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The Raj Quartet #1-4
The Raj Quartet
The Raj Raj The Jewel in the Crown; The Day of the Scorpion; The Towers of Silence; A Division of the Spoils [paperback] Scott, Paul [Jan 01, 1979]
1985 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
About the author
Paul Scott
121 books147 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Paul Scott was born in London in 1920. He served in the army from 1940 to 1946, mainly in India and Malaya. He is the author of thirteen distinguished novels including his famous The Raj Quartet. In 1977, Staying On won the Booker Prize. Paul Scott died in 1978.
Paul Scott was born in London in 1920. He served in the army from 1940 to 1946, mainly in India and Malaya. He is the author of thirteen distinguished novels including his famous The Raj Quartet. In 1977, Staying On won the Booker Prize. Paul Scott died in 1978.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
June 15, 2013
Ovo je kvartet knjiga za koje sam se mnogo borila da ih Laguna kupi i objavi... Bila sam uporna i izgurala... I izabrala odličnog prevodioca za njih... Nažalost, napustila sam Lagunu pre objavljivanja knjiga... "Daleki paviljoni" M.M. Kej i "Radž kvartet" na najbolji način dočaravaju kolonijalnu Indiju i smatraju se savremenim klasicima britanske književnosti... Knjige koje vas ostavljaju bez daha i koje ne ispuštate iz ruku bez obzira što su debeljuškaste... Da ne spominjemo kako je sjajno urađena britanska serija po ovim romanima... :) Kompletno zadovoljstvo... :)
March 14, 2016
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THE RAJ QUARTET
1. do you like to read extensively detailed, dense, dramatic historical fiction that does not stint on characterization or slow-burning narrative action? do you like to read about colonial india, specifically colonial india during the troubled handover from the british raj back to indian control, and then of course the horrible partitioning? i do. but why exactly? well, let's see...
2. do you like to read about class systems and their impact - on a systemic level and on an intimate, personal level as well? i sure do. class is the basis of so many, er, classic english novels, but there is just something so drastic and of course so racially-based as the class system of colonial india. the class system becomes so palpable, so real, so almost on the verge of breaking down because of its inherent, disgusting unfairness when race is brought into the mix. class in literature that depicts colonial india is also powerful to me on a personal level. i'm not sure i can explain this in words that are inoffensive. i'm a person who loves classic english (and early american) literature. i eat it all up. and yet there is always a side of me - and i acknowledge that this may be due to my mixed-race status - that shouts at the back of my mind when reading those novels: ohyouthinkitssohardyouspoiledupperclasstwit/
youneedlesslyresentfullowerclassknob
you'restillwhitewhitewhite
andsohavesomanymoreautomaticadvantagesmorethanyou'lleverrealize, justshutthefuckupwithyourwhiningalready!
i don't get that voice when i'm reading about colonial india. class analysis within this subject is stark: you are brown or you are white, that determines your class, and in the end it doesn't matter what your level of education is, how much money you have, whatever... there will always be an automatic divide based on where you were born and what color your skin happens to be. that starkness makes it so much more relevant to me. and on top of that, the author also explores intragroup class distinctions within the races depicted.
3. do you like to read about tragic romance? this one has one of the best examples of its kind. the lovers are so warmly, honestly depicted. what happens to them is so disturbing... and it reverberates to inform the rest of this epic and nearly all the major characters within it.
4. do you like your historical novels to relate history on a personal scale? do you like to see how great events impact folks who are not movers & shakers but simply caught up in a grand design not of their making?
5. do you like old-fashioned villains but yet long for completely realistic, three-dimensional characters who have understandable motivations as they continue to do the horrible things they do? can the two be combined? Raj Quartet has a couple outstanding examples.
6. do you want to read the perspective of older folks, flitting in and out of potential senility, considered useless by the younger generation, dreamy and strange and not-quite-getting-it? this novel has my favorite example of the kind. she is not idealized. she is not a fountain of wisdom. she is heartbreaking.
7. do you like poetry in prose form? for such an elephantine undertaking, one full of extensive historical detail and given wide-screen scope, The Raj Quartet is written by an author who knows how to turn a phrase. a looooooong phrase. Paul Scott is an amazing writer. he knows how to construct sentences that make you pause and wonder at how language can convey the most ambiguous of feelings, the beauty in a tiny detail, the strangeness of a foreign setting, the way a place can actually look and feel and smell and taste.
