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 (not including documentary shorts) as well as his first collaboration with producer Ismail Merchant.

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