Historical March 1985 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
THE RAJ QUARTET by Paul Scott, Avon 1979.
The Kiosk recently acquired two sets of four volumes each of the Raj Quartet which is currently being presented on Channel 9, Masterpiece Theatre as “The Jewel in the Crown.” The story begins with three key characters: Hari Kumor/ aka / Harry Coomer, a young English woman, Daphne Manners, and Ronald Merrick, the English policeman.
Although from the lower-middle classes, he wishes to marry Daphne Manners who is from a very old, upper-class family. Harry Coomer is a handsome, young Indian who grew up in England with every advantage including an education in one of the best English boarding schools.
He is forced to return to India when his bankrupt father kills himself and he is forced to live with an aunt.
He does not know the language and feels alienated from Indian values and the Indian community in which he lives. Hari and Daphne meet accidently and fall in love.
Although there are few places for them to meet, they see each other and finally become lovers. Tragically Daphne is raped one night. Merrick vindictively searches out Kumar and even plants evidence at his house. Kumar and five students are arrested and thrown in prison with no trial for a very long time.
The rape is given symbolic importance throughout the story, since the rape of India by the British—and the consequences of it—are the general theme of the story.
The plot is set during the early and middle 1940’s which are the last days of the British empire in India.
Many long passages throughout the four volumes cover the congress and the differences between Muslims and Hindus. Scott draws an excellent picture of the “memsahib” or the English woman in India. Missionary women, women in uniform, wives of officers, daughters of officers and it is here where the secondary theme of class consciousness is played to the hilt: British toward British, British toward Indians.
Many British had never been on social terms with Indians and only related to them as servants.
Even the upper-class, wealthy Indians were barred from English social clubs in their own country. Ronald Merrick appears and disappears throughout the story and is seen as basically an unsympathetic character who, although possessing physical courage, is hated as his sadism becomes known.
The final book, “A Division of the Spoils,” we see what happens to Merrick, the Kisam family, and the Layton family.
We even catch a final glimpse of Hari Kumar’s life.
He is neither what the British think he should be nor what the Indians think he should be; Hari has become his own kind of Indian. Scott has gained an international reputation as a chronicler of the fall and decline of the Raj because of these books, The Raj Quartet.
It is said that Paul Scott writes about how people relate to their work rather than how they relate to each other.
The four volumes afforded me many hours of lively reading and yet there were also passages that seemed to drag along.
There were some parts that were not easy but overall it was highly rewarding.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, March 1985.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1985_03.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