8. do you like strong women? good, so do i. this book is full of them. sometimes they are heroes, in one case a villain (such a black & white word, but it fits), but mainly they are just people who are trying to do the best they can. they are not "strong" in a wish-fulfillment sense of the word. they are strong in a way that is real, that is brave because of their personal and historical context, that is worthy of respect because of their need to define themselves according to their own personal context.
9. do you like intricate narratives? say no more, this is royalty as far as intricacy is concerned. as a reader, you better pay attention. characters come and go, but they are not dropped. actions impact actions and those actions, that impact, unspools in all directions, ever-widening but sometimes submerged, sometimes leading to a dead end, but always connected in a way that is so complex and so subtle, so small and so large.
10. do you want an excellent BBC adaptation of your favorite english novel, preferably in miniseries format? hey, you got that too. watch this AFTER you read the series though, well at least that's the way i did it and it was awesome. so awesome that i put off breaking up with a pretentious asshole simply because we hadn't finished the miniseries yet and he owned the, um, vhs tapes. he was trying to "educate" me. i waited to break up with him until after the last episode. well, i guess i was the asshole in that case.
June 30, 2011
The Raj Quartet is a huge investment in time - it's four novels - but it's worth it. It's the kind of fiction project that most of us don't carve out space for, but large, complex works (think Proust or Joyce) have sublime rewards when done well, as here.
You don't have to have a particular interest in almost-post-colonial India to enjoy Scott; I don't. What you get is a carefully wrought story, with many strands, told from shifting points of view (mainly but not exclusively British). Scott does multiple narrators more cleanly than any other author I know, and, in my humble opinion, he's particularly good with the female narrators.
For those of you who get through the first book and are worried about the mixture of sadistic evil and latent homosexuality in one of the main characters, don't worry - look for Count Bronowsky, my favorite character, to appear later.
Make time to read this, but don't let too much time lapse between the pieces. It's the best fiction I've read in a long time.
You don't have to have a particular interest in almost-post-colonial India to enjoy Scott; I don't. What you get is a carefully wrought story, with many strands, told from shifting points of view (mainly but not exclusively British). Scott does multiple narrators more cleanly than any other author I know, and, in my humble opinion, he's particularly good with the female narrators.
For those of you who get through the first book and are worried about the mixture of sadistic evil and latent homosexuality in one of the main characters, don't worry - look for Count Bronowsky, my favorite character, to appear later.
Make time to read this, but don't let too much time lapse between the pieces. It's the best fiction I've read in a long time.
December 19, 2009
The Raj Quartet (comprised of four novels) is my favourite work of fiction for the twentieth century. It is simply an exquisite experience to read this book, every word and image seem just about perfect. It is a complex, multi-layered story of 2 countries, their colonial relationship and eventual "divorce" told from the many points of view of the supremely detailed characters Scott created. I think the "Quartet" is especially relevant today in terms of our ongoing problems with "Nation Building" in the Middle East. The question of how one person (Sarah Layton in the book) can break away from the ties of nationality and chauvinism that appear to define us and eventually create one's own identity is sensitively and beautifully detailed.
August 6, 2020
Spied on Laura's update. Thank you, Dear Laura. Listening now:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09v...
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
The Jewel in the Crown
Episode 1 of 3
Daphne Manners arrives in Mayapore and meets two men who are to change her life: Hari Kumar and Ronald Merrick.
29 JUL 2020 - Progress
I'm starting The Raj Quartet: Consider yourself lucky, Daphne Manners, that Ronald did not make advances - he is nauseating!
Episode 2 of 3
Daphne's friendship with Hari deepens as Britain's relations with India grow more volatile.
30 JUL 2020 - Progress
Affairs of the heart are so profound.
Episode 3 of 3
Daphne and Hari's relationship is brought to a painful conclusion.
1 AUG 2020 - Progress
Not the ending I hoped for!
The Day of the Scorpion
Episode 1 of 3
Susan Layton's engagement is announced as her fiancé Teddie shares quarters with Captain Ronald Merrick.
3 AUG 2020 - Progress
Hello Laytons. What a crew. And, Captain Merrick, I would still very much like you to be bitten by a snake.
Episode 2 of 3
Lady Manners hears of Hari's interrogation and Susan gets married.
3 AUG 2020 - Progress
Oh, poor Hari! And detestable Captain Merrick - you are lower than a snake's belly to the ground.
Episode 3 of 3
Sarah visits Ronald in hospital and hears of Teddie's tragic encounter with Indian troops.
