Cambridge Journals Online

Paul Scott's Later Novels: The Unknown Indian

Abstract

The Raj Quartet is a novel in which Scott has transmuted contemporary history into fiction—the many forces at work in India over a period of five years, from the ‘Quit India’ motion of the Congress Committee in 1942 to the eve of Independence and Partition. Deeper than Scott's interest in history and politics, however, is his aim to probe the nature of human destiny, conveying a philosophy of life that shows man's destiny and moral sense sometimes at variance. He also focuses an ordinary human point of view on the world around him, valuing integrity and decency. Staying On is not a political or historical novel, although its background has political implications. It focuses mainly on problems relating to personal destiny. Scott's later novels constitute a major achievement in colonial, indeed, all, literature.