INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri
This fine short story collection won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, an award given to literary works which give an insight into the culture and history of the USA. This should alert readers to the fact that, while the roots of the author and her nine elegant tales may lie in India, the chief focus is American.
Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London of Bengali parents and grew up in Rhode Island. Although she has relatively little first hand experience of her mother and father’s homeland,the lineage gives her the perspective of an outsider and a strong empathy with, and profound sympathy for, Indian customs. In particular she has a rich understanding of what it means to view cultural habits from, as it were, an alien point of view. Continue reading