5 AUG 2020 - Progress
Poor Teddie! To leave so soon and to not have met your child. And CPT Merrick has reached a new level of detestability - Bad!Bad!Bad!
The Towers of Silence
As the war nears an end, can Mabel Layton's companion cope with some shattering events?
A Division of the Spoils
Episode 1 of 2
With the war at an end, will the Layton family be able to unite behind Susan's decision to remarry?
5 AUG 2020 - Progress
Silly Susan. You could have chosen a much better man to marry - Merrick is not a good person.
Episode 2 of 2
Guy returns to India for its independence, but country's division turns into a tragedy.
5 AUG 2020 - Progress
Gone! Merrick is gone - goodbye to bad news.
The last days of the British Raj in India as the Second World War leads inevitably towards independence.
Paul Scott's classic series of novels dramatised by John Harvey.
Daphne Manners ...... Anna Maxwell Martin
Ronald Merrick ...... Mark Bazeley
Hari Kumar ...... Prasanna Puwanarajah
Lily Chatterji ...... Josephine Welcome
Sister Ludmilla ...... Susan Engel
Dr De Souza ...... Kulvinder Ghir
Miss Edwina Crane ...... Phyllida Law
Dr Anna Klaus ...... Susan Jameson
Poulson ...... John Rowe
Sergeant Singh ...... Ravin J Ganatra
Other parts played by Helen Longworth, Robert Hastie, Emily Wachter and Stephen Hogan.
Music by Raiomond Mirza.
Director: Sally Avens.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2005.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09v...
This was a terrific listen-to. I recommend it highly. I found a used set of the Raj Quartet and I am excited to read them.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09v...
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
The Jewel in the Crown
Episode 1 of 3
Daphne Manners arrives in Mayapore and meets two men who are to change her life: Hari Kumar and Ronald Merrick.
29 JUL 2020 - Progress
I'm starting The Raj Quartet: Consider yourself lucky, Daphne Manners, that Ronald did not make advances - he is nauseating!
Episode 2 of 3
Daphne's friendship with Hari deepens as Britain's relations with India grow more volatile.
30 JUL 2020 - Progress
Affairs of the heart are so profound.
Episode 3 of 3
Daphne and Hari's relationship is brought to a painful conclusion.
1 AUG 2020 - Progress
Not the ending I hoped for!
The Day of the Scorpion
Episode 1 of 3
Susan Layton's engagement is announced as her fiancé Teddie shares quarters with Captain Ronald Merrick.
3 AUG 2020 - Progress
Hello Laytons. What a crew. And, Captain Merrick, I would still very much like you to be bitten by a snake.
Episode 2 of 3
Lady Manners hears of Hari's interrogation and Susan gets married.
3 AUG 2020 - Progress
Oh, poor Hari! And detestable Captain Merrick - you are lower than a snake's belly to the ground.
Episode 3 of 3
Sarah visits Ronald in hospital and hears of Teddie's tragic encounter with Indian troops.
5 AUG 2020 - Progress
Poor Teddie! To leave so soon and to not have met your child. And CPT Merrick has reached a new level of detestability - Bad!Bad!Bad!
The Towers of Silence
As the war nears an end, can Mabel Layton's companion cope with some shattering events?
A Division of the Spoils
Episode 1 of 2
With the war at an end, will the Layton family be able to unite behind Susan's decision to remarry?
5 AUG 2020 - Progress
Silly Susan. You could have chosen a much better man to marry - Merrick is not a good person.
Episode 2 of 2
Guy returns to India for its independence, but country's division turns into a tragedy.
5 AUG 2020 - Progress
Gone! Merrick is gone - goodbye to bad news.
The last days of the British Raj in India as the Second World War leads inevitably towards independence.
Paul Scott's classic series of novels dramatised by John Harvey.
Daphne Manners ...... Anna Maxwell Martin
Ronald Merrick ...... Mark Bazeley
Hari Kumar ...... Prasanna Puwanarajah
Lily Chatterji ...... Josephine Welcome
Sister Ludmilla ...... Susan Engel
Dr De Souza ...... Kulvinder Ghir
Miss Edwina Crane ...... Phyllida Law
Dr Anna Klaus ...... Susan Jameson
Poulson ...... John Rowe
Sergeant Singh ...... Ravin J Ganatra
Other parts played by Helen Longworth, Robert Hastie, Emily Wachter and Stephen Hogan.
Music by Raiomond Mirza.
Director: Sally Avens.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2005.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09v...
This was a terrific listen-to. I recommend it highly. I found a used set of the Raj Quartet and I am excited to read them.
