Jhumpa Lahiri. Interpreter of Maladies Author, context, discussion of topics

Author in interview Jhumpa Lahiri (1967-). Born in London of Indian parents, who then immigrated to America. She is raised in Rhode Island, lived a number of years in New York, and now resides in Italy. Work: Interpreter of Maladies (1999); The Namesake (2003); The Unaccustomed Earth (2008); Lowland (2013) Of interest: an essay in The New Yorker, 2015: ”Teach yourself Italian.” Lahiri claims she will only write in Italian now

Clip from the International Writers’ Interview series in Kulturhuset (2014) https://urskola.se/Produkter/183314-UR-Samtiden-Samtal-med-Jhumpa-Lahiri

Interpreter of Maladies Topics from interview: The sense of absence and distance within the American-Indian families in the collection The Love-hate relation to home and adopted country The different ways men and women in the stories handle immigration In the interview Lahiri is critical to the commercialization of the idea of the Global. Instead, she emphasizes how literature emphasizes the universal, that is, for instance, in the case of this short-story collection depicts themes such as problems of communication, isolation, lonlieness, sense of estrangement as common human themes, heightened perhaps by cultural displacment, but not belonging to this exclusively.

Specific questions on the stories ”When Mr. Pirazada Came to Dine: A special relationship between the family friend, from Pakistan, and the young narrator (10 years old at the time of the story) is depicted in the story. How would you describe that relationship? What does the young girl learn? A common theme in the collection is the tension between assimilation of the new culture and resistance to it. Are we made aware of this in the story? What role do maps play in the story? Are maps present in other stories?

”Interpreter of Maladies” The story is one of three in the collection set in India, not in the States. Even so, are similar concerns at play here, for instance, those of misunderstandings in relationships, lonlieness, conflicts between men and women, cultures clashes? How does the setting interact with the events and the characters of the story? Do some of the elements of the setting play a symbolic role, in your opinion – the Sun Temple; the monkeys that follow the toursists? How do you understand the title? How does the title seem a fitting one for the collection as a whole?

”A Real Durwan”; ”Sexy” What is the attitude of the small Calcutta apartment complex community to Boori Ma? Does this attitude change in the story? What significance does Boori Ma’s story-telling have? What role does the little Indian boy Rohin play in the story, ”Sexy”? Sexy ”means loving someone you don’t know,” says Rhoin. Does this sentiment echo in other stories as well.

”Mrs Sen’s”: ”The Blessed House” Again, the tension between assimilation and resistance seems at work. How is this portrayed in similar/different ways than in ”When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”? How does the focalization of the story via the boy Eliot add to an understanding of theme and character? Compare and contrast the marriage between Sanjeev and Twinkle in ”The Blessed House” to other marriages or to other romantic relationships in the collection. How do you understand the presence of the Christian relics in Sanjeev and Twinkle’s house? How do these objects make the house ”blessed”?

”The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”; ”The Third and Final Continent” What kind of narrator do we have here? Explain the relationship of this narrator to Bibi Haldar. Compare and contrast the depiction of the relation beween individual and community in ”The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” to ”A Real Durwan.” Is it significant that ”The Third and Final Continent” ends the collection? What significance does the landlady Mrs Croft have in the story? ”The Third and Final Continent” is one of only two stories in the collection with a first-person narrator. Do you think that a first-person narrator has a special relevance for this story?