Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study in Empathy and Exile
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study in Empathy and Exile
Hardcover
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DETAILS :
- Author : Aruna Chakravarti
- Publsher : B.R. Publishing Corporation
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 285 pages
- ISBN-10 : 8170189616
- ISBN-13 : 978-8170189619
- Weight : 550 g
ABOUT THE BOOK
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study in Empathy and Exile is an insightful critical biography by the distinguished scholar Aruna Chakravarti. The book meticulously unpacks the "chameleonic" literary identity of Jhabvala, a woman who lived across three continents and wrote from the intersection of three distinct cultures: European, Indian, and American.
Chakravarti explores the central paradox of Jhabvala’s life: her status as a "perpetual outsider." The study focuses on how Jhabvala’s Jewish heritage and her experience as a refugee from Nazi Germany colored her perception of India. Rather than seeing India through the romanticized lens of many Westerners, Jhabvala viewed it with a mix of sharp-eyed satire and deep, often painful, empathy. Chakravarti analyzes key works like Heat and Dust and Esmond in India, tracing Jhabvala's journey from a chronicler of the Indian middle class to a world-renowned screenwriter for Merchant Ivory Productions.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aruna Chakravarti is a heavyweight in the world of Indian literature and academia. She is a well-known novelist, academic, and a highly decorated translator. Formerly the Principal of Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi, she has dedicated her career to exploring the nuances of Indian history and womanhood.
She is perhaps most famous for her translation of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s Srikanta and her award-winning translation of Sunil Gangopadhyay’s Those Days (Sei Somoy), for which she received the Sahitya Akademi Award. As a novelist, her works like The Inheritors and Jorasanko have received critical acclaim. Her background as a translator and scholar of "cross-cultural encounters" makes her the perfect critic to evaluate the complex, displaced legacy of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
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