September 27, 2018
A major investment of my time, but one that really paid dividends. I found myself really sucked into the lives of the characters, and although and I could neither love nor hate them, I could feel for them, caught, as they were, ‘like butterflies in a web’. The Raj Quartet is one of those rare masterpieces that takes something you have little interest in and people that you have no time for, and yet it manages to make you feel what you never expected to feel.
July 29, 2020
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
The Jewel in the Crown
Episode 1 of 3
Daphne Manners arrives in Mayapore and meets two men who are to change her life: Hari Kumar and Ronald Merrick.
Episode 2 of 3
Daphne's friendship with Hari deepens as Britain's relations with India grow more volatile.
Episode 3 of 3
Daphne and Hari's relationship is brought to a painful conclusion.
The Day of the Scorpion
Episode 1 of 3
Susan Layton's engagement is announced as her fiancé Teddie shares quarters with Captain Ronald Merrick.
Episode 2 of 3
Lady Manners hears of Hari's interrogation and Susan gets married.
Episode 3 of 3
Sarah visits Ronald in hospital and hears of Teddie's tragic encounter with Indian troops.
The Towers of Silence
As the war nears an end, can Mabel Layton's companion cope with some shattering events?
A Division of the Spoils
Episode 1 of 2
With the war at an end, will the Layton family be able to unite behind Susan's decision to remarry?
Episode 2 of 2
Guy returns to India for its independence, but country's division turns into a tragedy.
The last days of the British Raj in India as the Second World War leads inevitably towards independence.
Paul Scott's classic series of novels dramatised by John Harvey.
Daphne Manners ...... Anna Maxwell Martin
Ronald Merrick ...... Mark Bazeley
Hari Kumar ...... Prasanna Puwanarajah
Lily Chatterji ...... Josephine Welcome
Sister Ludmilla ...... Susan Engel
Dr De Souza ...... Kulvinder Ghir
Miss Edwina Crane ...... Phyllida Law
Dr Anna Klaus ...... Susan Jameson
Poulson ...... John Rowe
Sergeant Singh ...... Ravin J Ganatra
Other parts played by Helen Longworth, Robert Hastie, Emily Wachter and Stephen Hogan.
Music by Raiomond Mirza.
Director: Sally Avens.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2005.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09v...
The Jewel in the Crown
Episode 1 of 3
Daphne Manners arrives in Mayapore and meets two men who are to change her life: Hari Kumar and Ronald Merrick.
Episode 2 of 3
Daphne's friendship with Hari deepens as Britain's relations with India grow more volatile.
Episode 3 of 3
Daphne and Hari's relationship is brought to a painful conclusion.
The Day of the Scorpion
Episode 1 of 3
Susan Layton's engagement is announced as her fiancé Teddie shares quarters with Captain Ronald Merrick.
Episode 2 of 3
Lady Manners hears of Hari's interrogation and Susan gets married.
Episode 3 of 3
Sarah visits Ronald in hospital and hears of Teddie's tragic encounter with Indian troops.
The Towers of Silence
As the war nears an end, can Mabel Layton's companion cope with some shattering events?
A Division of the Spoils
Episode 1 of 2
With the war at an end, will the Layton family be able to unite behind Susan's decision to remarry?
Episode 2 of 2
Guy returns to India for its independence, but country's division turns into a tragedy.
The last days of the British Raj in India as the Second World War leads inevitably towards independence.
Paul Scott's classic series of novels dramatised by John Harvey.
Daphne Manners ...... Anna Maxwell Martin
Ronald Merrick ...... Mark Bazeley
Hari Kumar ...... Prasanna Puwanarajah
Lily Chatterji ...... Josephine Welcome
Sister Ludmilla ...... Susan Engel
Dr De Souza ...... Kulvinder Ghir
Miss Edwina Crane ...... Phyllida Law
Dr Anna Klaus ...... Susan Jameson
Poulson ...... John Rowe
Sergeant Singh ...... Ravin J Ganatra
Other parts played by Helen Longworth, Robert Hastie, Emily Wachter and Stephen Hogan.
Music by Raiomond Mirza.
Director: Sally Avens.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2005.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09v...
February 24, 2013
The "Raj Quartet" is the epic account of the last years of the British occupation of India. India was the "Jewel in the Crown" of the British Empire, and the relationship of the Indian people and their colonial masters was vastly complicated, to say the least.
