew how to clutch her readers till the end. Jhabvala’s first phase of writing was all her love for the country and its culture; her second phase of writing, her fondness for the country had dwindled and  thereafter the third phase of her writing, the love was all faded so she decided to leave for America and work with Merchant and Ivory. Most of her fiction has an element of comedy, irony, satire, and detachment and importantly her critical observation of real life scenarios. Jhabvala’s fiction outlines the study of ‘emotions’ as the domestic, matrimonial, relationship, displacement, socio-economic conditions, and quest for emancipation and pretension. Her prime concern is to explore social concerns and conflicts relating to the society she created in her fiction. This paper studies Jhabvala’s two fictions namely, A Backward Place and The Householder