Paul Scott
born March 25, 1920, Palmers Green, Eng.
died March 1, 1978, London
British novelist known for his
chronicling of the decline of the British
occupation of India, most fully realized in
his series of novels known as The Raj
Quartet (filmed for television as The Jewel
in the Crown in 1984).
Scott left school at 16 to train as an
accountant. He joined the British army in
1940 and was sent to India. From 1943 to
1946 he served with the Indian army, during
which time he traveled throughout India,
Burma (now Myanmar), and Malaya. Upon
returning to London he worked in a small
publishing firm for four years and then
became a director of a London literary
agency; he resigned in 1960 to write
full-time. A trip to India in 1964,
underwritten by his publishers, helped
inspire The Raj Quartet—The Jewel in the
Crown (1966), The Day of the Scorpion
(1968), The Towers of Silence (1971), and A
Division of the Spoils (1975)—as well as
Staying On (1977), which won the Booker
Prize. While exploring the manifold
consequences of the rape of an Englishwoman,
the books illustrate in profuse detail the
final years of the British occupation of
India from the points of view of English,
Hindu, and Muslim characters.
All of Scott’s works employ Indian themes
or characters, even those set outside India.
His early novels, such as Johnnie Sahib
(1952), The Mark of the Warrior (1958), and
The Chinese Love Pavilion (1960; U.S. title,
The Love Pavilion), address moral conflicts
of British army officers in the East.
