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Paul Scott: A Life of the Author of the Raj Quartet
The author offers a portrait of the enigmatic Paul Scott, detailing his youth, his years in India and the Far East, his career as a literary agent, the development of his writing, and his strange private life
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
438 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 1990
49 people want to read
About the author
Hilary Spurling
28 books49 followersHilary Spurling, CBE, FRSL (born 1940) is an English writer, known as a journalist and biographer. She won the Whitbread Prize for the second volume of her biography of Henri Matisse in January 2006. Burying The Bones: Pearl Buck in China was published in March 2010.
She is married to playwright John Spurling, and has three children (Amy, Nathaniel and Gilbert) and two grandchildren.
She is married to playwright John Spurling, and has three children (Amy, Nathaniel and Gilbert) and two grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Want to read
January 20, 2020I hope this book comes on kindle eventually, I've read so many extracts online, and attempted to read the book, but it's impossible for me, even with a magnifier.
It looks excellent, but I'll leave it unrated until I can read the whole.
It looks excellent, but I'll leave it unrated until I can read the whole.
February 18, 2022
Hilary Spurling has written a fabulous, five-star, meticulously-researched biography of Paul Scott, a man born to be a writer. He knew it from a very young age and set about becoming one. Poetry first captured his attention, as it did many other aspiring young writers in the 1940s. When enough rejections revealed to him that poetry was not going to make his fortune, he switched nimbly to writing plays, but that was no more profitable than his poetry. Finally, he turned to writing novels.
After eight novels that only yielded lackluster success, Scott produced his magnum opus, The Raj Quartet, a tetralogy of novels set in his beloved India. Even then, literary recognition for this amazing, sustained effort—a decade of research and writing—did not translate into fame and financial fortune. Through a cruel twist of fate, Scott’s success arrived posthumously, when a 14-hour television series, produced on a grand scale, finally did justice to his work. If that wasn’t cruel enough, he was too sick to travel to receive the prestigious Booker Prize for Staying On, a brilliant novel capping The Raj Quartet. Months later, he died, yet now, his famous quartet is still in print 45 years later.
Scott married early and shortly afterwards became the father of two daughters. Up until then, his demonic devotion to writing had meant only personal sacrifice, but now, it was his family that suffered collateral damage. The fact that he was a lifelong heavy drinker and smoker didn’t help matters. Before long, his behavior alienated his devoted, long-suffering wife and his daughters, though he never saw the extent of it.
The impetus for The Raj Quartet came from Scott’s time in India, first through a World War II military posting from 1943 to 1946. His second trip came in his early 40s when, at huge risk to his fragile financial and family stability, Scott went to India to gather material for a novel, which would turn out to be The Jewel in the Crown, published in 1966. Though it garnered scattered literary recognition, it was not a resounding commercial success. But Scott was now enslaved to his muse, which first demanded a trilogy, and eventually a tetralogy, to complete his Indian tale over ten years. Other titles are The Day of the Scorpion, The Towers of Silence, and A Division of the Spoils.
At the end of The Raj Quartet, Scott was in his fifties, still victim to a paycheck-to-paycheck existence from various other writing assignments. His children were grown and pursuing their own interests, and his wife Penny divorced him, after a marriage of devoted, unquestioning support for her husband, who only paid her in hurtful neglect.
Scott was forced to turn his attention to teaching as a means for earning money, and he found himself teaching at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma as a visiting professor. His lack of experience in academia led to some unorthodox teaching methods, but he was an unqualified success, predominantly because he cared about his students’ writing. Scott’s empathetic listening skills were legendary. His students’ testimonials echoed those of other writers Scott had nurtured during a successful stint as literary agent, including notable heavyweights such as John Braine, M.M. Kaye, Arthur C. Clarke, and Muriel Spark.
Readers wanting to learn more about the British in India before the country gained independence in 1947 can consult textbooks if they wish, but Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet will be just as authentic and far more entertaining. That, and Spurling’s biography make for superb storytelling.
After eight novels that only yielded lackluster success, Scott produced his magnum opus, The Raj Quartet, a tetralogy of novels set in his beloved India. Even then, literary recognition for this amazing, sustained effort—a decade of research and writing—did not translate into fame and financial fortune. Through a cruel twist of fate, Scott’s success arrived posthumously, when a 14-hour television series, produced on a grand scale, finally did justice to his work. If that wasn’t cruel enough, he was too sick to travel to receive the prestigious Booker Prize for Staying On, a brilliant novel capping The Raj Quartet. Months later, he died, yet now, his famous quartet is still in print 45 years later.
Scott married early and shortly afterwards became the father of two daughters. Up until then, his demonic devotion to writing had meant only personal sacrifice, but now, it was his family that suffered collateral damage. The fact that he was a lifelong heavy drinker and smoker didn’t help matters. Before long, his behavior alienated his devoted, long-suffering wife and his daughters, though he never saw the extent of it.
