Cross Culture References and Cultural Conflict in the Short Stories of Jhabvala

Name of Author : Surendra Singh Jadaun

Abstract: Ruth Prawar Jhabvala (07 May 1927 – 03 April 2013) was a German born Anglo-Indian Booker Prize – Winning novelist, short story writer and two time Academy Award winning screen writer. She has written a dozen novels, 23 screenplays and eight collections of short stories. The cosmic treasure of Jhabvalas stories gives insight into the Indian and western socio-cultural differences. She has not only presented Indian Culture in objective way but also she has reflected its issues and vices in satirical way through her characters. Due to her representation of cultural conflict in short stories she has been sometimes called outsider inside and sometimes insider outside by critics. Some of Jhabvalas characters get married to Indians and live in Indian families as daughters in law like her. Such stories humorously present cultural conflict. There are some other stories like. In Love with a Beautiful Girl?, Miss Sahib that represent Europeans coming to India in search of mental peace, wisdom or with their dreams but find themselves trapped in an alien environment. The present research paper explores such conflicts in the short stories of R.P. Jhabvala.

Keywords : Indian, Western, Socio-cultural, Europeans, conflict

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