Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, CBE (born 7 May 1927) is a Booker prize-winning novelist, short story writer, and two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter. She is perhaps best known for her long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant. Their films won six Academy Awards.

Personal background

She was born Ruth Prawer in Cologne, Germany to Jewish parents Marcus and Eleanora Prawer. Marcus was a lawyer from Poland and Eleanora's father was cantor of Cologne's biggest synagogue.[1] The family fled the Nazi regime in 1939, emigrating to Britain. Her elder brother, Siegbert Salomon (born 1925), is honourary fellow of The Queen's College and professor emeritus of German at the University of Oxford, an expert on Heine and horror films.

During World War II 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 MA in English literature from Queen Mary College, University of London in 1951. She also marriedCyrus H. Jhabvala, an Indian Parsi architect, in 1951.

The couple moved to Delhi, India, in 1951 and they had three daughters: Ava, Firoza and Renana. Her three daughters are living all around the world: in India, in Los Angeles and in England. In 1975 Jhabvala moved to New York and divided her time between India and the United States. In 1986, she became a naturalised citizen of the United States.

Literary career

While living in India during the 1950s, 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). Her literary output would be steady and of a consistently high quality (see below).

Her early comedies drew comparisons with Jane Austen, in their anatomy of power within westernised, extended families, or the slow growth of love in arranged marriages. She found affinities with Jewish culture in an emphasis on family and humour.

She wrote to 20 publishers in London, who "all wrote back", and soon joined John Murray, her UK publisher for four decades. After she found a US agent in the 1950s, many of her short stories appeared first in the New Yorker.

Her view of India is different than that of Naipaul or E. M. Forster. Jhabvala, unlike Naipaul, wasn't drawn to India by ancestry or, as in Forster's case, by a desire to move beyond a complacent Western liberalism. She was in Delhi, as she wrote, only because her husband was there, and she was interested not in India but in herself in India. In any case, what matters is that she managed to transmute her personal experience, however narrow, into art.[2] Often her stories are seen from the point of view of an outsider. Some Indian critics have labelled her authorial detachment as a sign of old-fashioned Western attitudes toward India.[3]

In 1975, she won the Booker Prize, the most prestigious literary award for the English language in the Commonwealth, for her novel Heat and Dust.

Merchant Ivory ProductionsIn 1963, Jhabvala 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 that would produce over 20 films. She had no previous film making experience.

The next Merchant-Ivory project Shakespeare Wallah (1965), was a critical success, and it was followed by a number of other collaborations between the three, including an adaptation of Jhabvala's novel Heat and Dust, (1983); the docudrama The Courtesans of Bombay (1983); A Room with a View (1985), for which she won her first Oscar; Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990); Howards End (1992), her second Oscar win; and The Remains of the Day (1993), for which she was nominated for a third Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, though she did not win. Her screenplays are often less comedies of manners than profound struggles over the souls of young women.

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!" [1]

Ismail Merchant died in 2005, of complications resulting from a stomach ulcer.

Jhabvala's last screenplay was The City of Your Final Destination (2008), based on the novel of the same name by Peter Cameron.

Novels and Short Stories

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) My Nine Lives (2004)

Summary:'Heat and Dust' is a short novel by Jhabvala about two ladies in different time spans and their adventures in India. Olivia Rivers is a young lady from London who has accompanied her husband Douglas to British colonial India. While Douglas keeps himself busy at his office , Olivia is left to tend to herself through the long Indian hours in their bungalow.The narrator of the story is the other lady in the novel who knows Olivia as the first wife of his grandfather Douglas. This narrator's name is never mentioned in the novel. The narrator has come to India in order to find out more about Olivia.'Heat and Dust' is as much Olivia's story as it is a journal of the narrator's first impressions of India. 'India always changes people, and I have been no exception' says the narrator in the beginning of the story. Indeed, the novel goes on to depict how the heat and dusty countryside of Satipur converts the pretty, and doting Olivia into the harem lady of a corrupt and wasted Nawab. The narrator, two generations after Olivia, also readily absorbs the various 'characteristic odors of India', of 'spices, urine and betel'. Social/Historical context:Half of the novel is a journal of India post Independence. While many aspects of India pose as a culture

