At the end of the century
(Book)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published
Berkeley, CA : Counterpoint, 2018.
Status
Central - Adult Fiction
F JHABV
1 available

Copies

LocationCall NumberStatus
Central - Adult FictionF JHABVAvailable

Description

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Multilayered, subtle, insightful short stories from the inimitable Booker Prize–winning author, with an introduction by Anita DesaiNobody has written so powerfully of the relationship between and within India and the Western middle classes than Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. In this selection of stories, chosen by her surviving family, her ability to tenderly and humorously view the situations faced by three (sometimes interacting) cultures—European, post–Independence Indian, and American—is never more acute.In “A Course of English Studies,” a young woman arrives at Oxford from India and struggles to adapt, not only to the sad, stoic object of her infatuation, but also to a country that seems so resistant to passion and color. In the wrenching “Expiation,” the blind, unconditional love of a cloth shop owner for his wastrel younger brother exposes the tragic beauty and foolishness of human compassion and faith. The wry and triumphant “Pagans” brings us middle–aged sisters Brigitte and Frankie in Los Angeles, who discover a youthful sexuality in the company of the languid and handsome young Indian, Shoki. This collection also includes Jhabvala’s last story, “The Judge’s Will,” which appeared in The New Yorker in 2013 after her death. The profound inner experience of both men and women is at the center of Jhabvala’s writing: she rivals Jane Austen with her impeccable powers of observation. With an introduction by her friend, the writer Anita Desai, At the End of the Century celebrates a writer’s astonishing lifetime gift for language, and leaves us with no doubt of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s unique place in modern literature."The stories—all of them elegantly plotted and unsentimental, with an addictive, told–over–tea quality—are largely character studies of people isolated, often tragically, by custom or self–delusion . . . Vivid, unsparing portraits are leavened with the kind of humanizing moments that evoke a total world within their compression."—Megan O’Grady, The New York Times Book Review

More Details

Format
Book
Edition
First Counterpoint hardcover edition.
Physical Desc
439 pages ; 24 cm
Street Date
1812
Language
English
ISBN
9781640091375, 1640091378

Notes

General Note
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by Little, Brown.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Discover More

Author Notes

Loading Author Notes...

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the appeal factors melancholy, haunting, and lyrical, and they have the subjects "south asian people" and "asian people"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors lyrical and stylistically complex, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; the subjects "south asian people" and "asian people"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors melancholy, haunting, and lyrical, and they have the genres "short stories" and "literary fiction"; the subjects "human nature," "south asian people," and "asian people"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors melancholy and lyrical, and they have the genres "short stories" and "literary fiction"; the subjects "human nature," "south asian people," and "asian people"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors melancholy and lyrical, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; the subjects "south asian people," "asian people," and "loss"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the genres "short stories" and "literary fiction"; the subjects "human nature," "south asian people," and "asian people"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors melancholy, haunting, and lyrical, and they have the genres "short stories" and "literary fiction"; the subjects "human nature," "south asian people," and "asian people"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters" and "flawed characters."
A state of freedom - Mukherjee, Neel
These books have the appeal factors stylistically complex, and they have the genre "short stories"; the subjects "human nature," "south asian people," and "asian people"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors melancholy and lyrical, and they have the subjects "european people in foreign countries," "social classes," and "south asian people"; include the identity "asian"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the subjects "human nature," "social classes," and "south asian people"; include the identities "asian" and "hindu"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors melancholy and lyrical, and they have the genre "short stories"; the subjects "human nature," "south asian people," and "asian people"; and include the identity "asian."
These books have the appeal factors character-driven, and they have the genres "short stories" and "literary fiction"; the subjects "human nature," "south asian people," and "asian people"; and include the identity "asian."

