"At the End of the Century: Stories," by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

I have been drawn to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s fiction for many years (actually decades) now. One reason is her identity as a Polish/German woman who married an Indian architect and lived much of her adult life in India (although she also later lived elsewhere, most notably New York City); thus she is one of those insider/outsider people who are so interesting to me, and who are representative of so many people in the world. And there is the India connection; as regular readers of this blog know, I spent much of my childhood there. She also wrote screenplays adapting such wonderful novels as “Howards End” and “A Room with a View” for films that were produced and directed by the famous team of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. These three were wonderful collaborators and friends, even living in the same Manhattan apartment building for many years. Of course the main reason I appreciate and enjoy Jhabvala’s fiction so much is that it is very, very good. I just read “At the End of the Century” (Counterpoint, 2017), a collection of many of her short stories published over the years, some in periodicals such as the New Yorker, and some in earlier story collections. The author died in 2013, and her family chose the stories (among the many she had published) for this posthumous collection. The settings for the stories are in various areas of Europe, India, and the United States; the main characters are often travelers between countries and cultures. Each story is compelling, and the author’s knowledge of and portrayals of human nature are impressive. The collection is further enhanced by its thoughtful introduction by the (also excellent, also one of my favorites) writer Anita Desai (who, too, has a mixed identity and has lived in various countries including India). Desai notes some very insightful descriptions of Jhabvala by various writers: Caryl Phillips said that “she was postcolonial before the term had been invented,” and John Updike called her “an initiated outsider.” And the author, a Jewish refugee from Europe, said about herself, “Once a refugee, always a refugee” who was “a chameleon hiding myself in false or borrowed colors.” For anyone who is interested in insider/outsider/refugee/mixed identities, and who at the same time loves wonderful and revealing literature, I highly recommend Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s novels and short stories. This volume is a good place to start.