Identity and Dislocation, According to Jhumpa Lahiri

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Jhumpa Lahiri’s new novel The Lowland explores the immigrant experience of transitioning from South Asian culture to a very different culture in the United States. Writing for Saoln, Daniel D’Addario calls it a “culmination of a career-long examination of dislocation.”

Of her own experience with dislocation and identity, she tells Salon:

I think in my crucial years of development, it was very clear that I wasn’t an American, because I wasn’t treated as one, and I was raised not to be one, so it was a very charged situation.

Kelly Opdycke is a Rumpus intern and an optimist with realist tendencies. She spent her summer at 826LA, where she helped English-Language Learners master homophones in the Amazon, take notes while exploring the Endeavour space shuttle, and write resumes that explain their exceptional hide-and-seek skills. Before this, she received her master’s degree from CSULA. She will be applying to doctoral programs this fall. More from this author →