In all her work, acclaimed author Jhumpa Lahiri has focused on the lives and struggles of Bengali-Americans. Her stories are about strangers in a strange land, trying to fit in.
It's a world she knows well: Lahiri was born in London in 1967, the daughter of immigrants from Calcutta. When she was 7, her family moved to New England, where her father still works as an academic librarian at the University of Rhode Island. She now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
"I never felt that I had any claim to any place in the world," says Lahiri. But, "in my writing, I've found my home, really, in a very basic sense — in a way that I never had one growing up."
Lahiri's fiction has certainly found a home in the literary world. Her debut book, The Interpreter of Maladies, won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and her novel, The Namesake, was adapted into a Hollywood film.
Her new collection of stories is called Unaccustomed Earth. The title comes from a passage in Nathaniel Hawthorne's introduction to The Scarlet Letter:
"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children … shall strike their roots in unaccustomed earth."
"I stopped when I got to those words," Lahiri says. "I just thought about how much they stand for everything that I had been writing about: the experience of being transplanted, and people being transplanted."
Time Magazine book critic Lev Grossman likens the stories in Lahiri's new collection to those of Hemingway or Chekhov. He says that while the literary fashion these days is to entertain and to grab the reader's attention with plot twists, wordplay and humor, Lahiri's style harks back to the 19th Century.
"She builds her stories slowly, out of simple, declarative sentences," says Grossman. "But once she builds them ... that final square in the Rubik's Cube just clicks into place, and suddenly ... you realize that that's life. That's truth."
Mira Nair, who directed the film adaptation of The Namesake, describes moments in Unaccustomed Earth as "gasp-worthy."
"I just gasp, suddenly, in the middle of the story. I have to close the book!" says Nair. "And then I finish it, and then I almost always re-read it because I just want to then savor it."
Lahiri says now she's working on a new idea she thinks is going to be a novel. But for all of her success, the 40-year-old author says writing hasn't gotten any easier.
"I think writing something new each time is a very daunting, scary journey," she says. "And I just want to have the strength, and the clarity of mind, to continue to make those journeys."
Listen to the story and write down anything that strikes you as unusual, fascinating or inspiring.
13 comments:
I’m surprised that Jhumpa Lahiri finds writing daunting and scaring even though Lahiri herself is already an experienced famous writer. I just can’t believe discouraging phrase such as “writing hasn't gotten any easier” simply pops out from her lips.
I used to think that most famous writers enjoy writing whatever they want and they can easily come up with many ideas to write, but I realize I’ve been wrong for so long after listen to her interview with some reporter. However, this interview gives me relief and makes me more confident.
Someday, if I want to write something such as a short story, a novel, or else, I can encourage myself by saying: “Hey! Don’t be so hard on yourself! It’s not like you can get on the right track at once, even for someone like J.K.Rowling!”
The most interesting thing while listening to the sotry is that I can distinguish the parts from the movie "Namesake." I like that movie very much. I've heard that what Lahiri wirtes are mostly relating to herself, her background and her experiences. I like the way she gives the story, they're not exciting but making me feel that I'm virtually in the situation. And I like one of the speakers in the "listen to the story" who said that reading Lahiri's story is like, wow, there are fifteen or sixteen pages. But after reading it he felt like, he was glad that he took the "trip", which means the story. I like the way he described that feeling.
nice post. thanks.
When I listen to the story, the part that I like most is that they combined the part of movie and Lahiri's words together. That really moved me. I liked the movie,” The Namesake” very much because the story’s plot really touched human’s deep mind. When I watched that movie, I almost burst into tears many times. I think Lahiri has the magic that make people moved by her simple words. Her novel’s words are easy but it describes some little emotion very closely. Some books just use lots of fancy words but you can’t touch author’s mind eventually. Even those books sales well, but I think that kind of works can’t move me.
The first sentence that strikes is "In my writing, I've found my home."
It's not a very easy or common thing to find a home in things around our lives.
Even if we are in our home, it may feel unreal sometimes when we don't get the good connection with our family or other things.
I think it's not so easy to say that"I've found my home" if I haven't found the bonds with the things around me.
Another thing makes me feel unusual is that Jhumpa Lahiri actually thinks that witing is not easy and even daunting. In my basic sense, writers who has published many works must feel that writing is a piece of cake.
But it's only my shallow opinion; I have never tried to write a book, even a long essay, so there's no possibilities that I can understand the hard efforts writers have put in their works.
