Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | |
|---|---|
 Jhabvala in 1987 | |
| Born | Ruth Prawer (1927-05-07)7 May 1927 |
| Died | 3 April 2013(2013-04-03) (aged 85) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation |
|
| Citizenship |
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| Alma mater | Queen Mary University of London |
| Period | 1955–2013 |
| Notable awards | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingRenana |
| Relatives | Siegbert Salomon Prawer (brother) |
Ruth Prawer JhabvalaCBE (née Prawer; 7 May 1927[1] – 3 April 2013) was a British and American novelist and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration withMerchant Ivory Productions, made up of film directorJames Ivory and producerIsmail Merchant.[2]
In 1951, she married Indian architect Cyrus Jhabvala and moved to New Delhi. She began then to elaborate her experiences in India and wrote novels and tales on Indian subjects. She wrote a dozen novels, 23 screenplays, and eight collections of short stories and was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List of the1998 New Years Honours and granted a joint fellowship byBAFTA in 2002 with Ivory and Merchant.[1][3] She is the only person to have won both aBooker Prize and anOscar.[4]
Ruth Prawer was born in Cologne, Germany to Jewish parents Marcus and Eleanora (Cohn) Prawer.[5] Marcus was a lawyer who moved to Germany from Poland to escape conscription and Eleanora's father wascantor of Cologne's largest synagogue.[6][7] Her father was accused of communist links, arrested and released, and she witnessed the violence unleashed against the Jews during theKristallnacht.[6] The family was among the last group of refugees to flee theNazi regime in 1939, emigrating to Britain.[7] Her elder brother,Siegbert Salomon Prawer (1925–2012), an expert onHeinrich Heine and horror films, was fellow ofThe Queen's College and Taylor Professor of German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford.[7]
During World War II, Prawer lived inHendon in London, experiencedthe Blitz and began to speak English rather than German.Charles Dickens' works andMargaret Mitchell'sGone with the Wind kept her company through the war years, and she read the latter book while taking refuge in air raid shelters during theLuftwaffe's bombing of London.[8] She became a British citizen in 1948. The following year, her father committed suicide after discovering that 40 members of his family had been murdered during theHolocaust.[7] Prawer attended Hendon County School (nowHendon School) and thenQueen Mary College, where she received an MA in English literature in 1951.[7]
Ruth Prawer moved to India in 1951 after marrying Indian Parsi architect Cyrus Jhabvala. Her first novel,To Whom She Will, was published in 1955. It was followed byEsmond in India (1957),The Householder (1960) andGet Ready for Battle (1963).The Householder, with a screenplay by Jhabvala, was filmed in 1963 by Merchant and Ivory. During her years in India, she wrote scripts for the Merchant-Ivory duo forThe Guru (1969) andAutobiography of a Princess (1975). She collaborated with Ivory for the screenplays forBombay Talkie (1970) andABC After-school Specials: William - The Life and Times of William Shakespeare (1973).[9]
In 1975, she won theBooker Prize for her novelHeat and Dust, later adapted into afilm.[10] That year, she moved to New York where she wroteThe Place of Peace.[9] Her husband also moved to US permanently in late 1980s, and the couple lived on the east coast until Ruth's death in 2013.[11] Cyrus Jhabwala died in Los Angeles in 2014.
