Comparative Cultural Studies: Forming, Deforming and Reforming of Identity in the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
In the age of globalisation, the issues of diaspora, transnationalism, cultural mongrelization, hybridity, identity crisis continuously enrich the diasporic literatures of the twenty first century. Topographical shifting, cultural transaction, multiculturalism, fluid identity forms a complex framework in the field of global migration. Apart from these, the concept of root, home, nostalgia, memory, alienation, hybrid identity are interlinked with the diasporic phenomenon. According to the various critics, scholars and academicians like Safran, Bhabha, Brah, Clifford Geertz and Appadurai, multifaceted factors are interwoven with the diasporic phenomenon. And recently diasporic elements are recurrent theme in the writings of Salman Rushdie, Agha Shahid Ali, Amitav Ghosh, V.S. Naipaul, Bharati Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kiran Desai and many others.(Dutta,online) The present paper will highlight the issue of identity crisis: forming, deforming and reforming in the light of The Namesake by Jumpha lahiri.
Having born of educated middle class Bengali parents in London and grown up in Rhodes Island (USA) Jhumpa Lahiri beautifully and authentically portrays the diaspora experiences in her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies (which won her the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 2000) as well as her first novel The Namesake (which spent several weeks on New York Times bestseller list).(Wikipedia)
The idea of 'home ' as it evokes the sense of self, its displacement, intimacy, exclusion and inclusion. It is also connected with the human emotion, feelings, sentiments, bondage and intimacy which hardly make anyone to be totally estranged from the root. No longer the notion of home, is restricted to a bounded space and territoriality; the intersection among the different countries fractures the contours of geographical boundaries. The term 'root ' implies an original homeland from which the people are dispersed and to which people aspire to return. In the
Having born of educated middle class Bengali parents in London and grown up in Rhodes Island (USA) Jhumpa Lahiri beautifully and authentically portrays the diaspora experiences in her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies (which won her the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 2000) as well as her first novel The Namesake (which spent several weeks on New York Times bestseller list).(Wikipedia)
The idea of 'home ' as it evokes the sense of self, its displacement, intimacy, exclusion and inclusion. It is also connected with the human emotion, feelings, sentiments, bondage and intimacy which hardly make anyone to be totally estranged from the root. No longer the notion of home, is restricted to a bounded space and territoriality; the intersection among the different countries fractures the contours of geographical boundaries. The term 'root ' implies an original homeland from which the people are dispersed and to which people aspire to return. In the
References: 1. Lahiri, Jhumpa, The Namesake. 2003: Mariner Books. 2. hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/…/bl-jhumpainterview.htm (interview released by Houghton Mifflin company) 3. http:/www.youtube.com/watch(in conversation with Mira Nair about The Namesake) 4. www.wikipediea.com/jumpalahiri. html 5. www.wikipediea.com/thenamesake.html 6. www.Muse India - Current Issue- Barnali Dutta Bharati Mukherjee 's ‘Desirable Daughters’.html 7. www.shoovong.com/ The Namesake: An Excellent Sketch Of Immigrants Emotions Review.html 8. www.shoovong.com/ The Namesake : The Story Of Generation Differences Review.html