| The Householder | |
| Author: | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
| Country: | India |
| Subject: | bildungsroman |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Publisher: | John Murray (UK) W.W. Norton (US)[1] |
| Pub Date: | 1960 |
| Pages: | 191 |
| Isbn: | 978-0393008517 |
| Oclc: | 369105 |
| Preceded By: | Esmond in India (1958) |
| Followed By: | Get Ready for Battle (1962) |
The Householder is a 1960 English-language novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.[2] 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.[3]
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.[4] It was also Ivory's directorial debut (not including documentary shorts) as well as his first collaboration with producer Ismail Merchant.[5]