shock, the narrator does seem to enjoy the simple rusticity, ordinariness and warmth of the small town of Satipur. A good part of the novel also paints the life of the British gentry who made India their home in the colonial era. The idle life of English ladies, the pretensions of the Indian royalty, the power games between the Raj and the Indian nobility are all touched upon in small snippets in this novel of deceptive simplicity.Writing Style:The novel has been written in a very lucid, matter of fact way. Two parallel stories progress in the novel in almost alternating chapters- one of Olivia and the other of the narrator herself. Each story is separated from the other by two generations but they seem to have a common string of interest between them- India and the effect it has on their lives. 

Analysis

Exposition (page 7-8)

The narrator wants to tell Olivia’s story which is based on the letters written by Olivia to her sister in 1923. The exposition makes the reader want to ask questions: Why does the narrator wants to tell the story of the former wife of her grandfather? What are the letters about? Why did the two women (Beth and Tessie) never speak about Olivia?

Furthermore, the author of the letters and the narrator both are women, so we get to know the whole story in a very emotional way.

 2 February (page 8- 11)

Already the first sentences show that the narrator compares all her experiences to Olivia’s. The narrator has a picture of India in her head which she constructed because of the letters from 1923. She visits India in the 1970s and so there are 50 years in between. We also get to know India as a country with many problems when the women in the dormitory tells her experiences. She also lived through a Hindu-Muslim riot and she herself is Christ- so there are many different religions in India.

Journal 16 February (page 11- 13)

The narrator likes to have her room empty without furniture, pictures or curtains- she just has got things in her room she really needs. Its a contras to Olivia who immediately began to “civilise” (p. 12, l. 25) her house with flowers, pictures and rugs.

Journal 20 February (page 13- 15)

The house of Inder Lal represents his wife’s affection- poky and untidy. The narrator begins to live among toe Indians by buying Indian clothes. This act of cutural adaptation is disturbed by the children running after her. She also is called hijra, a word she already gets to know in England because of Olivias letters. The sad faces of the real hijras remembers to look behind the curtain because not everything is at it seems.

Journal 24 February (page 15-18)

The empty palace of the Nawab shows that the times of the British rule and his own rule are over. Because of some flower petals and a rock of suger the narrator was given she is still surrounded by a lingering smell of sweetness and decay just like Olivia was metaphorical when she returned from the palace

1923 part 1 (page 19- 24)

By entering the palace Olivia feels like she comes to the right place. She is very impressed by the magnificent interiour and also by the Nawab who was interested in her the way she was used to. Olivia needs attention and admiration very much. She is also bored by the conversation at table because all of the invited guests are old India hands. This shows the discrepance between the typican Victorian women like Mrs. Crawford and Mrs. Minnies and her. After the party Olivia knows that the Nawab would visit her and he really did. Her excitement is shown in wearing muslins and playing piano with redoubled dash when he really arrives. She also holds out both hands to welcome him with was quite unusual at that time. When another invitation but this time without the Crawfords arrives Douglas refuses it because the social order wants him to refuse if his superior is not invited. Although Olivia wants to go he follows the typical Victorian order.

Journal 28 February (page 24- 29)

This section shows the typical reason for travel to India in the 1970s. Young people are inspired by the Hindu religion and want to learn more and find the spiritual enrichment. This imaginations often turn out as illusions. Unprepared, the people recieve a culture shock and often are mugged or confrontated with diseases. The example of Chid shows also a form of banality: traveling through India with only his begging bowl and also phoning home for money. The old British graveyard shows that the times of the British Raj are long over but also the transistoriness and of course again that the times of Olivia are over.

