Politics of In-between Spaces: Diasporic Travails in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction

Authors

  • Chitra Thrivikraman Nair, University College, Trivandrum, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v9i1.583

Abstract

Today's world is more mobile and interconnected than ever before in the history of mankind. Fast–paced communicational advances and technological progress have accelerated the process of shrinking the entire world into a global village. Against the larger multicultural scenario, people of different ethnicities, cultures, religions and races criss-cross, clash and collide with each other. Migration has become the order of the day, and with large-scale intra and inter migratory movements across the globe, the concept of home acquires newer dimensions. The postcolonial era has witnessed the production of a number of literary texts by diasporic writers which aim at recreating. “Indias of the mind.†South Asian diasporic literature is an effective documentation of the cultural and diasporic experience of the immigrants who are torn between the exigencies of self recognition in a hostile land and the loyalty towards ethno-religious traditions of the homeland. The pervasive trope of displacement found in these works focuses on the constantly changing nature of diasporic identities. This article proposes to undertake a postcolonial reading of Jhumpa Lahiri as a diasporic writer with special reference to her novels. In her novels, one finds the search for self-identity by characters who reflect the mood and sensibility of the Indians who migrate to the West in search of newer pastures, but in due course are forced to succumb to the tense forces of cross-cult.

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Author Biography

Chitra Thrivikraman Nair, University College, Trivandrum, India

Chitra Thrivikraman Nair, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of English at University College, Trivandrum, Kerala, but currently on deputation as the Principal of the Institute for Civil Services Examination Training Society (Government of Kerala). Her areas of specialization include Indian Writing in English, Literature of the Marginalised Cultures and Dalit Literary Studies. She has presented papers at various national and international conferences in India, and has published research articles in prestigious books and journals.

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Published

2015-06-15

How to Cite

Thrivikraman Nair, University College, Trivandrum, India, C. (2015). Politics of In-between Spaces: Diasporic Travails in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction. Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 9(1), 137–145. https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v9i1.583

Issue

Section

Articles on “Narratives of ‘Unstable Homes’” in Asian American Literature