Negotiating Borders of Culture: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction

In Negotiating Borders of Culture: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction by Debarati Bandyopadhyay, the author talks about different works of Jhumpa Lahiri and how cultural borders are a main theme in her writing. Bandyopadhyay explains that Lahiri refers to the differences between India and America and their cultures, of course. In the beginning, Bandyopadhyay gives a brief history of Lahiri’s achievements and then she continues by giving a short description of what she’s going to address. In this case, Bandyopadhyay talks about “culture as a homogenization of the good…”(97). Bandyopadhyay also mentions different works of Lahiri’s and how they all seem to follow the same theme. Then, Bandyopadhyay describes all the different situations of cultural borders that Lahiri’s characters face throughout her work. I think this article will help me understand Lahiri’s book more because I now know what the purpose was for the book and what the author is trying to say. Bandyopadhyay states that “[Lahiri] occupies [a] privileged space in-between two countries, two continents, two cultures, and this multiplicity of perspectives…” (108) which shows that Lahiri uses what she knows most and it works for her writing.


Bandyopadhyay, Debarati. “Negotiating Borders of Culture: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fiction.” Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies 7.1 (2009): 98-108. Web.