Narrating the Life of a Bengali : A Reading of the Select Works of Jhumpa Lahiri

Abstract

Displacement, whether forced or self-imposed, is in many ways a calamity. Yet, a peculiar but a potent point to note is that writers in their displaced existence generally
tend to excel in their work, as if the changed atmosphere acts as a stimulant for them. The word ‘diaspora’ itself, coming, as it does, from Greek ‘dia’ (‘through’) and ‘speirein’ (‘to scatter’), etymologically means ‘dispersal,’ and involves, at least two countries, two cultures, which are embedded in the mind of the migrant, side-by-side. Although