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These authors' works have the appeal factors atmospheric, strong sense of place, and sweeping, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "family relationships," "rulers," and "cultural differences."
These authors' works have the appeal factors melancholy, haunting, and lyrical, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "british people in india," "race relations," and "indian history."
These authors' works have the appeal factors sweeping, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; the subjects "extramarital affairs," "women nonconformists," and "married women"; and characters that are "introspective characters" and "authentic characters."
These authors' works have the appeal factors lyrical and stylistically complex, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "extramarital affairs," "women nonconformists," and "british people in india."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving and atmospheric, and they have the subjects "women nonconformists," "cultural differences," and "culture conflict."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving, haunting, and lyrical, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "cultural differences," "women," and "culture conflict."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving, witty, and sweeping, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "women nonconformists," "family relationships," and "social change."
These authors' works have the appeal factors character-driven, stylistically complex, and leisurely paced, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; the subject "women nonconformists"; and characters that are "introspective characters" and "authentic characters."
These authors' works have the appeal factors sardonic, and they have the subjects "women nonconformists," "british people in india," and "cultural differences."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving, lyrical, and sweeping, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; the subjects "race relations" and "social change"; and characters that are "authentic characters."
These authors' works have the appeal factors evocative, stylistically complex, and sweeping, and they have the subjects "women nonconformists," "family relationships," and "british people in india"; and characters that are "authentic characters."
These authors' works have the appeal factors melancholy, lyrical, and sweeping, and they have the genres "literary fiction" and "psychological fiction"; and the subjects "extramarital affairs," "family relationships," and "indian people."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* A young German Jewish refugee in England in the 1940s, a resident of India for two dozen years, and a New Yorker from the mid-1970s until her death in 2013, Jhabvala triangulated her three adopted cultures in the 17 enthralling stories gathered in this sterling retrospective collection. This triad is also explored in the many startling ménage-à-trois variations she dramatizes with lyric sensitivity and steely irony. In A Course of English Studies (1968), a blindly romantic Indian student attending university in England wreaks havoc on a professor's life. An Experience of India (1971) portrays an expat woman who precipitously wanders alone throughout India, open to any adventure, while the true parenthood of a girl of allegedly English and Indian descent is subtly acknowledged in A Choice of Heritage (2003). The author of 20 books with a Booker Prize and two Oscars (the latter, thanks to her screenplay work with the Merchant and Ivory producer-director duo), Jhabvala was a spellbinding short story writer of fluid empathy, exceptional cross-cultural insight, and abiding respect for unconventional love. Radiantly introduced by Anita Desai (The Artist of Disappearance, 2011), for whom Jhabvala was an essential mentor, this is a richly captivating, revelatory, and important collection.--Donna Seaman Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Powered by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Jhabvala (1927-2013) is perhaps best known for collaborating with James Ivory and Ismail Merchant on their Oscar-winning films, but the German-born author also won the Booker Prize for Heat and Dust in 1975. This collection, which carries an introduction by novelist Anita Desai, offers 17 stories dating from 1963 to 2013. Jhabvala is renowned for her tales of life in India, but this collection also includes stories set in Europe and America. The characters in these "Western" pieces are mostly upper-class, artistic types in places such as New York and Los Angeles who seem pallid and interchangeable next to her more memorable Indian characters. The Indians portrayed in such stories as "Expiation" and "The Widow" are unforgettable. Jhabvala is especially observant on the lives of Westerners in India. Like Paul Scott in The Raj Quartet, Jhavbala reveals how certain Britons living in India slowly become unhinged owing to culture shock. Impressionable young women fall under the spell of a swami or, as in "An Experience of India," just fall apart. VERDICT Essential reading for anyone who enjoys fiction about India, especially when the stories come from the pen of a master.-Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Powered by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

