Scott, Paul Mark

Scott, Paul Mark (1930-1978), British novelist. Scott served in the Indian army during World War II, and subsequently worked in publishing before emerging as a novelist. His book Johnnie Sahib (1952) was the first of 13 novels to deal with India and the complex and often distressing relationships between the Indians and the English in colonial and postcolonial India. The most famous of his novels make up 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). These reached a much larger public when they were serialized on television. Set in India during and after World War II they present, in a coolly controlled structure, the subtle and intricate conflicts and inextricable relationships between the two societies, whether regarding race, politics, spiritual belief, love, or hate. The novels are constructed around two crucial episodes: the suicide of a missionary, Edwina Crane, and the alleged rape of a young Englishwoman, Daphne Manners. Scott's last novel Staying On (1977) is about an English couple who decide to throw in their lot with newly independent India. It won the Booker Prize in 1977.