1923 part 2 (page 29- 49)

Olivia is affected by graveyards. She likes to speculate about the storys behind the dead buried in Satipur. By seing the grave of the Saunders’ baby she is very sad and desperated which shows her emotionality. She is also afraid of having a dead baby and wants to go to Britain if she gets pregnant. That shows that she does not trust in the doctors in India and also a wish to go back to the absolute “safety” in Great Britain. Although Olivia does not want to fit in the perfect British-Indian society she is embarrassed when Mrs. Saunders talks about her illness, so she calls herself aesthetic. This wish to be different is also shown when she visits the Begum and later Mrs. Minnies with Mrs. Crawford and when she refuses to go to Simla. Her for this times special behaviour is shown in her stron interest in the Nawab. There is also a contrast between Olivia and the Nawab: Olivia is young, influencable

and emotional, whereas the Nawab is strong and manly and he always gets what he wants to get. The Nawab’s green and shady picnic place contrasts with the flat and dusty landscape around- it seems like an oasis. By compliment Olivia and giving her a deep look the Nawab embarrasses Olivia which shows a first harmonization.

Journal 8 March (page 49-52)

The narrator notices that from the picnic on Olivias letters to Marcia became longer. Olivia needs someone to confide in so that the letters serve as a diary. This need to confide in could show her guilty concience because to confide in someone means that there must be a special and secret thing. The fact that she never told Douglas maybe shows a first sign of love to the Nawab. The narrator also compares the houses of the Crawfords and the Rivers to the houses now- the fact that they are bedraggled and look the same surely would upset Olivia. The narrator also mentions Inder Lals beautiful eyes- an indication of their later relationship.

Journal 10 March (page 52- 54)

The narrator begins to change and to conform to the Indians. She sleeps in a sari like all the Indian women and she also begins to sleep in the courtyard because of the heat. Furthermore, she expresses her strong feeling of happiness because of her sense of communion. After

the night Ritu had screamed out the narrator is just aware that it really happened because of the rice in Ritu’s hair.

Journal 20 March (page 54- 56)

The friendship to Inder Lal’s mother and the other widows show that the widows are burstling and maybe having their best part of live. In contrast the daughters-in-law either stay at home like Ritu and do not take part in public and social life or just shuffle behind them. This could show the unhappiness about arranged marriages. Inder Lal’s mother’s way to give respect to the shrine to praise the suttee stands for the faith all the Indians practice but also includes a contradiction because normally she does not have a high opinion towards marriage.

 1923 part 3 (page 56- 61)

The Nawab congratulates Douglas because of his way to handle the situation with the suttee but Douglas receives this very coldly. This shows the growing refusal and maybe his jealousy because the Nawab stays at hishome with his wife. They also quarrel over the suttee which shows their bad relationship. When there is a dinner at the Crawford’s Olivia notices that everything is as usual- for example the people and the meal. So not even this seems to be a change in Olivias boring life in Satipur. The main topic at table is of course the suttee and Olivia just takes another opinion about it because she does not want to agree

to the others. This shows that she does not want to accommodate to the typical British-Indian women like Mrs. Crawford.

Journal 30 March (page 61- 63)

When the narrator and Inder Lal walk home they hear a groan and so the narrator turns back altough Inder Lal protests which means that he is somehow afraid and does not want to hazard something. They find Chid who became sick and instead of searching for help just lays down in a tomb. This also shows his attitude to life which is based on getting help from other people. Inder Lal wants to test Chid in Hindu religion before taking him home so he is suspicious.

Journal 10 April (page 63- 65)

Chid feels fine again but stays at the narrator. He does not believe in posessions but on contrary he uses the narrators posessions and goes through her things without making any secret of it and also wires for home to get money. In Satipur everyone including Inder Lal treats him as a holy person and gives him offerings into his begging bowl. But the narrator considers Chid as not that intelligent because she notices him mix spititual and religious facts from everywhere and so he creates his own philosophy and acts like it is the Hindu religion. Having sex with Chid the narrator compares him to Lord Shiva who was the god of love to the hippies travelling to India.

