India, Heat, Dust, and Tea? Alienness and Marketability in Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Nicole C. Vosseler

Publication year
2020
Pages
39-51
Comment

I'm not sure if either of these are romances rather than "romantic fiction" but there is a discussion of an HEA in one, so I decided to include this article. This is the description of the chapter given in the introduction to the volume:

Alejandra Moreno-Álvarez focuses on notions of alienness and marketability in the narratives of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Nicole C. Vosseler. She interrogates the themes of otherness, European and Indian connections, exoticization, interracial relationships, while at the same time exploring the influence of the mixed origins of the authors on their narration. Through the prism of the term postcolonial literature and contrastive analysis, Moreno-Álvarez critiques Heat and Dust, considered "canonical" and The Sky Above Darjeeling, a mere "romance." This becomes the vantage point from which the definition of alienness and lived experience in the works are suggested as explicated in subtle ways, contributing to viewing of the East as the "other." A significant critical dimension is the marketability aspect of Heat and Dust due to its Man-Booker Prize status. In a contradictory situation, The Sky Above Darjeeling does not have the advantage of such commercial presentation in the market. (12)