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The Raj Quartet
''The Raj Quartet'' is a four-volume novel sequence, written by Paul Scott, about the concluding years of the British Raj in India. The series was written during the period 1965–75. ''The Times'' called it "one of the most important landmarks of post-war fiction." Plot The story of ''The Raj Quartet'' begins in 1942. World War II is at its zenith, and in South East Asia, the Allied forces have suffered great losses. Burma has fallen, and the Japanese invasion of the Indian subcontinent from the east appears imminent. The year 1942 is also marked by Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi's call for the Quit India movement to the British rulers of India. ''The Raj Quartet'' is set in this tumultuous background for the British soldiers and civilians 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 the moral certainty of the older generation as contrasted with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jewel In The Crown (novel)
''The Jewel in the Crown'' is a 1966 novel by Paul Scott that begins his '' Raj Quartet''. The four-volume novel sequence of the Quartet is set during the final days of the British Raj in India during the Second World War. The novel is written in the form of interviews and reports of conversations or research and other portions are in the form of letters ( epistolary form) or diary entries. The novel focuses on the triangle of an English woman, an Indian man, and a British police superintendent, setting up the events of subsequent novels in the series. It is considered Scott's "major work." The title itself, which is also an expression for something most valuable, refers to the fact that India was considered to be the most valuable possession of the British Empire. The plot has direct similarities to the novel ''A Passage to India'' by E.M. Forster published in 1924. Plot introduction Much of the novel is written in the form of interviews and reports of conversations and researc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jewel In The Crown (TV Series)
''The Jewel in the Crown'' is a 1984 British television serial about the final days of the British Raj in India during and after World War II, based on British author Paul Scott's '' Raj Quartet'' novels. Granada Television produced the series for the ITV network. Plot The serial opens in the midst of World War II in the fictional Indian city of Mayapore, against the backdrop of the last years of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement. Hari Kumar is a young Indian man who was educated at Chillingborough, a British public school; he identifies as English rather than Indian. The bankruptcy of his father, a formerly successful businessman, forces him to return to India to live with his aunt. Working as a journalist, Kumar now has a lower social status in India, and lives between two worlds, British and Indian. Numerous Anglo-Indians discriminate against him, and he is held in some suspicion by Indian independence activists. During this time, violent anti-British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staying On
''Staying On'' is a novel by Paul Scott which was published by University of Chicago Press in 1977. It was the recipient of the 1977 Booker Prize. Background Paul Scott started writing his novel which was concluded and published in 1977. The book was the winner of the 1977 Booker Prize, although the writer was suffering from cancer; and may be limited to six months living. Paul was unable to attend the prize ceremony. According to the British Newspaper ''The Guardian'', "Scott probably didn't know he was dying when he wrote ''"Staying On"'', and it does little good to speculate on whether intimations of mortality influenced him." Plot summary ''Staying On'' focuses on Tusker and Lucy Smalley, who were briefly mentioned in the latter two books of the Raj Quartet, '' The Towers of Silence'' and '' A Division of the Spoils''. They were the last British couple who lived in the small hill town of Pankot (after the Indian independence). Tusker was a colonel, a high rank in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country#Countries, second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is List of cities in Pakistan by population, its largest city and financial centre. Pakistan is the List of countries and dependencies by area, 33rd-largest country by area. Bounded by the Arabian Sea on the south, the Gulf of Oman on the southwest, and the Sir Creek on the southeast, it shares land borders with India to the east; Afghanistan to the west; Iran to the southwest; and China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor. Pakistan is the site of History of Pakistan, several ancient cultures, including the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is near Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations averag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali (;; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and contributes to ''The Guardian'', ''CounterPunch'', and the ''London Review of Books''. He read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Exeter College, Oxford. He is the author of many books, including ''Pakistan: Military Rule or People's Power'' (1970), ''Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State'' (1983), ''Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity'' (2002), '' Bush in Babylon'' (2003), ''Conversations with Edward Said'' (2005), ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis Of Hope'' (2006), ''The Duel'' (2008), '' The Obama Syndrome'' (2010), and '' The Extreme Centre: A Warning'' (2015). Early life Ali was born and raised in Lahore, Punjab in British India (later part of Pakistan). He is the son of journalist Mazhar Ali Khan and ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern world, Eastern and Western world, Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, ''Midnight's Children'' (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the Man Booker Prize#Winners, 25th and the The Best of the Booker, 40th anniversary of the prize. After his fourth novel, ''The Satanic Verses'' (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats because of what was seen by some to be an irreverent Depictions of Muhammad, depiction of Muhammad. This included a ''fatwa'' calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. The book was banned in 20 countries. Numerous killin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFS), the IPS is part of the All India Services – its officers are employed by both the Government of India, Union Government and by individual States and union territories of India, states. The service provides leadership to various state and central police forces, including the Central Armed Police Forces (Border Security Force, BSF, Sashastra Seema Bal, SSB, Central Reserve Police Force, CRPF, Central Industrial Security Force, CISF, and Indo-Tibetan Border Police, ITBP), the National Security Guard (NSG), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Intelligence Bureau (India), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Special Protection Group (SPG), National Invest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Realism (art Movement)
Realism was an artistic movement that emerged in France in the 1840s. Realists rejected Romanticism, which had dominated French literature and art since the early 19th century. The artist Gustave Courbet, the original proponent of Realism, sought to portray real and typical contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy, not avoiding unpleasant or sordid aspects of life. Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter, exaggerated emotionalism, and the drama of the Romantic movement, often focusing on unidealized subjects and events that were previously rejected in artwork. Realist works depicted people of all social classes in situations that arise in ordinary life, and often reflected the changes brought by the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions. Realism was primarily concerned with how things appeared to the eye, rather than containing ideal representations of the world. Realism spread to other countries, maintaining similar principles with some differences ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject areas are politics and culture. Alongside columns and features on current affairs, the magazine also contains arts pages on books, music, opera, film, and TV reviews. It had an average circulation of 107,812 as of December 2023, excluding Australia. Editorship of the magazine has often been a step on the ladder to high office in the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. Past editors include Boris Johnson (1999–2005) and other former cabinet members Ian Gilmour (1954–1959), Iain Macleod (1963–1965), and Nigel Lawson (1966–1970). The former Conservative MP Michael Gove took over from Fraser Nelson as editor on 4 October 2024. Today, the magazine is a print-digital hybrid. In 2020, ''The Spectator'' became the longest-live ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Indians
Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Anglo-Indian" has also encompassed other European and Indian ancestries. Anglo-Indians' first language is usually English. Prior to 1911, various designations like "Eurasian" or "Indo-Briton" were used to describe this community. The All India Anglo-Indian Association, founded in 1926, has long represented the interests of this ethnic group; it holds that Anglo-Indians are unique in that they are Christians, speak English as their mother tongue, and have a historical link to both the British Isles and the Indian sub-continent. During the period of British rule in India, children born to unions between British fathers and Indian mothers from the 17th century onwards formed the basis of the Anglo-Indian community. This new ethnic group formed a small yet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