The impetus for The Raj Quartet came from Scott’s time in India, first through a World War II military posting from 1943 to 1946. His second trip came in his early 40s when, at huge risk to his fragile financial and family stability, Scott went to India to gather material for a novel, which would turn out to be The Jewel in the Crown, published in 1966. Though it garnered scattered literary recognition, it was not a resounding commercial success. But Scott was now enslaved to his muse, which first demanded a trilogy, and eventually a tetralogy, to complete his Indian tale over ten years. Other titles are The Day of the Scorpion, The Towers of Silence, and A Division of the Spoils.
At the end of The Raj Quartet, Scott was in his fifties, still victim to a paycheck-to-paycheck existence from various other writing assignments. His children were grown and pursuing their own interests, and his wife Penny divorced him, after a marriage of devoted, unquestioning support for her husband, who only paid her in hurtful neglect.
Scott was forced to turn his attention to teaching as a means for earning money, and he found himself teaching at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma as a visiting professor. His lack of experience in academia led to some unorthodox teaching methods, but he was an unqualified success, predominantly because he cared about his students’ writing. Scott’s empathetic listening skills were legendary. His students’ testimonials echoed those of other writers Scott had nurtured during a successful stint as literary agent, including notable heavyweights such as John Braine, M.M. Kaye, Arthur C. Clarke, and Muriel Spark.
Readers wanting to learn more about the British in India before the country gained independence in 1947 can consult textbooks if they wish, but Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet will be just as authentic and far more entertaining. That, and Spurling’s biography make for superb storytelling.
November 17, 2010
I loved the four volume novel of the end of British India Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott and his other novel of that time Staying On. So I was interested to find Hilary Spurling had written his biography. I guess I found the early part most interesting for the light it threw on 1920s and 30s class society in England. His falling in love with India and his refusal to become part of colonial attitudes is an interesting contrast and the foundation that eventually led to his great quartet that was made into a stellar BBC production that grabbed national attention in the UK in I guess the 1980s.
This was a really interesting attempt to get inside how a writer creates a great epic novel series out of their life. Also about the problems of becoming a writer and continuing to believe you will produce a great work.
Scott was not a very nice person to his family to put it mildly. A drunken verbal abuser who had a quite different persona that he faced the rest of the world with. But he had the guts to project some of his dark side onto Ronald Merrick the evil character in his quartet.
Overall probably only worth reading if you have read his Raj Quartet, but if you have, worth the ride
This was a really interesting attempt to get inside how a writer creates a great epic novel series out of their life. Also about the problems of becoming a writer and continuing to believe you will produce a great work.
Scott was not a very nice person to his family to put it mildly. A drunken verbal abuser who had a quite different persona that he faced the rest of the world with. But he had the guts to project some of his dark side onto Ronald Merrick the evil character in his quartet.
Overall probably only worth reading if you have read his Raj Quartet, but if you have, worth the ride
May 3, 2009
I spent a summer living in 1940's India. Well, at least in my imagination. The masterwork, "Raj Quartet", by Paul Scott was so finely crafted that I did not want to put it down. After I finished the lengthy four volumes, the depth of them still resonated deep within. I had to know more, and so I bought "Paul Scott: A Life of the Author of the Raj Quartet." Finally the key to understanding Scott's characters was in my hands. I had often wondered how and why Scott understood women so well.
Spurling thoroughly researched his life and the results are surprising.
All of the characters in the Raj Quartet spring from deep within this tremendously gifted but tragically conflicted author. The best literature doesn't just tell a story, but provides a link by which we can examine our own longings and aspirations. Spurling's biography picked right up where the Raj Quartet left off, exploring three great mysteries of human life: birth, sex and death.
Spurling thoroughly researched his life and the results are surprising.
All of the characters in the Raj Quartet spring from deep within this tremendously gifted but tragically conflicted author. The best literature doesn't just tell a story, but provides a link by which we can examine our own longings and aspirations. Spurling's biography picked right up where the Raj Quartet left off, exploring three great mysteries of human life: birth, sex and death.
August 7, 2012
Very interesting biography of a complex writer and his marriage. If you enjoyed The Raj Quartet, you'll surely want to see how those characters were built from his acquaintances and himself. Very well-written and captivating.
October 25, 2017
I picked up Spurling's biography of Paul Scott after watching The Jewel in the Crown on PBS recently. I had never actually seen the series before and was fascinated by the number of outsiders in the series who all seemed to have a better perspective about the failing of colonial India in the last days of the Raj. Because of this I wondered about Scott's own life and specifically his sexuality. While Spurling's biography traces his life it really didn't answer the questions I was curious about. While the book maybe interesting for others I found her approach and writing style too dull to read without skimming.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews