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Information About

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala





BACKGROUND


Germany

She was born Ruth Prawer in Cologne, Germany to Marcus (who was Polish - Jewish ) and Eleanora Prawer (who was German - Jewish ); her father worked in Germany 's largest Synagogue in Cologne. The family fled the Nazis in 1939 , emigrating to Britain .


England

During The War she lived in Hendon in London , experienced The Blitz and began to speak English rather than German. She became a British citizen in 1948 . She received her M.A. in English literature at the University Of London in 1951 . She also married Cyrus H. Jhabvala , an ( Indian ) Parsi architect, in 1951.


India

The couple moved to New Delhi , India, in 1951 and they had three daughters. Jhabvala began to write novels about her new life there: ''To Whom She Will'' (1955), ''Nature of Passion'' (1956), ''Esmond in India'' (1957), ''The Householder'' (1960) and ''Get Ready for the Battle'' (1962).


United States

In 1975 Jhabvala moved to New York and divided her time between India and the United States. She eventually became a U.S. citizen.


MERCHANT IVORY PRODUCTIONS

In 1963 , she was approached by filmmakers James Ivory and Ismail Merchant to write a screenplay of her 1960 novel ''The Householder''. The film, ''The Householder'' was released by Merchant Ivory Productions in 1963 — this began a partnership with them that produced over 20 films.

The next Merchant-Ivory project '' Shakespeare Wallah '' (1965), was a critical success, and it was followed by a number of other films including an adaptation of her novel '' Heat And Dust ,'' (1983), '' A Room With A View '' (1985), '' Mr. And Mrs. Bridge '' (1990), '' Howards End '' (1992) and '' The Remains Of The Day '' (1993).

Of this collaboration, Ismail Merchant once commented: "IT IS a strange marriage we have at Merchant Ivory...I am an Indian Muslim, Ruth is a German Jew, and Jim is a Protestant American. Someone once described us as a three-headed god. Maybe they should have called us a three-headed monster!" {Link without Title} .


OTHER WORKS

Jhabvala also continued to write novels as well as screenplays: ''Like Birds, Like Fishes'' (1963), ''A Backward Place'' (1966), ''A Stronger Climate'' (1968), ''An Experience of India'' (1972), ''A New Dominion'' (1972, USA: ''Travelers'').


AWARDS

''Winner'':

''Nominated'':


REFERENCES

''Anthologies and Encyclopedias'':
  • Bausch, Richard and R. V. Cassill (ed.). "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala." ''Norton Anthology of Short Fiction: 6th Edition''. New York: W.W. Norton , 2000: 801-813.

  • Mishra, Pankaj (ed.). "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala." ''India in Mind: An Anthology''. New York: Vintage Books, 2005: 108-130.

  • Ross, Robert (ed.). "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala." ''Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction in English: An Anthology''. New York: Garland, 1999: 189-209.

  • Serafin, Steven (ed.). "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala." ''Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, 3rd edition''. Farmington Hills, Michigan: St. James Press, 1999.


''Screenwriting'':
  • Bailur, Jayanti. ''Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: Fiction and Film''. New Delhi: Arnold Publishers, 1992.

  • Katz, Susan Bullington (ed.). "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala." ''Conversations with Screenwriters''. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000: 1-8.


''Misc.'':
  • Crane, Ralph J. ''Ruth Prawer Jhabvala''. New York: Twayne, 1992.

  • --. ''Passages to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala''. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1991.

  • Rai, Sudha. ''Homeless by Choice: Naipaul, Jhabvala, Rushdie and India''. Jaipur: Printwell, 1992.

  • Shepherd, Ronald. ''Ruth Prawer Jhabwala in India: The Jewish Connection''. Delhi: Chanakya Publications, 1994.

  • Sucher, Lawrie. ''The Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: The Politics of Passion''. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1989.



SELECT WORKS


Novels

  • ''To Whom She Will'' (1955; published in the United States as Amrita)

  • ''The Nature of Passion'' (1956).

  • ''Esmond in India'' (1958)

  • ''The Householder'' (1960),

  • ''Get Ready for Battle'' (1962)

  • ''Like Birds, Like Fishes'' (1963)

  • '' A Backward Place'' (1965)

  • ''A Stronger Climate'' (1968)

  • '' A New Dominion'' (1972; published in the United States as Travelers)

  • '' Heat And Dust '' (1975)

  • '' An Experience of India'' (1971)

  • ''How I Became a Holy Mother and other stories" (1976),

  • ''In Search of Love and Beauty'' (1983)

  • ''Out of India'' (1986)

  • ''Three Continents'' (1987)

  • ''Poet and Dancer'' (1993)

  • ''Shards of Memory'' (1995)

  • ''East Into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhi'' (1998)



Select screenplays



EXTERNAL LINKS

''Biographies'':

''Misc.'':