Journal 15 April (page 65- 67)

The taking over of the Baba Firdaus shrine at the Husband’s Wedding Day is a typical example how things are mixed up in India. Altough the reason for this day is to cure barren women the narrator, Inder Lal’s mother and the friends are just having a good time at the shrine. Altough they had a look at it the original occasion is again mixed up.

1923 part 4 (page 67- 76)

On the Husband’s Wedding Day there always were riots created by the Muslims because they did not like their shrine taken over by the Hindi one day a year. This did not change until in 1947 Pakistan was founded. So the narrator is able to have a joyful Husband’s Wedding Day. In 1923 there was also the dust storm at that time and so the explosive atmosphere was enhanced. When Mrs. Minnies and Mrs. Crawford visit Olivia and talk about the Nawab Olivia has the opinion to know the Nawab really good but the reader notices that she does not know the main facts about him but just snatches like he was married but not the background. This also becomes clear when Harry visits Olivia and tells her about the ruffians visiting the Nawab at the palace because this could be an evidence for his cooperation with the dacoits. When Mrs. Crawford visits Olivia and Harry he tells them about his wish to go back to England because of mother. Although Mrs. Crawford arranges his journey he stays in India because of the Nawab’s influence.

 Journal 25 April (page 77- 79)

Just as Harry has difficulties to leave the Nawab the narrator has no the heart to throw Chid out. Both are dependend on them but cannot name the real reason. When Ritu begins to scream Chid joins the screams and the narrator considers them as shoutings of two rival sects. This is wrong because Chid is not a real Ascetic and Ritu’s screams are not religious origin but mental.

 Journal 30 April (page 79- 80)

At the beginning of the last chapter the narrator declars to be merged into India but later on she tries to convince Inder Lal to bring Ritu to a psychiatrist instead of trying traditional treatments. When a colleague greets Inder Lal a discussion about deceit raises and the narrator appears naive.

Journal 2 May (page 80- 82)

The fact that Maji and Chid together occur like a strage couple and like opposites reflects the later happenings when Chid retuns to Christian belief and ends his Ascetic way of life whereas Maji continues to be a spiritual religious woman.

1923 part 5 (page 82- 90)

The fact that the British women left for India, whereas Olivia stays in Satipur shows that Olivia is special and does not fit to the society. Normally, the women do what their husbands want them to do and in

this case Olivia persuaded Douglas. At that time Olivia calls the intense talks a growing friendship altough the fact that Douglas still does not know about her daily trip to Khatm shows that she has something to hide. This also is shown when Olivia and Douglas talk about children and Olivia says, “Oh Olivia’s no good”. When Olivia knows about the Nawabs doublful activities with the dacoits, she is so confused that she has to leave the desk. This also shows her feelings about the Nawab.

Journal 12 June (page 90- 96)

 When Chid is writing letters to the narrator, he combines his spiritual view with a few lines of facts and as it is typical for him a request. So the narrator serves as a second source beside his parents. The narrator compares Chid’s letters to Olivia’s: Olivia’s letters seem new, unused and clear and the content is personal, whereas Chid’s letters are crinkled and soaked and the content is not personal. This shows the difference between the British-Indian life in the 1920′s and the British-Indian life in the 1970′s. The narrator also mentions another reason beside uncovering Olivia’s life: she wants to escape the Western materialism and hopes to find a life which is more natural and simpler. So the narrator differs in this fact from Olivia. The Nawab’s nephew Karim who is living in London thinks about his uncle the same way as the British-Indian people like Beth Crawford did. The fact in which he is comparable to his uncle is the admiration for the ancestor Amanullah Khan.

