Sociology

About the book – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is an Indo -Anglian novelist belonging to Europe by virtue of birth but settled in India by virtue of marriage. This book is a study of three novels of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Backward Place, A New Dominion and Heat and Dust and deals with cultural cross currents and the problem of betwixt and between identities faced by the characters of Jhabvala. Jhabvala herself faced cultural cross currents and the problem of betwixt and between identity while staying in India and she portrayed the same in her fiction. Though she made this country her home for about a quarter of a century, but she views India and Indian characters from the lens of a foreigner. This book divides the European characters into three categories: Firstly there are the European seekers seeking love, peace and spirituality in India. Second category is of the users or suckers who live in India just to thrive on the benevolence of the rich Indians. The third group belonging to this trio is of the temporary visitors who come to India with an aim to interpret her mysteries but fail to understand real India. All these characters become betwixt and between personalities belonging neither to the East nor to the West.