And the most encouraging thing is that although a famous writer who can publish a bestseller that is not so good in the content, she pursues the beautiful, unique, and true things instead. That's an higher level which takes time to achieve for readers like me.
that's right! wirting is daunting and scary...i wonder why she still devoted herself to writing. but i respect her bravery. sometimes writing can show how you feel,giving the idea that you want to convey.i find lucky enough that i have interest in literature because words are powerful.it can change a person's thought or even evoke his thought.i am always touching by the fiction i like such as "book theft". even though i just fisnished reading chinese version,i still love it.i love it so much that i also bought english version when i was in senior high school.i fall in love with literature even though sometimes find it useless and even not pratical for me.that's reality.but i wondered why i study literature before i learn from this class.after that i learn how to analyze a fiction and cultural background.that's why i find it intresting.
There are several inspiring and touching words I must point out:
"I never felt that I had any claim to any place in the world," says Lahiri. But, "in my writing, I've found my home, really, in a very basic sense — in a way that I never had one growing up."
In this statement, Lahiri points out the feelings of most writers. Though I am not a writer, but I enjoy in writing, as an outlet for sorrow, pain, and resentment for me. A pen is just like a mouth, depicts thoughts. A paper is like a listener, always sitting there quietly without any interruptions or disagreements or too many personal opinions. Lahiri feels at home because writing has provided her a secure place for giving vent to all the secret and mixed feelings.
"She builds her stories slowly, out of simple, declarative sentences," says Grossman. "But once she builds them ... that final square in the Rubik's Cube just clicks into place, and suddenly ... you realize that that's life. That's truth."
This statement strikes me ,for that’s the feeling I get after finishing reading The Interpreter of Maladies. I like the way Lahiri presents stories.
I am inspired by the feeling that when Jhumpa Lahiri creates a new fiction. It’s extremely hard and humbling when she is writing. It is also like a kind of scary journey, so exciting but daunting; however, she can get some powers or strengths in that journey. The feeling always strikes me so much when I put on my comments or write down something on my blog. I create something in my own word but I am afraid that they do not hit what the teacher wants. The process I feel is of the anxiety. Besides, blog is a place where I can write articles emotionally. It is a kind of creation. I should think how to state my mood in beautiful or powerful words. Frankly speaking, I love the feeling. It is a way to say something or allow anyone to realize what I want to convey. By the way, I want to thank the teacher for teaching how to analyze a work. Although sometimes we did not finish the fiction before the class, we still learn something precious from the teacher in this semester. I love it and expect the next semester.
In this short record, Lahiri said that the characters in her stories like herself and her family, who try to fit in the strange land. From her confess, I think that her writing is a way to get familiar with her life and to eliminate alienations in the strange land. Lahiri also mentioned that she wrote about how much her parents stand for everything. This makes me think of my parents. They must be very toilsome to bring me up and then send me here to study.
“A good story should call readers’ reactions.” I can not agree with the previous sentence any more. With so many books are published everywhere and every year, we readers might just turn one page to another rather than read the content of the book. What Lahiri said is surely the consciousness that we readers should have!
"I just thought about how much they stand for everything that I had been writing about: the experience of being transplanted, and people being transplanted." This is the sentence which strikes me. In her working, Lahiri tries to interpret the conflict, sweet, sorrow, and joy of emigrants adapting or adapted. She's objective, but the works touches people.
I think not only Lahiri finds the home in her writing but also the readers do. The protagonist in film "The Namesake" pursues the root of his spiritual homeland; Lahiri has shown this shelter of soul in her writing. Therefore, people are moved.
I never thought that as a famous and expreienced writer like Jhumpa Lahiri would still think that writing something each time is very daunting,scary journey. I thought that writing a novel or story for a writer like her shouldn't be that difficult,as long as she has something to write about. Now I know that it takes so much time and strength to write something for the writer.
It says that her stories are about strangers in a strange land, trying to fit in. I think that there are a lot of people who read her novel like The Namesake will face a situation like that, finding a way to fit in to a strange land. Also I think that she's trying to get to know her life better and find a home through writing. I'm sure that the readers find their homes when reading her stoires,too.
"I never felt that I had any claim to any place in the world," says Lahiri. But, "in my writing, I've found my home, really, in a very basic sense — in a way that I never had one growing up."
I think that she really likes writing because only when she is writing her own new story she feels safe just like she found her home or her own place.I like her story (the film) "The Namesake" very much just like we are taking the journeys with those characters and discover their stories and secrets in their mind.
And also I hope that I can find something that I really like just like Jhumpa that i can dedicate my life to it.
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