1923 part 6 (page 97- 102)

Harry feels ill and is just laying in the bed. This could have psychological reasons: Harry wants to leave India to visit his mother but he cannot standto leave the Nawab. Also the fact that Olivia and the Nawab could begin an affair burdens his mind. When Olivia talks with Douglas about her intense wish to have a baby she also asks him about the dacoits and the Nawab. Along with the two fact she has to cry and Douglas does not help her up. So this could be a hint to the further happenings.

Journal 15 June (page 103- 109)

 The narrator feels more and more Indian because when there is an ill beggar lying on the strees who she just sees because of the way she is lying there. She also walks just by and does not help her so that she is worried later and goes back to look after the woman. There she feels for the first time the Hindu fear of pollution but that does not stop her from going to the hospital to ask what to do. When she visits Maji the woman gets a name and a story so that she is not just “the beggar woman”. Maji and the narrator stay with the woman until she dies which means she has a worthy end.

1923 part 7 (page 109- 116)

 When Olivia and Douglas quarrel it becomes obvious that the relationship is disturbed. While Douglas thinks that Olivia is troubled by

the heat and excuses everything with that Olivia feels like a spring is welling up inside her. This could stand for the uprising love between her and the Nawab. Moreover, Olivia wants to consult Dr. Saunders because of their childlessness. As the main reason for that she names that she wants to stop the change by having a baby. She also wants to consult the Doctor to see ill Harry but just Mrs. Saunders is in. She is up again after the death of her baby but just because she feels observed by her servants which is paranoid. So Olivia leaves her soon mainly because the Nawab’s car is arriving. When the Doctor comes to see Harry he tries to impress the Nawab but he just pokes fun at the Doctor by showing exaggerated interest. The Nawab also pays Dr. Saunders by his servants and later tells his dream about Mrs. Crawford as a hijra. So it seems like the Nawab has no respect for the British occupants.

Journal 20 June (page 116- 120)

When the narrator mentions that the heat becomes very intense this is also applicable to the relationship and love towards Inder Lal. They have a picnic at the Baba Firdau’s shrine and like Olivia and the Nawab they tie strings to have a free wish and also their affection culminates there. Whereas in the relationship between the Nawab and Olivia the man makes the first step, in the relationship between the narrator and Inder Lal the woman makes the first step. This could be a hint to the changed role of the women in the society.

1923 part 8 (page 120- 127)

Harry calls Olivia’s house an oasis which shows his longing for his former British life. This also fits to his disease which Olivia considers as psychological problems. The fact that Olivia wants to leave for the palace definitely proves her reason to go to Khatm because of Harry as a lie. When Harry refuses to accompany the Nawab and Olivia to Baba Firdau’s shrine the Nawab takes the opportunity to seduce Olivia.Although Olivia meets the dacoits and is doubtful, she just gives in when the Nawab distracts by telling the story of his ancestor Amanullah Khan again.

Journal 31 July (page 127- 129)

The narrator gets to know that she is pregnant because Maji tells her. But instead to depict her inner conflict when Maji offers her an abortion, she describes Maji’s biography. The only way of showing feelings is expressed when the narrator skips in puddles.

Journal 15 August (page 129- 131)

When Chid comes back from the pilgrimage he changed absolutely and has ended his ascetic life. So the doubts at the beginning concerning his real belief were justified. It is not described why he returned without Ritu and Inder Lal’s mother. The narrator also describes Inder Lal’s feelings concerning their relationship but the reader does not get to know anything about her. The only thing she depicts about her

pregnancy is that she thinks about it as a part of him. She also tries to tell Inder Lal about it by going to the British graveyard just like Olivia but she notices that she does not want to destroy the relationship. Here it is clear that the narrator and Olivia differ from each other.

1923 part 9 (page 131- 143)

 Olivia is also pregnant but it is not told when she found out but just that she tells it the Nawab first. This happens when the financial troubles are confirmed by Harry and the Nawab is indignant because he shall see the Viceroy. Her affection for the Nawab also is shown when she wants to leave for the mountains because the Begum plans it as well. At a dinner with Major Minnies he expresses his admiration for the Nawab as well as Olivia does. Only Douglas contradicts which could mean that he anticipates that he will lose Olivia. The Nawab wants Olivia to stay with him and asks her if she will really do it for her and that she is very brave. Exactly the same question asks Douglas so that Olivia’s inner dilemma increases.

