Day of the Scorpion [Hardcover]

Paul Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1968

The second novel in The Raj Quartet: the arrest by British police of Mohammed Ali Kasim, who is known to sympathise with the Quit India movement, signifies a further deterioration in Anglo-India relations. For families such as the Laytons, who have lived and served in India for generations, the immediate social and political realities are both disturbing and tragic. With growing confusion and bewilderment, the British are forced to confront the violent and often brutal years that lie ahead.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A mighty literary experience.”
—The Times

“Quite simply, monumental.”
—Washington Post --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Paul Scott was born in London in 1920. He served in the army from 1940 to 1946, mainly in India and Malaya. He is the author of thirteen distinguished novels including his famous The Raj Quartet. In 1977, Staying On won the Booker Prize. Paul Scott died in 1978. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd; First Edition edition (September 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0434681091
• ISBN-13: 978-0434681099
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,045,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The theme of the dying Scorpion prevails throughout.., May 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Raj Quartet, Volume 2: The Day of the Scorpion (Phoenix Fiction) (Vol 2) (Paperback)

A scorpion, when death is imminent, will simply coil up into a ball, and succum to death; this is what the reader is led to believe in part two of the Raj Quartet. This prevailing theme appears and reappears throughout the entire series; sometimes subtly. Reader beware, however, as the real cause for the scorpions coil is revealed in "A Division of the Spoils."

Indians coil at English oppression as demonstrated by Hari Kumar's silence over the rape of the white woman he loves; Hindus coil at Muslim antagonism, and Susan, an English woman coils up again and again, in fear of life itself. Scott uses this theme to capture the essence of the strife between England and India, and between the Muslims and the Hindu's.

While part one of the Jewel in the crown puts the focus on Hindu culture, Scott leads the reader to understand the Muslim perspective in "The Day of the Scorpion." Perhaps Paul Scott, in the Raj Quartet, can bring the reader to more fully understand the dynamics of human nature, morality and culture better than any writer of this century. The thoughts and ideas that prevail throughout the series are applicable to many international situations. This truely makes "The Day of the Scorpion" a cross cultural work of art.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Quit India!", June 29, 2002

By 

Penner (Brattleboro, VT USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Raj Quartet, Volume 2: The Day of the Scorpion (Phoenix Fiction) (Vol 2) (Paperback)

The four volumes of the Raj Quartet overlap and complement one another, while at the same time forwarding the main storyline of the slow twilight of the British ascendancy in India, always with the rape of a white girl by Indian men as the central lodestone everpresent in the background, the nightmare which is seldom mentioned but which none can drive from their minds. Events occur, are discussed, witnessed as newspaper reports, court documents, interviews, vague recollections from years later, or perceived directly by the main characters. Then the next volume will take two or three steps back into previous events, and these same events will be perceived from another angle, perhaps only as a vague report heard far away across the Indian plain, or witnessed directly by another character, or discussed in detail long after their occurrence over drinks on a verandah. This may at times seem like rehashing, indeed as one reads the four volumes one will be subjected to the account of the rape in the Bibighar Gardens many times over; but what will also become apparent is that additional details, sometimes minor variations in interpretation and sometimes crucial facts, are being added slowly to the events discussed, as though the window to the past were being progressively wiped cleaner and cleaner with successive strokes of Scott's pen. In this way he draws the picture of the last days of the Raj not in a conventional linear fashion, but recursively, and from multiple angles. One gets the clear impression of life in India during the first half of the 20th century as similar in nature: Fragmented, multifaceted, largely dependent upon perspective and experience and never perceived whole or all at once.

Book 2 introduces what is going to be the main storyline of the tetralogy, although the rape in the Bibighar Gardens will remain in the back of everyone's mind, and sometimes at the front, throughout. First of all there is Mohammed Ali Kasim, a respected Indian Congressman arrested by the British as a matter of course when Congress finalizes its "Quit India" resolution; and his son Ahmed, the dissolute intellectual who spends his time in one of the remaining Princely States of India. Second, the Layton family is introduced, a typical example of the British military in India. Sarah Layton, the elder of the two daughters, is exquisitely rendered and will become one of the series' most familiar and constant characters. Ronald Merrick, the police officer who victimized Hari Kumar during the Bibighar Gardens affair, slouches back into the story as the best man at Susan Layton's wedding, only to be made into an unlikely hero and martyr at the end of the novel.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intoducing Scorpio......, April 28, 2001

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Raj Quartet, Volume 2: The Day of the Scorpion (Phoenix Fiction) (Vol 2) (Paperback)

THE DAY OF THE SCORPION continues Paul Scott's very long story (total of 2000 pages) of the last days of British colonial rule in India. SCORPION is book 2 in the so-called Raj Quartet. These books are not about the external events per se as much as they are about the effects of these external events on the lives of several individuals, most prominently, Hari Kumar, Sarah Layton, and later in book 4 Guy Perron. In SCORPION, several new characters are introduced to the series, including members of the Layton and Kasim families.

In book 1, JEWEL IN THE CROWN, Hari Kumar was wrongfully jailed by the wicked Ronald Merrick for the rape of Daphne Manners Hari's secret love. When Daphne refused to press charges Hari was detained as a political prisoner. In JEWEL, the story of Hari's life was told from the court proceedings and other second hand accounts. JEWEL covers a period of about fifty years.

In SCORPION, Hari tells the story of his life up to 1942. A large section of this 500 page volume reads like a court proceeding since Hari shares his story with Captain Rowan, who has been ordered by the Governor to interview Kumar in prison.

Lady Manners, Daphne aunt, is a secret witness to the interview. It is Lady Manners who has persuaded the British authorities to revisit the reasons for Hari's imprisonment. During the proceedings, Hari is told Daphne is dead. "Twin rivulets gleamed on his prison cheeks, and then the image became blurred and she felt a corresponding wetness on her own..."

I think it would be extremely hard to follow this book without having first read JEWEL IN THE CROWN. A large part of SCORPION is used to elaborate and further the plot introduced in JEWEL. Dipping into SCORPION without having first read JEWEL would be like trying to watch a serial after missing a few critical episodes.

In addition, the introduction of the Laytons and the Kasims might also seem disjointed unless one knows SCORPION is not a "stand alone" novel. In spite of these limitations, SCORPION is a wonderful book, and thus I have given it 5 stars.

In SCORPION, Sarah Layton takes on the central role. Sarah is the only Layton to have had contact with Lady Manners and be concerned about the events in Mayapore. Sarah has two long exchanges with Ronald Merrick, Hari Kumar's nemesis. Sarah meets Captain Rowan Hari's liberator. Sarah is struggling with her own issues surrounding the lives of the English in India. Sarah is the one to watch. And Sarah is an Aries. Her sister Susan is the Scorpio.