From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Raj Quartet
The Raj Quartet
The Raj Quartet is a four-volume novel sequence, written Lady Chatterjee, to a tour of Mayapore one evening in
by Paul Scott, about the concluding years of the British 1964[8]. This shifting chronology, while never confusing,
Raj in India. The series was written during the period has inspired much discussion[9][10][11].
1965–75. The Times called it "one of the most important
landmarks of post-war fiction."[1]
The story of The Raj Quartet begins in 1942. World War
The Novels
II is at its zenith, and in South East Asia, the Allied forces The four volumes are:
have suffered great losses. Burma (now known as Myan- • The Jewel in the Crown – (1966)
mar) has fallen, and the Japanese invasion of the Indi- • The Day of the Scorpion – (1968)
an subcontinent from the east appears imminent. The • The Towers of Silence – (1971)
year 1942 is also marked by Indian nationalist leader Ma- • A Division of the Spoils – (1975)
hatma Gandhi’s call for the Quit India movement to the Some of the characters are carried through to a further
British rulers of India. The Raj Quartet is set in this tu- novel called
multuous background for the British soldiers and civil- • Staying On – (1977)
ians stationed in India who have a duty to manage this
part of the British Empire, known as the "jewel in the
crown" of the British Monarch. One recurrent theme is
Film, TV or theatrical adapta-
the moral certainty of the older generation as contrasted tions
with the anomie of the younger[2]. Another is the shock-
• 1984:The Jewel in the Crown is a television mini-series
ing racism to which this leads[3]. To justify the racism
based upon all four books. It was created by Granada
and combat this danger of anomie and disintegration, the
Television for ITV and starred Art Malik, Om Puri,
British characters let themselves be "trapped by codes
Geraldine James, Saeed Jaffrey, Karan Kapoor, Peggy
and principles, which were in part to keep their own
Ashcroft, Tim Pigott-Smith and Charles Dance.
fears and doubts at bay."[4] Most of the major characters
• 2005: A 9-part BBC Radio 4 adaptation under the
suffer difficulties, and some die, either because they try
original title, using the book titles as subtitles.
to follow codes which have become outmoded (Ahmed
Kasim, Merrick, Teddie Bingham) or because they reject
the codes and become outsiders (Kumar, Lady and Notes
Daphne Manners, Sarah Layton).[5] Some critcs have
[1] Publisher’s website
compared The Raj Quartet to the epic novels of Proust and
[2] For instance, in Day of the Scorpion, Sarah Layton
Tolstoy[6]. Though some critics have thought the Quartet
envies the "self-assurance" of her older aunt. See
to be a straightforward example of nineteenth-century
Day of the Scorpion, Book Two Part Two ch. IV
style realism, others have argued that its non-linear nar-
[3] For example, in Day of the Scorpion, Hari Kumar
rative style and occasional "outburst of dreams, halluci-
describes how the British were shocked and
nations and spiritual revelations" give it an added dimen-
embarrassed at the sight of an Englishwoman
sion[7].
treating an Indian as a human being rather than as
The lead characters in the first novel, which sets the
an inferior being. See Day of the Scorpion Book Two
stage for the subsequent ones, are Daphne Manners, a
Part One Ch. I
young Englishwoman who has recently arrived in India,
[4] review of Raj Quartet in The Spectator
and her British-educated Indian lover, Hari Kumar. Ron-
[5] P. Morey, Fictions of India: Narrative and Power, p.153
ald Merrick, a British police officer belonging to the Indi-
[6] Steinberg, Twentieth Century Epic Novels, p.125
an Police Service, is another main character.
[7] Morey, Fictions of India, p.158
The manner of narration is, especially in the first vol-
[8] New York Times review of TV series
ume, looping and elliptical, shifting from 1942 to 1964
[9] N. Hale, Chronotopicity in Paul Scott’s "The Raj
and back again, with detours back to the early 1900s. The
Quartet"
voices shift as well as the perspective, from a third-per-
[10] Lennard, The Raj Quartet and Staying On, p.17
son narrative about the doomed schoolteacher Edwina
[11] Eva Brann, Paul Scott’s Raj Quintet, p.192
Crane to a first-person narration by another character,
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raj_Quartet"
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Raj Quartet
Categories: Novel series, Novels set in India
This page was last modified on 22 July 2011 at 06:26. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Mobile view
2