A Lovesong for India Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Little,Brown Pages: 276 Rs 495 There was a controversial public debate between celebrated writers Martin Amis and Clive James at a British university two years ago on the subject of age and writing. Amis held the view that writers lose their literary skills once they reach old age,naming Philip Roth,Vladimir Nabokov and John Updike as examples. James disagreed,citing Tolstoy,Goethe and Yeats as writers who hit new heights in old age. He could have added another name,less illustrious perhaps,but with a hugely impressive output of novels,screenplays and short stories as well as a Booker Prize for her best known work,Heat and Dust. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala,at 84,has just released a collection of short stories that only confirm her stature as one of the literary world's leading contemporary voices. Largely because of the subjects of novels like Heat and Dust and her Oscar-winning screenplay collaboration with Merchant-Ivory productions,she has been hastily adopted as an Indian writer,but that is as misleading as her surname. She was born in Germany to Polish-Jewish parents,escaped the Nazi regime and immigrated to England where she was educated and took British citizenship. She married a Parsi and moved to Delhi. Almost 20 years later,after winning the Booker in 1975,she settled in New York,becoming a naturalised American. All her 19 books and as many screenplays have drawn heavily from that rich cross-cultural inheritance,with her India connection featuring prominently in both. Her latest collection is no different. It is divided into three sections,India,Mostly Arts and Entertainment and The Last Decades,but most,if not all,convey a sense of familiarity,the theme of birds of passage,much like her,winging erratically from one situation to another,one country to another,one relationship to another,but always with a feeling of inevitability. Whether it is love lost or gained,success or failure,life or death,parting or coming together. What is equally and reassuringly familiar is the style,languid and easy,concise and precise,no grand flourishes or extraneous padding,but with the power to appeal to a wide cross-section of readers. As always,her life imitates her art,with identity playing a major role in her works. The loss or the discovery of it runs through this collection in subtle ways. Her India connection remains strong here,and not just in the India section. Many of the stories here are reminiscent of her literary and cinematic past,traces of The Householder,A Room with a View,Howards End and The Bostonians,among others,can be found in this latest collection which essentially bridges New Delhi and New York,the contemporary and the traditional. It is true of The Pagans and Lovesong for India,two of the more memorable stories featured here. Jhabvalas forte has been her portrayal of private lives,whatever the nationality or background of her protagonists love,lust and longing,marriages that are arranged or destined to fail,and the subtle interplay of relationships. And the setting,Delhi,Mumbai,London or New York,almost always mirrors her own transitions. She uses her own background to create a plot but adds a twist,as in the volatile relationship between a famous Indian poetess and her English translator. Indeed,this collection seems almost an extension of her last book,My Nine Lives,written six years ago,also a collection of short stories that were seen as semi-autobiographical. During her cinematic career,in which she formed a trio with Ismail Merchant and James Ivory,Jhabvala successfully adapted screenplays from the writings of Henry James and E.M. Foster and much of their work also seems to intrude into her own,sepia-tinted but powerful stories built around relationships and unrequited love or lust. Indeed,several characters from this collection could have featured in a Merchant-Ivory film: two innocents trapped in a wedding that neither wants against the backdrop of a huge but crumbling estate; a beautiful Hollywood film star plotting revenge against her nemesis; or the part-time mystic and Indian guru Dr Chacko. Her experience with the film world is always extant in her work,with producers,writers and actors featuring prominently. In Bombay (pre-Mumbai),we have an ageing superstar and his relationship with his son and daughter-in-law,especially the latter,and it eventually,leads to the destruction of their marriage. Another story revolves around the New York film world. Jhabvalas strength lies in her ability to make a short story seem like a full-length novel,no pieces are missing,the conclusion is neither forced nor abrupt and the story is complete. That is no mean literary achievement considering that the stories in this collection span a number of years. She has the ability to transcend time within a story without it seeming unnatural. The one that stands out is the title story,set in contemporary India. Perhaps because it resembles her own life in some ways,it has power and resonance. There is an Englishwoman,married to an Indian administrator of ethics and integrity,who find their lives entrapped in their sons involvement with corruption and manipulation. The theme of the outsider obsessed by India comes alive again in the story of a middle-aged man found dead in mysterious circumstances in an Indian guest house,leaving behind a succession of clues to his secret life. That is again a Jhabvala specialty,the element of mystery and hidden secrets that permeate her work. Despite such a diverse cast of characters and locales,the authors dexterity in shaping character and plot makes it all read like a seamless story. Whether Delhi,London or New York,the dialogue and situations have the same mix of humour and pathos,daring and destiny,balance and disruption. Jhabvala's skill lies in her ability to tell a story with such precision and focus that it crosses class,cultural and sexual boundaries with ease. And yet,the simplicity of her prose is deceptive: there is always a hidden complexity in the storyline and in her characters,which gives each of these stories an invisible underlay,at times dark and brooding,but mostly delightful and uplifting.
