Heat and Dust

By Ruth Prawder Jhabvala

‘A writer of genius … a writer of world class – a master storyteller …’ it says on the dust jacket. Can they really be talking about the same writer the same book? Personally I can’t see what distinguishes Heat And Dust from any of those cheap romantic novels that you get at railway stations.

What on earth is so remarkable about the society of bored expatriate who leaves a dull husband for someone richer more intelligent and totally exotic? In my opinion if Jhabvala was really a good writer she should have written instead about a much more interesting phenomenon the typical colonial who clings absurdly to the behavior traditions and even dress of his mother country. Alternatively Olivia could have really ‘gone native’ instead of just being seduced by a Nawab with a Rolls-Royce an Alfa Romeo and an intimate knowledge of the best hotels of Paris and London.

The plot too is corny: the idea if someone retracing someone else’s life and then (surprise, surprise!) finding parallel events happening in their own lives. Thousands of writers have used this device and to much better effect. So what makes Jhabvala such a great writer? It can’t be her prose surely which is quite boring. The words ‘heat’ and ‘dust’ appear frequently but I for one certainly never get any impression of heat or dust. I don’t know about you but the impression I get is of a very literary upper-class woman sitting at her typewriter drinking tea.

Finally what really annoys me personally about this book is the writer’s morality. You can’t see she a romantic and a moralist: she looks down on her narrator with a patronizing attitude and paints a degrading picture of modern live by giving a kind abject promiscuity in the place of love life. And incredibly the message of the book seems to be the best thing that can happen to a woman – even an unmarried woman without a boyfriend traveling abroad – is to get pregnant. I’m sorry but if you think that you’re living in another world.

7. Before listening: group/pair work.

Questions to consider:

1. Is life experience absolutely necessary for a creative writer?

2. Is it possible to become a good writer without learning to write professionally?

Listen to the stories about the lives of famous writers and notice in what ways their careers differ.

8. Summarize the following in English. Make use of the vocabulary given below.

Есть ли основания бить тревогу в связи с огромным наплывом в русский язык иноязычных слов? Ответим сразу: некоторые основания есть. Но проблема в целом много сложнее чем это может казаться с первого взгляда. Прежде всего следует различать общепринятый литературный язык которым пользуется все население и специальную терминологию обычно доступную людям той или иной профессии. Проблема лежит в иной плоскости: термины создаются с пренебрежением к широчайшим возможностям русского словообразования. Более того в век научно-технической революции специальная лексика становится главным источником пополнения словарного состава общелитературного языка. Вот над этим стоит задуматься. Если иностранное слово не прибавляет ничего нового к нашей речи надо обязательно ‘переводить на русский”.

(to make an alarm inflow of foreign words general Russian special terms neglect smth word formation general vocabulary.)

9. Contradict or support the following statement after discussing it in groups:

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. (Samuel Johnson).

Section 5

Writing

1. Using word-combinations from the list of topical vocabulary (Section 3, task 8) at your own choice, write a paragraph to disclose the following topic sentence:

There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts. (Charles Dickens)

2. Prove the opposite in the form of a written statement.

1. Those who write well are usually voluminous conversationalists.

2. Both useful and creative writing must be measured similarly.

3. The best writers never potter over their ideas and always cling tenaciously to their original ‘inspirations’.

4. Criticism in writing is absolutely unacceptable.

5. If you wrote something never start writing afresh – you’ll waste your time.

3. Develop the arguments to prove the following points and make written statements.

1. It is quite simple to become a writer in social areas.

2. Creative writers always have lively imagination and are curious by nature.

3. There are fewer successful creative writers then the poor ones.

4. Write a composition on one of the following topics:

1. Learn to write well, or not to write at all. (John Dryden)

2. Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind a book.

3. Useful writers must devote much time to research.

4. Revising is part of writing.

5. How to prepare a scientific scholarly paper for publication?