Many of the novelists I admire never left their hometown. Look at Flannery O'Connor. So many of the great Russians never left Russia. Shakespeare never left England. The list goes on. Jhumpa Lahiri admireconnorengland Change image and share on social
I wish more Italian literature were translated and read in English. I've discovered so many extraordinary and diverse writers: Lalla Romano, Carlo Cassola. Beppe Fenoglio, Giorgio Manganelli, just to name a few. Jhumpa Lahiri beppecarlocassola share on social
I'm bound to fail when I write in Italian, but unlike my sense of failure in the past, this doesn't torment or grieve me. Jhumpa Lahiri bindfailfailure Change image and share on social
It interests me to imagine characters shifting from one situation and one location to another for whatever the circumstances may be. Jhumpa Lahiri charactercircumstanceimagine Change image and share on social
As a child, I felt that the Indian part of me was unacknowledged, and therefore somehow negated, by my American environment and vice versa. Growing up, I was impatient with my parents for being so different, holding on to India the way they did, and always making me feel like I had to make a choice of which way I would go. Jhumpa Lahiri americanchildchoice share on social
Immersing myself in Shakespeare's plays, reading them closely under the guidance of a brilliant, plain-spoken professor changed my life: It opened up the great questions; it put my petty problems into perspective. It got me out of bed in the mornings and kept me in the library late into the night. Jhumpa Lahiri bedbrilliantchange share on social
In fiction, plenty do the job of conveying information, rousing suspense, painting characters, enabling them to speak. But only certain sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil. Jhumpa Lahiri breathecharacterconvey Change image and share on social
It took me a long time to even dare to envision myself as a writer. I was very uncertain and hesitant and afraid to pursue a creative life. Jhumpa Lahiri afraidcreativedare Change image and share on social
I speak English. I grew up speaking Bengali. This is the normal, the known, the obvious composition of who I am. Then there's Italian, this strange, other component of me that I've just created. It was a creative process just to learn the language, never mind to start expressing myself in it. Jhumpa Lahiri bengalicomponentcomposition share on social
I have my husband and children near me in Rome, and I feel this is where we are temporarily belonging. But personally, all my life, I have felt the absence of a sense of history. Jhumpa Lahiri absencebelongchild Change image and share on social