It is early morning on a Thursday. The bookshelf is stuffed. There are thick envelopes with papers, Lunch Poems by Frank O’ Hara, pictures and books in Italian. They offer a peek into the world of Jhumpa Lahiri as she sits in her home in Princeton after returning from Italy. She has a new book out called Whereabouts. Originally written in Italian as Dove mi trovo, Whereabouts is Lahiri’s third novel and translated by her into English.
Unlike her other works, which come from a firmly rooted place and where the choice of names for characters is at the heart of the book—like in her debut novel—The Namesake, there are no specifics in Whereabouts. The characters remain unnamed, the Italian city where the story takes place is never identified, and the novel does not have an established ‘plot’ as such. Lahiri, instead, creates a very much in-herhead novel, exploring the concept of solitude through the musings of a middle-aged single woman over the course of a year.
The writing is spartan but, as always, evocative, eloquent, observant and tinged with wisdom. Written over three years, Dove mi trovo was published in 2018, in a pre-pandemic world. But in its exploration of solitude, it feels very much like a novel for these times. In an interview with THE WEEK, Lahiri talks about her childhood, about writing, and about never reading her own work. Excerpts:
Q/Is there a different Jhumpa Lahiri in English and in Italian? Did you find that you needed to access different versions of yourself to translate the book into English?
Bu hikaye THE WEEK dergisinin May 30, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye THE WEEK dergisinin May 30, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.