Author Paul Scott weaves together the lives of many unforgettable characters whose destinies are shaped by the British rule in India. He recounts the political, personal and historical joys and tragedies of the dissolution of that rule. He has created fascinating characters, both Indian and British, Muslim and Hindu, who personify the complex relations which existed between the rulers and the ruled. He does so in away that is never sentimental; never preachy or overwrought.
I have read the four books of the quartet twice over the years, and viewed the immensely faithful BBC series The Jewel in the Crown. I believe Scott has written one of the most significant works of modern historical fiction. He knows his history and he knows how to draw characters who are completely true.
If you love great writing, do yourself a favor and read these books.
Author Paul Scott weaves together the lives of many unforgettable characters whose destinies are shaped by the British rule in India. He recounts the political, personal and historical joys and tragedies of the dissolution of that rule. He has created fascinating characters, both Indian and British, Muslim and Hindu, who personify the complex relations which existed between the rulers and the ruled. He does so in away that is never sentimental; never preachy or overwrought.
I have read the four books of the quartet twice over the years, and viewed the immensely faithful BBC series The Jewel in the Crown. I believe Scott has written one of the most significant works of modern historical fiction. He knows his history and he knows how to draw characters who are completely true.
If you love great writing, do yourself a favor and read these books.
May 29, 2012
MY DESERT ISLAND BOOK.
September 14, 2012
One of the all time greats. Well worth rediscovering and getting the University of Chicago's beautiful 4-volume set. This is long and fairly deliberately paced, but absolutely riveting in its dramatic construction, characters and their inter-dynamics, historical interest, etc. I read it breathlessly and was sad when it was over (sad that there were no more volumes to read), though Staying On is a lovely, bittersweet coda to the series (and won the Booker to boot).
December 30, 2022
One of the great reading experiences of my life, and easily the best of 2022. Four volumes, four months: Sept-Dec. For me, this is UP THERE with Proust and Joyce and Updike's "Rabbit Tetrology". YOU MUST READ THIS. Yes, it's a 2,o0o page novel. Yes, it's breathtaking. "...yes I said yes I will Yes."
May 3, 2016
Obviously, I think a great deal of these books as I have read them in their entirety several times over the years. The cruelty and arrogance of the British rule made me want to leap up and demand justice for Hari; romance was satisfied on several levels but not alas for all. The character development is outstanding from the humble Barbie to the equally pathetic yet sadistic Merrick to Guy to Sarah to Daphne to ... Not a single bad portrayal throughout the books. Many a doctoral paper could be written on the symbolism of each for the weaknesses and strengths of the conquering country.
March 19, 2021
A thorough look at the end of British presence in India. The story is filled with history, cultural insights, and profound allegory. It is especially profound literature.
September 18, 2023
I read the Raj Quartet back in the 1980's, long before the splendid TV series (which is now itself an artefact from a vanished world). All the novels can be read as 'stand-alones', originally there were years separating the publication of each novel and Scott began writing what became the Raj Quartet long before there was any of the revival of interest in Britain's Indian empire let alone the upsurge in romantic historical fiction set there - he certainly never got the sort of advance that M.M. Kaye received from Penguin for 'The Far Pavilions'.
Of course Scott's take on India is anything but romantic and although central to the story he tells the Quartet is not about India, it is about the British in India and how little real affect they had on that country and how little they allowed that country to get under their skins. In the end the British are revealed as having no power and no significance, they aren't even worth killing. India, its history, past, present and future happened around the British but didn't involve them. That does exculpate the British for what they did in India - I think Scott saw in the awful Götterdämmerung of the Raj's demise and the birth of India and Pakistan a judgement on England the English who had who had so insouciantly interfered in the affairs of others.
It is a masterful multilayered and complex portrayal of empire at its ugliest in its most banal - the destruction and betrayal of Harry Kumar is accomplished long before Merrick every sets eyes on him.
Don't ever let anyone tell you this is a nostalgic celebration of the British empire - anyone who says so has neither read the books or even watched the tv mini-series.
It is my ambition to reread the four novels and their coda 'Staying On' again and when I do will properly review each novel.
For now let me recommend the quartet as one of the great reading pleasures - don't get a massive single volume, it will overwhelm and depress you, and probably break your foot if drop it, but read each novel individually, leave time between novels if you want, that way you will appreciate its individual stories and overall theme.
Of course Scott's take on India is anything but romantic and although central to the story he tells the Quartet is not about India, it is about the British in India and how little real affect they had on that country and how little they allowed that country to get under their skins. In the end the British are revealed as having no power and no significance, they aren't even worth killing. India, its history, past, present and future happened around the British but didn't involve them. That does exculpate the British for what they did in India - I think Scott saw in the awful Götterdämmerung of the Raj's demise and the birth of India and Pakistan a judgement on England the English who had who had so insouciantly interfered in the affairs of others.