Jhabvala "remained ill at ease with India and all that it brought into her life." She wrote in an autobiographical essay,Myself in India (published inLondon Magazine) that she found the "great animal of poverty and backwardness" made the idea and sensation of India intolerable to her, a "Central European with an English education and a deplorable tendency to constant self-analysis."[12][13] Her early works in India dwell on the themes of romantic love andarranged marriages and are portraits of the social mores, idealism and chaos of the early decades of independent India. Writing about her in theNew York Times, novelistPankaj Mishra observed that "she was probably the first writer in English to see that India's Westernizing middle class, so preoccupied with marriage, lent itself well to Jane Austenish comedies of manners."[12]
Jhabvala moved to New York City in 1975 and lived there until her death in 2013, becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1986. She continued to write and many of her works includingIn Search of Love and Beauty (1983),Three Continents (1987),Shards of Memory (1995) andEast into Upper East: Plain Tales From New York and New Delhi (1998) portray the lives and predicaments of immigrants from post-Nazi and post-World War Europe. Many of these works feature India as a setting where her characters go in search of spiritual enlightenment only to emerge defrauded and exposed to the materialistic pursuits of the East.[12] TheNew York Times Review of Books chose herOut of India (1986) as one of the best reads for that year.[8] In 1984, she was awarded aMacArthur Fellowship.[14]
In 2005 she publishedMy Nine Lives: Chapters of a Possible Past with illustrations by her husband and the book was described as "her most autobiographical fiction to date".[6]
Her literary works were well received, withC. P. Snow,Rumer Godden andV. S. Pritchett describing her work as "the highest art", "a balance between subtlety, humour and beauty" and as beingChekhovian in its detached sense of comic self-delusion.Salman Rushdie described her as a "rootless intellectual" when he anthologized her in theVintage Book of Indian Writing, andJohn Updike described her an "initiated outsider".[6]
Jhabvala initially was assumed to be an Indian among the reading public because of her perceptive portrayals of the nuances of Indian lifestyles. Later, the revelation of her true identity led to falling sales of her books in India and made her a target of accusations about "her old-fashioned colonial attitudes".[4]
Jhabvala's last published story was "The Judge's Will", which appeared inThe New Yorker on 25 March 2013.[15]
In 1963, Jhabvala was approached byJames Ivory andIsmail Merchant to write a screenplay for their debutThe Householder, based on her 1960 novel. During their first encounter, Merchant later said Jhabvala, seeking to avoid them, pretended to be the housemaid when they visited. The film, released byMerchant Ivory Productions in 1963 and starringShashi Kapoor andLeela Naidu, met with critical praise and marked the beginning of a partnership that resulted in over 20 films.[16]
The Householder was followed byShakespeare Wallah (1965), another critically acclaimed film. There followed a series of films, includingRoseland (1977),Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures (1978),The Europeans (1979),Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980),Quartet (1981),The Courtesans of Bombay (1983) andThe Bostonians (1984). The Merchant Ivory production ofHeat and Dust in 1983 won Jhabvala aBAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay the following year.[9][17]
She won her firstAcademy Award for her screenplay forA Room with a View (1986) and won a second in the same category forHowards End six years later.[10] She was nominated for a thirdAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay the following year forThe Remains of the Day.[4]
Her other films with Merchant and Ivory includeMr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990),Jefferson in Paris (1995),Surviving Picasso (1996),A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998) (the screenplay for which she co-authored with Ivory),The Golden Bowl (2000) andThe City of Your Final Destination (2009), adapted from theeponymous novel byPeter Cameron and was her last screenplay.[9]Le Divorce which she co-wrote with Ivory was the last movie that featured the trio of Merchant, Ivory and Jhabvala.[18]
In aninterview for theBritish Film Institute, British actorJames Wilby claimed that Jhabvala refused to write the screenplay of the 1987 filmMaurice despite being "the normal writer" for Merchant-Ivory films. Wilby surmised that Jhabvala may have been uncomfortable with the central subject matter of the film, based on aposthumously published novel byE. M. Forster, which depicted a gay relationship set in Edwardian England. Ivory was reportedly "quite upset" by Jhabvala's decision, given the fact that their friendship was "incredibly close."[19] For her own part, Jhabvala apparently did provide notes forMaurice,[20] but claimed she didn't wish to write the screenplay, as the novel was "sub-Forster and sub-Ivory."[21]
The Merchant-Ivory duo was acknowledged by theGuinness Book of World Records as the longest collaboration between a director and a producer, but Jhabvala was a part of the trio from the very beginning. She introduced the composerRichard Robbins, who went on to score music for almost every production by Merchant-Ivory beginning withThe Europeans in 1979, to the duo after meeting him while he was the director ofMannes College of Music, New York.[22]Madame Sousatzka (1988) was the one film she wrote that was not produced by Merchant-Ivory.
