Intertwined Cultures in the Writings of Jhumpa Lahiri

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Recommended: The effect of immigration on American realistic literature

Charlemagne was once quoted having said “To have a second language is to have a second soul” (Kushner 29). In achieving full comprehension of another language, one also gains insight into the culture of foreign individuals. It is common knowledge that in the modern world, English is the dominant tongue. Yet, bilingualism, even multilingualism, is a sure sign of possessing the scarce knowledge of cultural diversity. As American society becomes more accepting of various cultures in its politics and education, foreign voices also appear more in American literature. The diversity of origins of the latest young writers is vast: In The New Yorker’s 2010 “Top 20 Under 40” list of new American writers, over one-third were not born in this country. Their homes cross the globe, from Latvia to Peru (“Top 20 Under 40”). The rise in popularity of stories of these bicultural writers can be attributed to the changing of attitudes in America. Our history and present is laden with the accounts of immigrants. Their perspectives are fresh and bursting with talent. Jhumpa Lahiri, a female Bengali author, gained prominence after she was listed in the 1999 edition of the “Top 20 Under 40”. That same year, her collection of short stories “Interpreter of Maladies” was published, and went on to sell millions of copies worldwide. Lahiri in particular is well known for, in the words of Aviya Kushner, “translating the immigrant experience for us, often lyrically…as the English-born child of immigrants, she can move smoothly between both worlds, marveling and assuring us that, yes, it will be all right” (Kushner 27). In many of her short stories, Lahiri focuses on that transition from a foreign culture-in her case, Indian-to American culture. More than oft...

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... May 2012. .

Kakutani, Michiko. "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; A Broken Body in Shiny, New China." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 July 2008. Web. 4 May 2012. .

Kushner, Aviya. "McCulture." The Wilson Quartlerly 33.1 (2009): 22-29. JSTOR. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Dec. 2009. Web. 2 May 2012. .

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies: Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Print.

Ranjini, V., and N. Ramakrishna. "Immigrant Experience In Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter Of Maladies And The Namesake." Poetcrit 21.1 (2008): 64-74. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 5 May 2012

Tyrell, Michael. “Interpreter of Maladies: Review.” Harvard Review 17 (1999): 198-199.

JSTOR. Web. 4 May 2012.

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