It is a masterful multilayered and complex portrayal of empire at its ugliest in its most banal - the destruction and betrayal of Harry Kumar is accomplished long before Merrick every sets eyes on him.
Don't ever let anyone tell you this is a nostalgic celebration of the British empire - anyone who says so has neither read the books or even watched the tv mini-series.
It is my ambition to reread the four novels and their coda 'Staying On' again and when I do will properly review each novel.
For now let me recommend the quartet as one of the great reading pleasures - don't get a massive single volume, it will overwhelm and depress you, and probably break your foot if drop it, but read each novel individually, leave time between novels if you want, that way you will appreciate its individual stories and overall theme.
May 17, 2008
A wonderful book. It's very old-fashioned in one sense, because it has a very languorous pace (but it's NOT dull) but it's also an English-class worthy example of contemporary fiction: lots of symbolism but also the whole story is seen as though you're in a hall of mirrors. The truth (it's the story of the gangrape of an Englishwoman that sets off riots in 1942 in India, as Gandhi and the Congress prepare to evict the English) and the narrative are fractured so you really have to kind of pay attention.
October 9, 2016
In The Raj Quartet, Scott holds a large lost world of empire in the volumes that form the epic saga. His feat is equal to that of Tolstoy. He creates world in which one could dote in a state of timelessness. it is classic of its own kind. It is a Herculean task of handling 375 characters and cyclic narration of a mega story against the backdrop of pre-Independence history
August 21, 2012
One of the best books I've ever read
July 31, 2020
I attempted to read the first novel of the Quartet over a decade ago, but I wasn't read for Paul Scott's blistering depiction of the wartime Raj. I like to think I'm wiser, or at least more cynical and less romantic, and I spent some time on the subcontinent in the interim; at any rate, ten years on from my first attempt, I devoured the series. After finishing, I was tempted to re-start from the beginning.
If you enjoy epic or the weighty Victorian novel, the Raj Quartet is probably for you. I have been preaching its merits to all and sundry, but I realize it's probably a rarefied taste.
For an excellent review of the novel, see Eva Brann's Paul Scott’s “Raj Quartet”: The English “War and Peace.”
If you enjoy epic or the weighty Victorian novel, the Raj Quartet is probably for you. I have been preaching its merits to all and sundry, but I realize it's probably a rarefied taste.
For an excellent review of the novel, see Eva Brann's Paul Scott’s “Raj Quartet”: The English “War and Peace.”
November 30, 2021
This series would always be in my top ten reads. A sweeping epic of the Raj as seen through various characters. It is a commitment to read them but it's well worth the effort. After finish this I had to get my hands on more of Paul Scott's books and there has never been a disappointment
July 7, 2012
Unfortunately my notes on this book as well as the last volume which I was half way through, were in my rucksack, which was stolen. I was in Costa Rica and had given the other volumes away to save on luggage weight. Conseuently this review is necessarily very short and from meory of what struck me, without references. What I can remember is that this is successfully conceived and executed epic, which integrates individual human destinies, Indian and British, with the wider historical perspective. The writer presents different perspectives from different individuals and shifts forward and backward chronologically rather like Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
The novel covers the last years of British India. India became independent in 1947. It was described as the jewel in the crown of the Queen (Victoria). The granting of independence to India signalled a rushed exudus on the part of British colonial authorities and the beginning of a very rapid end to the largest Empire that the world has yet seen.
Paul Scott has created in the character of Ronald Merreck and unforgetably sinister figure, plausible and impressive, a man who can be defined and somewhere in the book I think is defined, as a person who takes more than he gives of human happiness, whose main talent and interest is to be at the centre and manipulate. To use an old-fashioned word, he may be described as "evil" but he is deeply intelligent, which evil persons, üprobably wrongly are thought not to be. (People balk at the idea that Stalin or Hitler were probably above average intelligence and strenuously try to account for their success in any way other than by intelligence, preferring to use words like "cunning" and "ruthless energy").
