Editing Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

{{Short description|British-American writer (1927–2013)}}
{{Redirect|Jhabvala|the Indian social worker|Renana Jhabvala}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}}
| image = Ruth Prawer Jhabvala 1987.jpg
| caption = Jhabvala in 1987
| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|5|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Cologne]], [[Weimar Republic]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2013|4|3|1927|5|7|df=yes}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.<!--Per WP:OVERLINK "The names of subjects with which most readers will be at least somewhat familiar," including locations with NYC as an example, do not typically need to be linked)-->
| birth_name = Ruth Prawer
| alma_mater = [[Queen Mary University of London]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Cyrus Jhabvala|1951}}
| children = 3, including [[Renana Jhabvala|Renana]]
| relatives = [[Siegbert Salomon Prawer]] (brother)
| period = 1955–2013
| occupation = {{hlist|Novelist|screenwriter}}
| citizenship = {{ubl|United Kingdom (1948–2013)|United States (1986–2013)}}
| awards = {{indented plainlist|
* '''[[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]]'''<br />1986 ''[[A Room with a View (1985 film)|A Room with a View]]''<br />1992 ''[[Howards End (film)|Howards End]]''
* '''[[BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]]'''<br />1983 ''[[Heat and Dust (film)|Heat and Dust]]''
* '''[[Booker Prize]]'''<br />1975 ''[[Heat and Dust]]''
* '''[[MacArthur Fellowship]]'''<br />1984
* '''[[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]]'''<br />1986 ''[[A Room with a View (1985 film)|A Room with a View]]''
}}
}}
'''Ruth Prawer Jhabvala''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} ({{nee|'''Prawer'''}}; 7 May 1927<ref name="Watts" />{{spaced ndash}}3 April 2013) was a British and American novelist and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with [[Merchant Ivory Productions]], made up of film director [[James Ivory]] and producer [[Ismail Merchant]].<ref>Kaur, Harmanpreet. [http://www.projectorhead.in/eight/wandering-company.html "The Wandering Company: Merchant-Ivory Productions and Post-Colonial Cinema"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610194545/http://www.projectorhead.in/eight/wandering-company.html |date=10 June 2013 }}, ''Projectorhead Film Magazine'', 10 January 2013.</ref>

In 1951, she married Indian architect Cyrus Jhabvala and moved to New Delhi. She began then to elaborate her experiences in India and wrote novels and tales on Indian subjects. She wrote a dozen novels, 23 screenplays, and eight collections of short stories and was made a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List of the [[1998_New_Year_Honours#Commanders_(CBE)|1998 New Years Honours]] and granted a joint fellowship by [[BAFTA]] in 2002 with Ivory and Merchant.<ref name="Watts">{{cite news |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala obituary |first=Janet |last=Watts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/03/ruth-prawer-jhabvala |access-date=6 April 2013 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927–2013) |url=http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?ddm=10&pid=2954&eid=31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409103249/http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?ddm=10&pid=2954&eid=31 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 April 2013 |access-date=6 April 2013 |newspaper=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]] |date=3 April 2013 }}</ref> She is the only person to have won both a [[Booker Prize]] and an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]].<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: Author and screenwriter who won two Oscars and the Booker Prize |first=Martin |last=Childs |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ruth-prawer-jhabvala-author-and-screenwriter-who-won-two-oscars-and-the-booker-prize-8560685.html |access-date=6 April 2013 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=4 April 2013}}</ref>

==Early life==
Ruth Prawer was born in Cologne, Germany to Jewish parents Marcus and Eleanora (Cohn) Prawer.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mq-L3tAqFuwC&q=Marcus+Eleanora+Prawer&pg=PA94 |title=Merchant-Ivory: Interviews |first=Ismail |last=Merchant |page=94 |access-date=4 April 2012 |isbn=978-1-61703-237-0 |date=9 April 2012|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi }}</ref> Marcus was a lawyer who moved to Germany from Poland to escape conscription and Eleanora's father was [[Hazzan|cantor]] of Cologne's largest synagogue.<ref name="Brave new worlds">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/mar/19/books.featuresreviews |title=Brave new worlds |first=Maya |last=Jaggi |date=19 March 2005 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref><ref name="DT">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/9970277/Ruth-Prawer-Jhabvala.html |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |date=3 April 2013 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=4 April 2013}}</ref> Her father was accused of communist links, arrested and released, and she witnessed the violence unleashed against the Jews during the [[Kristallnacht]].<ref name="Brave new worlds"/> The family was among the last group of refugees to flee the [[Nazi regime]] in 1939, emigrating to Britain.<ref name="DT"/> Her elder brother, [[Siegbert Salomon Prawer]] (1925–2012), an expert on [[Heinrich Heine]] and horror films, was fellow of [[The Queen's College, Oxford|The Queen's College]] and Taylor Professor of German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford.<ref name="DT"/>

