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Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Biography (1927-)

Born May 7, 1927, in Cologne, Germany; moved to England, 1939, naturalized British citizen, 1948; naturalized U.S. citizen, 1986; daughter of Marcus (a cantor and an owner of a clothing business) and Eleonora (maiden name, Cohn) Prawer; married Cyrus S. H. Jhabvala (an architect), June 16, 1951; children: Renana, Ava, Firoza. Addresses: Office: c/o Merchant-Ivory Productions,250 West 57th St., Suite 1825, New York, NY 10107.; Agent: Rand Holston, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Nationality

British, American

Gender

Female

Occupation

Writer

Birth Details

May 7, 1927

Cologne, Germany

Famous Works

• CREDITS
• Film Work
• (With Ismail Merchant and James Ivory) Producer, Courtesans of Bombay (documentary), New Yorker, 1982
• WRITINGS
• Films
• The Householder (based on her novel; also known as Gharbar), Royal Productions, 1963, published by Ramlochan Books (Delhi, India), c. 1965
• (With James Ivory) Shakespeare Wallah, Continental Distributing, 1965, published by Grove (New York City), 1973
• (With Ivory; including lyrics and music for "Tom's Boat Song") The Guru, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1968
• (With Ivory) Bombay Talkie, Merchant-Ivory, 1970
• Roseland, Cinema Shares, 1977
• (With Ivory) The Europeans (based on the novel by Henry James), Levitt-Pickman, 1979
• (With Ivory) Quartet (based on the novel by Jean Rhys), New WorldPictures, 1981
• (With Ivory) The Courtesans of Bombay (documentary), New Yorker, 1982
• Heat and Dust (based on her novel), Universal, 1983
• The Bostonians (based on the novel by James), Almi, 1984
• A Room with a View (based on the novel by E. M. Forster), CinecomInternational, 1986
• (With John Schlesinger) Madame Sousatzka (based on a novel by Bernice Rubens), Universal, 1988
• Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (based on the novels Mrs. Bridge andMr. Bridge by Evan S. Connell), Miramax, 1990
• Howards End (based on the novel by Forster), Sony Picture Classics, 1992
• The Remains of the Day (based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro), Columbia, 1993
• Jefferson in Paris (also known as Jefferson a Paris), BuenaVista, 1995
• Surviving Picasso, Warner Bros., 1996
• The Portrait of a Lady, Gramercy, 1996
• (With Ivory) A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (based on a novel byKaylie Jones; also known as La fille d'un soldat ne pleure jamais), October Films, 1998
• The Golden Bowl (also known as La coupe d'or), Lions Gate Films, 2001
• Independent People, 2002
• (With Ivory) Le divorce, Fox Searchlight, 2003
• Television Specials
• The Autobiography of a Princess, BBC (England), 1975, published inAutobiography of a Princess: Also Being the Adventures of an American Film Director in the Land of the Maharajahs, edited by James Ivory, Harper (New York City), 1975
• Hullabaloo over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures, ITV (England), 1979
• Jane Austen in Manhattan, ITV, 1980
• Stage Plays
• A Call from the East, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City, 1981
• Fiction
• To Whom She Will, Allen & Unwin, 1955, reprinted, Penguin, 1985, published as Amrita, W. W. Norton (New York City), 1956, reprinted,Fireside Paperbacks, 1989
• The Nature of Passion, Allen & Unwin, 1956, W. W. Norton, 1957, reprinted, Penguin, 1986
• Esmond in India, W. W. Norton, 1958, reprinted, J. Murray (London), 1978, Penguin, 1980
• The Householder, W. W. Norton, 1960, reprinted, 1985
• Get Ready for Battle, J. Murray, 1962, W. W. Norton, 1963, reprinted, Fireside Paperbacks, 1989
• Like Birds, Like Fishes, and Other Stories, J. Murray, 1963, W. W.Norton, 1964, reprinted, Granada, 1984
• A Backward Place, W. W. Norton, 1965, reprinted, Simon & Schuster (New York City), 1990
• A Stronger Climate: Nine Stories, W. W. Norton, 1968
• An Experience of India (stories), J. Murray, 1971, W. W. Norton, 1972
• A New Dominion, J. Murray, 1972, published as Travelers, Harper (New York City), 1973
• Heat and Dust, J. Murray, 1975, Harper, 1976
• How I Became a Holy Mother and Other Stories, Harper, 1976
• In Search of Love and Beauty, Morrow (New York City), 1983
• Out of India: Selected Stories, Morrow, 1986
• Three Continents, Morrow, 1987
• The Nature of Passion, Simon & Schuster, 1990
• Poet and Dancer, Doubleday (New York City), 1993
• Shards of Memory, Doubleday, 1995
• East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhi (stories), Counterpoint (Washington, DC), 1998
• Also author of Meet Yourself at the Doctor, published anonymously,Naldrett Press (London), 1949. Work represented in anthologies, including Penguin Modern Stories, Number 2, Penguin, 1972. Contributor of storiesto periodicals, including Encounter, Kenyon Review, New Statesman, New Yorker, and Yale Review.

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

• Chakravarti, Aruna, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study in Empathy and Exile, B. R. Publishing (Delhi, India), 1998
• Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volume 29, Gale, 1990
• Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale, Volume 4, 1975, Volume 8, 1978, Volume 29, 1984
• Contemporary Novelists, 7th edition, St. James Press, 2001
• Crane, Ralph J., Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Twayne (New York, NY), 1992
• Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Volume 18, Gale, 1998
• Gooneratne, Yasmine, Silence, Exile, and Cunning: The Fiction of RuthPrawer Jhabvala, Orient Longman (New Delhi, India), 1983
• Pritchett, V. S., The Tale Bearers: Literary Essays, Random House(New York City), 1980
• Shepherd, Ronald, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala in India: The Jewish Connection, Chanakya Publications (Delhi), 1994
• Sucher, Laurie, The Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, St. Martin'sPress (New York, NY), 1988

Periodicals

• Entertainment Weekly, September 27, 1996
• Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario), July 26, 1986; October 17, 1987
• Interview, November, 1990
• Los Angeles Times, November 9, 1983; September 4, 1987
• Maclean's, March 31, 1986
• Modern Fiction Studies, winter, 1984
• New Statesman, October 31, 1975; April 15, 1983
• Newsweek, April 19, 1976; March 10, 1986; August 24, 1987
• New York, October 5, 1987, p. 58
• New York Herald Tribune Book Review, January 15, 1956
• New York Times, August 30, 1973; July 19, 1983; September 15, 1983; August 2, 1984; August 5, 1984; March 7, 1986; May 17, 1986; July 5, 1986;August 6, 1987
• New York Times Magazine, September 11, 1983
• People Weekly, March 17, 1986; September 17, 1987, p. 48
• Publishers Weekly, June 6, 1986
• Saturday Review, January 14, 1956; March 1, 1969; April 3, 1976; October 30, 1976
• Spectator, April 23, 1983; October 24, 1987
• Time, May 12, 1986; October 6, 1986; March 16, 1992, p. 72
• Times (London), February 4, 1983; April 14, 1983; October 15, 1987
• Times Literary Supplement, May 20, 1965; November 7, 1975; April 15, 1983; April 24, 1987; November 13, 1987
• Twentieth Century Literature, July, 1969
• Village Voice, August 2, 1983; May 8, 1986; September 30, 1986
• Washington Post, October 7, 1983; September 22, 1984; April 5, 1986

Electronic

• Merchant-Ivory, http://www.merchantivory.com, December 22, 2002