The British Raj Novels

About the Book

This book is about a brief resumé of the major critical responses received by Scott and proves the fact that he still needs a wider critical attention to have a deeper insight of his novels. At the moment, his Raj quartet is the only work that has received extensive critical attention. The generally accepted verdict that the Raj quartet is Scott’s greatest achievement is confirmed by the fact that it has aroused considerable interest among critics since its publication. Its position of acknowledged greatness, therefore, certainly demands a reference to various critical responses to it. John Mellors, for instance, considers it important because by evoking the final episode in the “long and passionate affaire” between British and India, it contains something of all the issues Scott wants to raise: justice, responsibility, political expediency, law and order, sex and race, pride and prejudice, love and loyalty.

About the Author

Professor P. A. Attar is presently working as professor of English literature and as coordinator in the faculty of arts and fine arts in Shivaji University, Kolhapur. He has an exemplary academic career and served as principal and university head of the department, and he worked on a number of national committees of academic and administrative importance. He is coordinator of the Special Assistance Programme (DRS-I) under University Grants Commission, New Delhi. His area of interest is modern British literature and postcolonial literature in English. He has successfully guided nineteen PhD students and seventeen MPhil students of Shivaji University. He has coedited nineteen books on communication skills prescribed by the University for Undergraduate classes. He has also penned a number of research papers published in national and international journals. He is working on a project on the image of India in the diaries and memoirs written by the British during the colonial period. He is a principal editor of the international journal Critical Space.