During World War II, Prawer lived in [[Hendon]] in London, experienced [[the Blitz]] and began to speak English rather than German. [[Charles Dickens]]' works and [[Margaret Mitchell]]'s ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]'' kept her company through the war years, and she read the latter book while taking refuge in air raid shelters during the ''[[Luftwaffe]]''{{'}}s bombing of London.<ref name="kirjasto">{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jhab.htm |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |website=Books and Writers |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209223409/http://kirjasto.sci.fi/jhab.htm |archive-date=9 February 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She became a British citizen in 1948. The following year, her father committed suicide after discovering that 40 members of his family had been murdered during the [[Holocaust]].<ref name="DT"/> Prawer attended Hendon County School (now [[Hendon School]]) and then [[Queen Mary, University of London|Queen Mary College]], where she received an MA in English literature in 1951.<ref name="DT"/>

== Literary career ==

=== Years in India ===
Ruth Prawer moved to India in 1951 after marrying Indian Parsi architect Cyrus Jhabvala. Her first novel, ''To Whom She Will'', was published in 1955. It was followed by ''Esmond in India'' (1957), ''[[The Householder (novel)|The Householder]]'' (1960) and ''Get Ready for Battle'' (1963). ''[[The Householder]]'', with a screenplay by Jhabvala, was filmed in 1963 by Merchant and Ivory. During her years in India, she wrote scripts for the Merchant-Ivory duo for ''[[The Guru (1969 film)|The Guru]]'' (1969) and ''[[Autobiography of a Princess]]'' (1975). She collaborated with Ivory for the screenplays for ''[[Bombay Talkie]]'' (1970) and ''ABC After-school Specials: William - The Life and Times of William Shakespeare'' (1973).<ref name="Raw 2012 xix - xxii">{{cite book |last=Raw |first=Laurence |title=Merchant-Ivory: Interviews |year=2012 |publisher=University of Mississippi |pages=xix–xxii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mq-L3tAqFuwC&q=Marcus+Eleanora+Prawer&pg=PA94 |isbn=978-1-61703-237-0}}</ref>

In 1975, she won the [[Booker Prize]] for her novel ''[[Heat and Dust]]'', later adapted into a [[Heat and Dust (film)|film]].<ref name="livemint.com">{{cite news |title=Novelist, Oscar winner Ruth Prawer Jhabvala dies |url=http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/hJ10z7t1JS2CkhDZ7LgweJ/Novelist-Oscar-winner-Ruth-Prawer-Jhabvala-dies.html |access-date=6 April 2013 |newspaper=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]] |date=3 April 2013}}</ref> That year, she moved to New York where she wrote ''The Place of Peace''.<ref name="Raw 2012 xix - xxii"/> Her husband also moved to US permanently in late 1980s, and the couple lived on the east coast until Ruth's death in 2013.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cshjhabvala.com/about | title=Cyrus Jhabvala }}</ref> Cyrus Jhabwala died in Los Angeles in 2014. 

Jhabvala "remained ill at ease with India and all that it brought into her life." She wrote in an autobiographical essay, ''Myself in India'' (published in ''London Magazine'') that she found the "great animal of poverty and backwardness" made the idea and sensation of India intolerable to her, a "Central European with an English education and a deplorable tendency to constant self-analysis."<ref name="Passages to India">{{cite news |title=Passages to India |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/books/passages-to-india.html |access-date=6 April 2013 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=18 July 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Between The Lines: Love and loathing in India |url=http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/lXBpWIbBxKPT3M561CK9pN/BETWEEN-THE-LINES-Love-and-loathing-in-India.html |access-date=6 April 2013 |newspaper=Mint |date=5 April 2013}}</ref> Her early works in India dwell on the themes of romantic love and [[Arranged marriage in the Indian subcontinent|arranged marriages]] and are portraits of the social mores, idealism and chaos of the early decades of independent India. Writing about her in the ''New York Times'', novelist [[Pankaj Mishra]] observed that "she was probably the first writer in English to see that India's Westernizing middle class, so preoccupied with marriage, lent itself well to Jane Austenish comedies of manners."<ref name="Passages to India"/>

=== Life in the United States ===
Jhabvala moved to New York City in 1975 and lived there until her death in 2013, becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1986. She continued to write and many of her works including ''In Search of Love and Beauty'' (1983), ''Three Continents'' (1987), ''Shards of Memory'' (1995) and ''East into Upper East: Plain Tales From New York and New Delhi'' (1998) portray the lives and predicaments of immigrants from post-Nazi and post-World War Europe. Many of these works feature India as a setting where her characters go in search of spiritual enlightenment only to emerge defrauded and exposed to the materialistic pursuits of the East.<ref name="Passages to India"/> The ''New York Times Review of Books'' chose her ''Out of India'' (1986) as one of the best reads for that year.<ref name="kirjasto" /> In 1984, she was awarded a [[MacArthur Fellowship]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/211/ |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - MacArthur Foundation |website=www.macfound.org |access-date=2019-01-19}}</ref>

In 2005 she published ''My Nine Lives: Chapters of a Possible Past'' with illustrations by her husband and the book was described as "her most autobiographical fiction to date".<ref name="Brave new worlds"/>

=== Reception ===
Her literary works were well received, with [[C. P. Snow]], [[Rumer Godden]] and [[V. S. Pritchett]] describing her work as "the highest art", "a balance between subtlety, humour and beauty" and as being [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhovian]] in its detached sense of comic self-delusion. [[Salman Rushdie]] described her as a "rootless intellectual" when he anthologized her in the ''Vintage Book of Indian Writing'', and [[John Updike]] described her an "initiated outsider".<ref name="Brave new worlds"/>

Jhabvala initially was assumed to be an Indian among the reading public because of her perceptive portrayals of the nuances of Indian lifestyles. Later, the revelation of her true identity led to falling sales of her books in India and made her a target of accusations about "her old-fashioned colonial attitudes".<ref name="independent.co.uk" />

Jhabvala's last published story was "The Judge's Will", which appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on 25 March 2013.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/04/ruth-prawer-jhabvalas-stories.html |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's stories |last=Rothman |first=Joshua |date=3 April 2013 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=3 April 2013}}</ref>

==Merchant Ivory Productions==
{{main|Merchant Ivory Productions}}
In 1963, Jhabvala was approached by [[James Ivory]] and [[Ismail Merchant]] to write a screenplay for their debut ''[[The Householder]]'', based on her 1960 novel. During their first encounter, Merchant later said Jhabvala, seeking to avoid them, pretended to be the housemaid when they visited. The film, released by [[Merchant Ivory Productions]] in 1963 and starring [[Shashi Kapoor]] and [[Leela Naidu]], met with critical praise and marked the beginning of a partnership that resulted in over 20 films.<ref name="She came, she saw, she wrote">{{cite news |title=She came, she saw, she wrote |url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/she-came-she-saw-she-wrote/article4577725.ece |access-date=6 April 2013 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |date=4 April 2013}}</ref>

''The Householder'' was followed by ''[[Shakespeare Wallah]]'' (1965), another critically acclaimed film. There followed a series of films, including ''[[Roseland (film)|Roseland]]'' (1977), ''[[Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures]]'' (1978), ''[[The Europeans (1979 film)|The Europeans]]'' (1979), ''[[Jane Austen in Manhattan]]'' (1980), ''[[Quartet (1981 film)|Quartet]]'' (1981), ''[[The Courtesans of Bombay]]'' (1983) and ''[[The Bostonians (film)|The Bostonians]]'' (1984). The Merchant Ivory production of ''[[Heat and Dust (film)|Heat and Dust]]'' in 1983 won Jhabvala a [[BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]] the following year.<ref name="Raw 2012 xix - xxii"/>

She won her first [[Academy Award]] for her screenplay for ''[[A Room with a View (1986 film)|A Room with a View]]'' (1986) and won a second in the same category for ''[[Howards End (film)|Howards End]]'' six years later.<ref name="livemint.com"/> She was nominated for a third [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]] the following year for ''[[The Remains of the Day (film)|The Remains of the Day]]''.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>

Her other films with Merchant and Ivory include ''[[Mr. & Mrs. Bridge]]'' (1990), ''[[Jefferson in Paris]]'' (1995), ''[[Surviving Picasso]]'' (1996), ''[[A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (film)|A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries]]'' (1998) (the screenplay for which she co-authored with Ivory), ''[[The Golden Bowl (film)|The Golden Bowl]]'' (2000) and ''[[The City of Your Final Destination]]'' (2009), adapted from the [[The City of Your Final Destination (novel)|eponymous novel]] by [[Peter Cameron (novelist)|Peter Cameron]] and was her last screenplay.<ref name="Raw 2012 xix - xxii"/> ''[[Le Divorce]]'' which she co-wrote with Ivory was the last movie that featured the trio of Merchant, Ivory and Jhabvala.<ref>{{cite web |title=In Remembrance: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/rem/04/04/in-remembrance-ruth-prawer-jhabvala/ |access-date=6 April 2013 |website=[[Lambda Literary]] |date=4 April 2013}}</ref>

In an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9T2xFoQ6E&feature=youtu.be&t=151 interview] for the [[British Film Institute]], British actor [[James Wilby]] claimed that Jhabvala refused to write the screenplay of the 1987 film ''[[Maurice (1987 film)|Maurice]]'' despite being "the normal writer" for Merchant-Ivory films. Wilby surmised that Jhabvala may have been uncomfortable with the central subject matter of the film, based on a [[Maurice (novel)|posthumously published novel]] by [[E. M. Forster]], which depicted a gay relationship set in Edwardian England. Ivory was reportedly "quite upset" by Jhabvala's decision, given the fact that their friendship was "incredibly close."<ref>{{Citation|title=Hugh Grant and James Wilby on Maurice, Merchant Ivory's gay love story {{!}} BFI Flare| date=4 April 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9T2xFoQ6E|language=en|access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref> For her own part, Jhabvala apparently did provide notes for ''Maurice'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://moveablefest.com/james-ivory-maurice/|title=Interview: James Ivory on Restoring "Maurice"|date=2017-06-02|website=The Moveable Fest|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref> but claimed she didn't wish to write the screenplay'','' as the novel was "sub-Forster and sub-Ivory."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/james-ivory-and-the-making-of-a-historic-gay-love-story|title=James Ivory and the Making of a Historic Gay Love Story|last=Larson|first=Sarah|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en|access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref>

The Merchant-Ivory duo was acknowledged by the [[Guinness Book of World Records]] as the longest collaboration between a director and a producer, but Jhabvala was a part of the trio from the very beginning. She introduced the composer [[Richard Robbins (composer)|Richard Robbins]], who went on to score music for almost every production by Merchant-Ivory beginning with ''The Europeans'' in 1979, to the duo after meeting him while he was the director of [[Mannes College of Music|Mannes College of Music, New York]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Richard Robbins obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/13/richard-robbins |access-date=6 April 2013 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=13 November 2012}}</ref> ''[[Madame Sousatzka]]'' (1988) was the one film she wrote that was not produced by Merchant-Ivory.

==Selected filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Other notes
|-
| 1963 || ''[[The Householder (film)|The Householder]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by Jhabvala
|-
| 1965 || ''[[Shakespeare Wallah]]'' || screenplay
|-
| 1969 || ''[[The Guru (1969 film)|The Guru]]'' || screenplay
|-
| 1970 || ''[[Bombay Talkie]]''|| screenplay
|-
| 1975 || ''[[Autobiography of a Princess]]'' || written by
|-
| 1977 || ''[[Roseland (film)|Roseland]]'' || story and screenplay
|-
| 1978 || ''[[Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures]]'' || written by
|-
| 1979 || ''[[The Europeans (1979 film)|The Europeans]]'' ||screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[Henry James]]
|-
| 1980 || ''[[Jane Austen in Manhattan]]'' || written by, inserted libretto "[[Sir Charles Grandison]]" by [[Jane Austen]]
|-
| 1981 || ''[[Quartet (1981 film)|Quartet]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[Jean Rhys]]
|-
| 1983 || ''[[Heat and Dust (film)|Heat and Dust]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by Jhabvala
|-
| 1984 || ''[[The Bostonians (film)|The Bostonians]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[Henry James]]
|-
| 1985 || ''[[A Room with a View (1986 film)|A Room with a View]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[E.M. Forster]]
|-
| 1988 || ''[[Madame Sousatzka]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[Bernice Rubens]]. Directed by [[John Schlesinger]]
|-
| 1990 || ''[[Mr. & Mrs. Bridge]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novels by [[Evan S. Connell]] (''Mr. Bridge'' & ''Mrs. Bridge'')
|-
| 1992 || ''[[Howards End (film)|Howards End]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[E.M. Forster]]
|-
| 1993 || ''[[The Remains of the Day (film)|The Remains of the Day]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[Kazuo Ishiguro]]
|-
| 1995 || ''[[Jefferson in Paris]]'' || screenplay
|-
| 1996 || ''[[Surviving Picasso]]'' || screenplay
|-
| 1998 || ''[[A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (film)|A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[Kaylie Jones]]
|-
| 2000 || ''[[The Golden Bowl (film)|The Golden Bowl]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[Henry James]]
|-
| 2003 || ''[[Le Divorce]]'' || co-written by [[James Ivory]], adapted from the novel by [[Diane Johnson]]
|-
| 2009 || ''[[The City of Your Final Destination]]'' || screenplay, adapted from the novel by [[Peter Cameron (novelist)|Peter Cameron]]
|-
|}