| Year | Title | Other notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1963 | The Householder | screenplay, adapted from the novel by Jhabvala |
| 1965 | Shakespeare Wallah | screenplay |
| 1969 | The Guru | screenplay |
| 1970 | Bombay Talkie | screenplay |
| 1975 | Autobiography of a Princess | written by |
| 1977 | Roseland | story and screenplay |
| 1978 | Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures | written by |
| 1979 | The Europeans | screenplay, adapted from the novel byHenry James |
| 1980 | Jane Austen in Manhattan | written by, inserted libretto "Sir Charles Grandison" byJane Austen |
| 1981 | Quartet | screenplay, adapted from the novel byJean Rhys |
| 1983 | Heat and Dust | screenplay, adapted from the novel by Jhabvala |
| 1984 | The Bostonians | screenplay, adapted from the novel byHenry James |
| 1985 | A Room with a View | screenplay, adapted from the novel byE.M. Forster |
| 1988 | Madame Sousatzka | screenplay, adapted from the novel byBernice Rubens. Directed byJohn Schlesinger |
| 1990 | Mr. & Mrs. Bridge | screenplay, adapted from the novels byEvan S. Connell (Mr. Bridge &Mrs. Bridge) |
| 1992 | Howards End | screenplay, adapted from the novel byE.M. Forster |
| 1993 | The Remains of the Day | screenplay, adapted from the novel byKazuo Ishiguro |
| 1995 | Jefferson in Paris | screenplay |
| 1996 | Surviving Picasso | screenplay |
| 1998 | A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries | screenplay, adapted from the novel byKaylie Jones |
| 2000 | The Golden Bowl | screenplay, adapted from the novel byHenry James |
| 2003 | Le Divorce | co-written byJames Ivory, adapted from the novel byDiane Johnson |
| 2009 | The City of Your Final Destination | screenplay, adapted from the novel byPeter Cameron |
Academy Awards
| Year | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Best Adapted Screenplay | A Room with a View | Won | [23] |
| 1992 | Howards End | Won | ||
| 1993 | The Remains of the Day | Nominated |
Golden Globe Awards
| Year | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Best Screenplay | Howards End | Nominated | [23] |
| 1993 | The Remains of the Day | Nominated |
British Academy Film Awards
| Year | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Heat and Dust | Won | [23] |
| 1986 | A Room with a View | Nominated | ||
| 1992 | Howards End | Nominated | ||
| 1993 | The Remains of the Day | Nominated |
Writers Guild of America Awards
| Year | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Best Adapted Screenplay | A Room with a View | Won | [24] |
| 1992 | Howards End | Nominated | ||
| 1993 | The Remains of the Day | Nominated | ||
| Screen Laurel Award | — | Won |
In 1951, Prawer married Cyrus Shavaksha Hormusji Jhabvala,[26] an IndianParsi architect and, later, head of theSchool of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.[16][1] The couple moved into a house in Delhi'sCivil Lines where they raised three daughters: Ava, Firoza andRenana.[16][1] In 1975, Jhabvala moved to New York and divided her time between India and the United States. In 1986, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[9]
Jhabvala died in her home in New York City on 3 April 2013 at the age of 85. James Ivory reported that her death was caused by complications from apulmonary disorder.[27][28][29] Reacting to her death,Merchant Ivory Productions said that Jhabvala had "been a beloved member of the Merchant Ivory family since 1960, comprising one-third of our indomitable trifecta that included director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant" and that her death was "a significant loss to the global film community".[30]
| Year | Title | Other notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | To whom she will : a novel | Published in the United States asAmrita |
| 1956 | The Nature of Passion | |
| 1958 | Esmond in India | |
| 1960 | The Householder | |
| 1962 | Get Ready for Battle | |
| 1965 | A Backward Place | |
| 1972 | A New Dominion | published in the United States asTravelers |
| 1975 | Heat and Dust | |
| 1983 | In Search of Love and Beauty | |
| 1987 | Three Continents | |
| 1993 | Poet and Dancer | |
| 1995 | Shards of Memory |
| Year | Title | Other notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Like Birds, Like Fishes | |
| 1968 | A Stronger Climate | |
| 1971 | An Experience of India | |
| 1976 | How I Became a Holy Mother and other stories | |
| 1986 | Out of India: Selected Stories | |
| 1998 | East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhi | |
| 2004 | My Nine Lives : Chapters of a Possible Past | |
| 2008 | The Teacher | "The Teacher".The New Yorker. Volume:84. 28 July 2008 |
| 2011 | A Lovesong for India: Tales from East and West | |
| 2013 | A Judge's Will | "The judge's will".The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 6. 25 March 2013. pp. 88–95. |
| 2018 | At the End of the Century: The Stories of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
Quotations related toRuth Prawer Jhabvala at Wikiquote