The book has some substantial failings. It is tendentious. Although presenting itself as so to speak an objective epic, the anti-British bias is unmistakable. (There is no Indian character half as devious as Ronald Merrick in the story, for example). The writer employs many expressions and vocabulary which would have been current at the period (1940's) in which the story takes place. Not only does he employ them himself, his characters employ them, which is worse. The examples I noted were in my stolen books but I do remember a sergeant saying "no sweat" to mean no problem-a very modern expression surely and people keep talking of kids instead of children-kids is an Americanism which I do not think would have been used by members of the Raj at the time of the Second World War. As I say, I had plenty of other examples, unfortunately now gone in my stolen rucksack.
It has been written that this is the description of the last years of the Raj, as though that is all the quartet is. In fact, the quartet can also be read as an insightful account of the ambiguities, strains and contradicitions of the prevailing social, cultural and racial hierachies pertaining to any societies in which hierachies exist whose exsitence is not rigidly stated in a code, but to some extent implicit instead.
Adendum: Perry Anderson has written a review in the London Reviuew of Books Volume 34 Issue 13 on Gandhi in which I read:
"Under Bose, the dedication and courage of the Indian National Army-untiing Hindu, Muslim and Sikh combattants-in battle against the British in Manipur and Burma, won such widespread admiration in India, not least from Gandhi himslef, that prosecution of its officers had to be dropped after the war in the face of angry mass demonstrations."
Scott's depiction givesd a very different picture, although ironically his depiction, or what we receive from him, comes via his sinister character Merrick, namely that Bose's army was ineffective and despised by the Japanese. Perry Anderson's statement further creates suspicion in my mind that Paul Scott's quartet is politically tendentious. On the other hand, maybe Perry Anderson is wrong. What do other readers think?
The novel covers the last years of British India. India became independent in 1947. It was described as the jewel in the crown of the Queen (Victoria). The granting of independence to India signalled a rushed exudus on the part of British colonial authorities and the beginning of a very rapid end to the largest Empire that the world has yet seen.
Paul Scott has created in the character of Ronald Merreck and unforgetably sinister figure, plausible and impressive, a man who can be defined and somewhere in the book I think is defined, as a person who takes more than he gives of human happiness, whose main talent and interest is to be at the centre and manipulate. To use an old-fashioned word, he may be described as "evil" but he is deeply intelligent, which evil persons, üprobably wrongly are thought not to be. (People balk at the idea that Stalin or Hitler were probably above average intelligence and strenuously try to account for their success in any way other than by intelligence, preferring to use words like "cunning" and "ruthless energy").
The book has some substantial failings. It is tendentious. Although presenting itself as so to speak an objective epic, the anti-British bias is unmistakable. (There is no Indian character half as devious as Ronald Merrick in the story, for example). The writer employs many expressions and vocabulary which would have been current at the period (1940's) in which the story takes place. Not only does he employ them himself, his characters employ them, which is worse. The examples I noted were in my stolen books but I do remember a sergeant saying "no sweat" to mean no problem-a very modern expression surely and people keep talking of kids instead of children-kids is an Americanism which I do not think would have been used by members of the Raj at the time of the Second World War. As I say, I had plenty of other examples, unfortunately now gone in my stolen rucksack.
It has been written that this is the description of the last years of the Raj, as though that is all the quartet is. In fact, the quartet can also be read as an insightful account of the ambiguities, strains and contradicitions of the prevailing social, cultural and racial hierachies pertaining to any societies in which hierachies exist whose exsitence is not rigidly stated in a code, but to some extent implicit instead.
Adendum: Perry Anderson has written a review in the London Reviuew of Books Volume 34 Issue 13 on Gandhi in which I read:
"Under Bose, the dedication and courage of the Indian National Army-untiing Hindu, Muslim and Sikh combattants-in battle against the British in Manipur and Burma, won such widespread admiration in India, not least from Gandhi himslef, that prosecution of its officers had to be dropped after the war in the face of angry mass demonstrations."
Scott's depiction givesd a very different picture, although ironically his depiction, or what we receive from him, comes via his sinister character Merrick, namely that Bose's army was ineffective and despised by the Japanese. Perry Anderson's statement further creates suspicion in my mind that Paul Scott's quartet is politically tendentious. On the other hand, maybe Perry Anderson is wrong. What do other readers think?
June 14, 2021
One of the best authors I have ever read. His knowledge of his subject and his ability to create believable, realistic characters with depth and understand of their individual and very different personalities is uncanny.
October 13, 2013
Despite my intense sadness at the loss of American jobs to cheaper overseas labor, especially to India, I am interested in the country and its history. The Raj Quartet is four books in one. The Jewel in the Crown (451 p), The Day of the Scorpion (483 p), The Towers of Silence (392 p), and A Division of the Spoils (598 p). I was really glad for this as I would have hated to get to the end of any of them and have to wait to get the next one from the library. As I read the last page, I wanted the book to go on.