==Awards and nominations==
'''Academy Awards'''
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
! Year
! Category
! Film
! Result
! Ref.
|-
|[[59th Academy Awards|1986]]
|rowspan=3|[[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]]
| ''[[A Room with a View (1985 film)|A Room with a View]]''
| {{won}} 
| rowspan=3|<ref name="imdb.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0695609/awards?ref_=nm_awd|title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala|website=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>
|-
|[[65th Academy Awards|1992]]
| ''[[Howards End (film)|Howards End]]''
| {{won}} 
|-
|[[66th Academy Awards|1993]]
| ''[[The Remains of the Day (film)|The Remains of the Day]]''
| {{nom}} 
|-
|}

'''Golden Globe Awards'''
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
!Year
!Category
!Film
!Result
!Ref.
|-
|[[50th Golden Globe Awards|1992]]
|rowspan=2|[[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| ''[[Howards End (film)|Howards End]]''
| {{nom}} 
| rowspan=2|<ref name="imdb.com"/>
|-
|[[51st Golden Globe Awards|1993]]
| ''[[The Remains of the Day (film)|The Remains of the Day]]''
| {{nom}} 
|-
|}

'''British Academy Film Awards'''
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
!Year
!Category
!Film
!Result
!Ref. 
|-
|[[37th British Academy Film Awards|1983]]
|rowspan=4|[[BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]]
| ''[[Heat and Dust (film)|Heat and Dust]]''
| {{won}}
|rowspan=4|<ref name="imdb.com"/>
|-
|[[40th British Academy Film Awards|1986]]
| ''[[A Room with a View (1985 film)|A Room with a View]]''
| {{nom}} 
|-
|[[46th British Academy Film Awards|1992]]
| ''[[Howards End (film)|Howards End]]''
| {{nom}} 
|-
|[[47th British Academy Film Awards|1993]]
| ''[[The Remains of the Day (film)|The Remains of the Day]]''
| {{nom}} 
|-
|}

'''Writers Guild of America Awards'''
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
!Year
!Category
!Film
!Result
!Ref.
|-
|[[39th Writers Guild of America Awards|1986]] ||rowspan=3|[[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]] || ''[[A Room with a View (1986 film)|A Room with a View]]'' || {{won}} ||rowspan=4|<ref name="merchantivory">{{cite web |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |url=http://www.merchantivory.com/ruth.html |website=Merchant Ivory Productions |access-date=6 April 2013}}</ref>
|-
|[[45th Writers Guild of America Awards|1992]] || ''[[Howards End (film)|Howards End]]'' || {{nom}}
|-
|rowspan=2|[[46th Writers Guild of America Awards|1993]] || ''[[The Remains of the Day (film)|The Remains of the Day]]'' || {{nom}}
|-
|| [[Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement|Screen Laurel Award]] || {{n/a}} || {{won}}
|-
|}