A career-spanning collection of stories about the collision of East and West.When Jhabvala (A Lovesong for India, 2012, etc.) died in 2013, she left behind a prodigious body of work that had garnered her a Booker Prize for Heat and Dust (1975) and Oscars for co-writing the screenplays to A Room with a View and Howards End. Born in Germany, educated in England, and married for more than 50 years to an Indian architect, Jhabvala described herself as a perpetual refugee, moving for much of her later life between New York's Upper East Side and India. The 17 short stories in this collection take us from the early 1960s through 2013, though in a way they all feel as if they belong to an earlier time: Westerners, bored with their imploding lives, latch on to the perceived exoticism of India. In one story, two rich sisters (one married to a pompous American businessman, the other sleeping with him) become infatuated with a young Indian screenwriter ("Pagans"). In another, an English secretary heads to India to devote herself to assisting a guru despite the fact that she has competition for his attention from a brash German devotee ("A Spiritual Call"). Sometimes, Jhabvala switches the dynamics, as when a wealthy Indian college student begins a disastrous affair with a mousy English lecturer ("A Course of English Studies"). Whatever the premise, Jhabvala is interested in binaries; poverty plays a foil to wealth, India to Europe, age to youth, family to the individual. Even more, she wants to explore the ways that characters are shaken out of their familiar lives by "too much and too violent a humanity."Despite the old-fashioned milieu these stories move in, they are compelling in their elegance and for Jhabvala's poised, precise eye, which stays consistent and steady through the decades. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Powered by Syndetics

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* A young German Jewish refugee in England in the 1940s, a resident of India for two dozen years, and a New Yorker from the mid-1970s until her death in 2013, Jhabvala triangulated her three adopted cultures in the 17 enthralling stories gathered in this sterling retrospective collection. This triad is also explored in the many startling ménage-à-trois variations she dramatizes with lyric sensitivity and steely irony. In "A Course of English Studies" (1968), a blindly romantic Indian student attending university in England wreaks havoc on a professor's life. "An Experience of India" (1971) portrays an expat woman who precipitously wanders alone throughout India, open to any adventure, while the true parenthood of a girl of allegedly English and Indian descent is subtly acknowledged in "A Choice of Heritage" (2003). The author of 20 books with a Booker Prize and two Oscars (the latter, thanks to her screenplay work with the Merchant and Ivory producer-director duo), Jhabvala was a spellbinding short story writer of fluid empathy, exceptional cross-cultural insight, and abiding respect for unconventional love. Radiantly introduced by Anita Desai (The Artist of Disappearance, 2011), for whom Jhabvala was an essential mentor, this is a richly captivating, revelatory, and important collection. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.
Powered by Content Cafe

Library Journal Reviews

Jhabvala (1927–2013) is perhaps best known for collaborating with James Ivory and Ismail Merchant on their Oscar-winning films, but the German-born author also won the Booker Prize for Heat and Dust in 1975. This collection, which carries an introduction by novelist Anita Desai, offers 17 stories dating from 1963 to 2013. Jhabvala is renowned for her tales of life in India, but this collection also includes stories set in Europe and America. The characters in these "Western" pieces are mostly upper-class, artistic types in places such as New York and Los Angeles who seem pallid and interchangeable next to her more memorable Indian characters. The Indians portrayed in such stories as "Expiation" and "The Widow" are unforgettable. Jhabvala is especially observant on the lives of Westerners in India. Like Paul Scott in The Raj Quartet, Jhavbala reveals how certain Britons living in India slowly become unhinged owing to culture shock. Impressionable young women fall under the spell of a swami or, as in "An Experience of India," just fall apart. VERDICT Essential reading for anyone who enjoys fiction about India, especially when the stories come from the pen of a master.—Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal.
Powered by Content Cafe

Reviews from GoodReads

Loading GoodReads Reviews.

Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Jhabvala, R. P. (2018). At the end of the century (First Counterpoint hardcover edition.). Counterpoint.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer, 1927-2013. 2018. At the End of the Century. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer, 1927-2013. At the End of the Century Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2018.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Jhabvala, R. P. (2018). At the end of the century. First Counterpoint hardcover edn. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer. At the End of the Century First Counterpoint hardcover edition., Counterpoint, 2018.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

Staff View

Loading Staff View.