Journal 20 August (page 143- 144)

 In section a cut happens: the narrator depicts the family history afer Olivia’s elopement and the British Raj. After that she mentions that Chid wants to leave India as soon as possible. This fits to the former description of the “new” Chid. When the narrator brings sick Chid to

the hospital he has to wait until an old man dies. It is very odd to read this because it occurs often in India.

Journal 27 August (page 144- 147)

The fact that the narrator emptys the bedpan from Chid’s roommate shows that she is still somehow different because it is considered as strange. The Hindu fear of pollution is exposed again. When the narrator depicts his thoughts about Olivia her reason to stay in India becomes clear. The narrator thinks that something must have changed Olivia so much that she stayed in India. So the narrator wants to find out what exactly had happened to Olivia.

1923 part 10 (page 147- 149)

 Harry finally managed to persuade the Nawab to let him go. This occurs as strange but Harry also mentions that the Nawab has difficulties with the British. In the course of this he also quotes the Nawab who said that the British will laugh from the other side of their mouths when his son is born. This means a turning point: Olivia decides to have an abortion and asks Harry to ask the Begum for help. When Olivia tells Harry she begins with “I’ve been thinking about an abortion” (p. 149, l.6) but at the end decides to hve the abortion. So the quote from the Nawab could be a reason for her final decision. So it is also a paradox: at first she wanted to be pregnat but was not and then she is pregnant but cannot have the baby.

Journal 31 August (page 149- 152)

When the narrator is followed by a woman she wonders why and asks Maji who tells her that the Indian midwifes are able to see the pregnancy now. So she offers an abortion again and the narrator gives in. But when she starts the traditional massage the narrator feels like Maji is transmitting something to her and suddenly she has the strong wish to keep the baby. This happening fascinates the reader because of the unfamiliar and magic occuring actions of Maji.

1923 part 11 (page 152- 154, then a cut and page 154- 165)

 Olivia considers her abortion a dream. So the ramshackle houses also could stand for her confused and bad condition at that moment. Similar to the “abortion” of the narrator Olivia gets a massage. This massage is also stopped but in this case by the arrival of the Begum. It is the second time Olivia and the Begum meet and so her interest in the abortion is somehow rude. Remarkable of this passage is that Olivia’s feelings and thoughts are not described.

Beth Crawford’s attitude to divide into British and Indian as the oriental “bad” side is typical for her and so also her decision not to talk about Olivia fits to this attitude. I wonder whether Olivia thought about the results of her abortion. She had her abortion in Khatm, the miscarriage in Satipur and then returned to the palace in Khatm. This fits to the British way of looking at the society: the bad abortion in the

ramshackle Khatm, the miscarriage in clean hospital of Satipur and then as a castoff the return to Khatm. The last point also fits to the fact that she wore a servant’s coarse sari when she escaped. The narrator also leaves Satipur to go up to the town of X where Olivia spent the rest of her life in a similar way she lived before in Satipur. She rather must have been even lonelier. The strange thing about Olivia’s death was that she wished to be cremated on the Hindu cremation ground although she never converted and although there also was a British cemetery. The fact that the Nawab cares for her in a materialistic way fits to the description of him being georgeous. It is also remarkable that the Nawab no longer could hold the facade of being a rich and powerful ruler. He changed to a fat, somehow womanly and softer man. So being in the town of X and recovering the last facts about Olivia’s life and living conditions the narrator suddenly notices that Olivia’s soul might have been suffused by the view and vision of India which made her stay there. Having discovered Olivia’s lige the narrator makes her own way and wants to go up futher to give birth to her baby. Now the parallels between them are finally broken.