=== Other awards ===
*1975: [[Booker Prize]] – ''[[Heat and Dust]]''<ref name="merchantivory" />
*1976: [[Guggenheim Fellowship]]
*1979: Neil Gunn Prize<ref name="literature.britishcouncil" />
*1984: [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Fellowship]]<ref name="merchantivory" />
*1984: [[London Film Critics Circle|London Critics Circle Film Awards]] – [[London Film Critics' Circle Award for Screenwriter of the Year|Screenwriter of the Year]] (''[[Heat and Dust (film)|Heat and Dust]]'')<ref name="literature.britishcouncil" />
*1990: [[New York Film Critics Circle|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]] – [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]] (''[[Mr. and Mrs. Bridge]]'')<ref name="merchantivory" />
*2003: [[O. Henry Award]] (''Refuge in London'')<ref name="literature.britishcouncil">{{cite web |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |url=http://literature.britishcouncil.org/ruth-prawer-jhabvala |website=British Council |access-date=6 April 2013}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1951, Prawer married Cyrus Shavaksha Hormusji Jhabvala,<ref>Journal of the Indian Institute of Architects vol. 29 and 30, ed. S. Kumar, 1963, p. 41</ref> an Indian [[Parsi people|Parsi]] architect and, later, head of the [[School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi]].<ref name="She came, she saw, she wrote"/><ref name="Watts"/> The couple moved into a house in Delhi's [[Civil Lines, Delhi|Civil Lines]] where they raised three daughters: Ava, Firoza and [[Renana Jhabvala|Renana]].<ref name="She came, she saw, she wrote"/><ref name="Watts"/> In 1975, Jhabvala moved to New York and divided her time between India and the United States. In 1986, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States.<ref name="Raw 2012 xix - xxii"/>

===Death===
Jhabvala died in her home in New York City on 3 April 2013 at the age of 85. James Ivory reported that her death was caused by complications from a [[Respiratory disease|pulmonary disorder]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Schudel |first=Matt |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, novelist and screenwriter, dies at 85 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/ruth-prawer-jhabvala-novelist-and-screenwriter-dies-at-85/2013/04/03/6b4ec3be-8b40-11e2-9f54-f3fdd70acad2_story.html |access-date=3 April 2013 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=3 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/movies/ruth-prawer-jhabvala-writer-dies-at-85.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Screenwriter, Dies at 85 |last=Gates |first=Anita |date=3 April 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=4 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Oscar-winning screenwriter of 'Howards End' and 'A Room With a View' dies |url=http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/04/04/ruth-prawer-jhabvala-died/ |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=6 April 2013 |date=4 April 2013}}</ref> Reacting to her death, [[Merchant Ivory Productions]] said that Jhabvala had "been a beloved member of the Merchant Ivory family since 1960, comprising one-third of our indomitable trifecta that included director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant" and that her death was "a significant loss to the global film community".<ref>{{cite web |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Dead: Oscar-Winning Screenwriter And Novelist Dies at 85 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/04/ruth-prawer-jhabvala-dead_n_3012270.html?ir=Entertainment |access-date=6 April 2013 |website=[[Huffington Post]] |date=4 April 2013 }}{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Literary works==

===Novels and novellas===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Other notes
|-
| 1955 || ''To whom she will : a novel'' || Published in the United States as ''Amrita'' 
|-
| 1956 || ''The Nature of Passion'' || 
|- 
| 1958 || ''Esmond in India'' || 
|-
| 1960 || ''[[The Householder (novel)|The Householder]]'' || 
|-
| 1962 || ''Get Ready for Battle'' || 
|-
| 1965 || ''A Backward Place'' ||
|-
| 1972 || ''A New Dominion'' || published in the United States as ''Travelers''
|-
| 1975 || ''[[Heat and Dust]]'' ||
|-
| 1983 || ''In Search of Love and Beauty'' ||
|-
| 1987 || ''Three Continents'' ||
|-
| 1993 || ''Poet and Dancer'' ||
|-
| 1995 || ''Shards of Memory'' ||
|-
|}

=== Short stories and collections ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Other notes
|-
| 1963 ||''Like Birds, Like Fishes''|| 
|-
| 1968 ||''A Stronger Climate''||
|-
| 1971 ||''An Experience of India''||
|-
| 1976 ||''How I Became a Holy Mother and other stories''||
|-
| 1986 || ''Out of India (novel) |Out of India'': Selected Stories''||
|-
| 1998 ||''East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhi''||
|-
| 2004 ||''My Nine Lives : Chapters of a Possible Past''||
|-
|2008
|The Teacher
|[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/07/28/the-teacher-fiction-ruth-prawer-jhabvala "The Teacher"]. ''The New Yorker''. Volume:84. 28 July 2008
|-
| 2011 ||''A Lovesong for India: Tales from East and West''||
|-
| 2013 ||''A Judge's Will''|| |{{cite magazine |date=25 March 2013 |title=The judge's will |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=89 |issue=6 |pages=88–95 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/25/the-judges-will <!--|access-date=2015-09-11-->}}
|-
| 2018 ||''At the End of the Century: The Stories of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala''||
|}