The book consists of many long sections; each section from the point of view of a different person.
Soon you see the people repeating and coming into the stories of others. Some of these voices were very easy to like and some not. I wonder how much village life has changed. I wonder what traces are left of the British occupation. We know the rancour continues between Pakistan and India (Muslims and Hindus) from our nightly news. How much rancour remains against the British. It is surprising to me that this colony only achieved its independence in my lifetime considering that its subjugation began in the 1700s.
The book consists of many long sections; each section from the point of view of a different person.
Soon you see the people repeating and coming into the stories of others. Some of these voices were very easy to like and some not. I wonder how much village life has changed. I wonder what traces are left of the British occupation. We know the rancour continues between Pakistan and India (Muslims and Hindus) from our nightly news. How much rancour remains against the British. It is surprising to me that this colony only achieved its independence in my lifetime considering that its subjugation began in the 1700s.
September 16, 2015
One of the best (set of) books I've ever read. Some of the writing is simply too good to believe. These books describe perfectly the dilemma that is India - one loves and hates it all at once. The characters of Daphne and Sarah experience this confusion of feelings in their relationships with the men in their lives. But there are so many layers of meaning in these books, one could go on and on. The last book is a little slow (as the political crisis of the 1947 Partition gets closer) but ends so amazingly it is well worth it to keep reading.
FYI - the BBC series is pretty close to the books and I love it too.
FYI - the BBC series is pretty close to the books and I love it too.
June 26, 2020
A momentous achievement...almost 2000 pages I kept turning and marvelling at the perfect style of writing for this saga of the end of the Raj. I cannot imagine reading any of theses books in isolation of the others. Never sentimental, often instructive, occasionally ethereal and poetic, sometimes military in style about the military period of the end of British Rule in India, and always intelligent and interesting, the characters keep coming back and kris-crossing with each book so that you end up with a tapestry of the time and place, of India during the second world war. One of my favourite reads. Take the time to follow through these four great books to the powerful end.
June 25, 2015
I first read this quartet years ago, before even the TV series came out, and was astonished at the depth, humanity and intelligence of it. I am re-reading it now and am into Book III, and I am again astounded by it. It is a masterpiece, pure and simple. Paul Scott's mastery of the language, not only its lyrical side but also its precision, is absolute, but it's the marriage of that mastery with his obviously profound understanding of the situation of the British in India at the time of independence that makes this work so great. It is a deep and lasting joy to read.
November 2, 2016
Truly a masterful and epic piece of historical fiction about the concluding years of the British Raj in India. I'm sorry to have it come to an end and wish I had read it sooner. Paul Scott's prose style is exquisite and I love the way that, Rashomon-like, he tells the story from the differing perspectives of the many characters. The Raj Quartet is a huge investment in time - it took me almost four months to get through all four novels - but it was worth every minute. Simply one of those books you must read at least once in your lifetime.
July 11, 2019
When you realize you can skip 1/3 of the three succeeding books of the Quartet, as they are rehash of the previous books, then it goes quite quickly. I believe it was originally published in serial form. Yes, it was a fabulous series, keeping in mind that it was the British version of the Raj. It helped that it had been made into a movie. If you are just now reading the Raj, I suggest you follow it up with the Native version of the Raj: The House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar. Written decades later, it is superior in style and content to the Raj.
January 22, 2014
Started sort of interesting; but I became increasingly bored, and couldn't wait to "finish" the poundage. Finish means that I skimmed the fourth novel, having invested careful reading of novels 1, 2, 3. Got tired of the British, got tired of the prejudice, got tired of World War II. When at the end of novel 1, Edwina Crane declares "There is nothing I can do" - I should have figured out sooner that this was the theme of the quartet.
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May 29, 2012"If you haven’t read it already, or even if you have (I’m on my third time through), I recommend Paul Scott’s four-volume The Raj Quartet, four interlocking novels exploring the last days of the British in India. The characters are subtly drawn; the sociological and historical observations about race, class, and empire are constantly fascinating." — Martha Nussbaum
September 2, 2013
I read the Raj Q in small bites - sometimes only a couple of pages other times 15-20. The RQ actually is four books bound into one - The Jewel in the Crown; The Day of the Scorpion; The Towers of Silence; A Division of the Spoils. They build on one another. I loved each one. Each is a great read about India in the last days of the British Raj.
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