The Householder (novel)


The Householder is a 1960 English language novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It is about a young man named Prem who has recently moved from the first stage of his life, a student, to the second stage of his life, a householder. The book is a bildungsroman, which is a story where the protagonist develops mind and character as he passes from childhood through various experiences usually through a spiritual crisis into maturity.
A film adaptation of The Householder was released in 1963, and Jhabvala started her career as a screenwriter by co-writing its screenplay with director James Ivory. It was also Ivory's directorial debut as well as his first collaboration with producer Ismail Merchant. Eventually Jhabvala was to win Academy Awards for writing adapted screenplays for two further Merchant Ivory Productions, A Room with a View and Howards End.

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