===Critical studies and reviews of Jhabvala's work===

;Anthologies and encyclopedias
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Bausch |editor-first1=Richard |editor-first2=R. V. |editor-last2=Cassill |chapter=Passion |first=Ruth |last=Prawer Jhabvala |title=Norton Anthology of Short Fiction |url=https://archive.org/details/nortonanthology000cass |url-access=registration |edition=6th |location=New York |publisher=[[W.W. Norton]] |year=2000 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nortonanthology000cass/page/801 801–813] |isbn=978-0-39397-508-6}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Mishra |editor-first=Pankaj |chapter=Two more under the Indian sun |first=Ruth |last=Prawer Jhabvala |title=India in Mind: An Anthology |location=New York |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2005 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiainmindantho0000unse/page/108 108–130] |isbn=978-0-37572-745-0 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/indiainmindantho0000unse/page/108 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Ross |editor-first=Robert |chapter=An experience of India |first=Ruth |last=Prawer Jhabvala |title=Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction in English: An Anthology |location=New York |publisher=Garland |year=1999 |pages=189–209 |isbn=978-0-81531-431-8}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Serafin |editor-first=Steven |chapter=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |title=Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century |volume=4 (L-Z) |edition=3rd |location=Farmington Hills, Michigan |publisher=St. James Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-55862-377-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo04sera }}

;Screenwriting
* {{cite book |last=Bailur |first=Jayanti |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: Fiction and Film |location=New Delhi |publisher=Arnold Publishers |year=1992}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Susan Bullington |chapter=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |title=Conversations with Screenwriters |location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire |publisher=Heinemann |year=2000 |pages=1–8 |isbn=978-0-32500-295-8}}

;Other
* {{cite book |last=Crane |first=Ralph J. |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |location=New York |publisher=Twayne |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-80577-030-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ruthprawerjhabva00ralp }}
* {{cite book |last=Crane |first=Ralph J. |title=Passages to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |location=New Delhi |publisher=Sterling Publishers |year=1991 |isbn=978-8-12071-355-0}}
* {{cite magazine |author=Jasanoff, Maya |date=7 January 2019 |title=A passage from India : Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and the art of ambivalence |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=94 |issue=43 |pages=62–67 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/07/ruth-prawer-jhabvala-and-the-art-of-ambivalence <!--access-date=-2019-04-15-->}}<ref>Online version is titled "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and the art of ambivalence".</ref>
* {{cite book |last=Rai |first=Sudha |title=Homeless by Choice: Naipaul, Jhabvala, Rushdie and India |location=Jaipur |publisher=Printwell |year=1992 |isbn=978-8-17044-241-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Shepherd |first=Ronald |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala in India: The Jewish Connection |location=Delhi |publisher=Chanakya Publications |year=1994 |isbn=978-8-17001-096-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Sucher |first=Laurie |title=The Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: The Politics of Passion |location=Basingstoke |publisher=Macmillan |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-33342-196-3}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/06/26/innocence-2 |first=Ruth |last=Prawer Jhabvala |title=Innocence |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=26 June 2006}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.merchantivory.com/goldenbowl/ruth.html |title='It works diagonally': A Conversation with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala on The Golden Bowl and the Art of Adaptation |first=Philip |last=Horne |website=Merchant Ivory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502053133/http://www.merchantivory.com/goldenbowl/ruth.html |archive-date=2 May 2014}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.moviemaker.com/hop/04/screenwriting.html |first=Phillip |last=Williams |title=Rewriting Literature: A Conversation With Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |website=MovieMaker |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010803024846/http://www.moviemaker.com/hop/04/screenwriting.html |archive-date=3 August 2001}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00942mz |title=Desert Island Discs |website=[[BBC Radio 4]] |date=24 January 1999}}
* {{cite web |url=https://rsliterature.org/fellow/ruth-prawer-jhabvala-cbe/ |title=Ruth Prawer Jhabvala CBE remembered |first=Catherine |last=Freeman |website=[[The Royal Society of Literature]]|date=September 2023 }}

== External links ==
* {{Wikiquote inline}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{NPG name}}

{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
| list = 
{{AcademyAwardBestAdaptedScreenplay 1981–2000}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay 1983–1999}}
{{Booker Prize}}
{{London Film Critics Circle Award for Screenwriter of the Year}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay}}
{{Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

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