Wednesday, August 3, 2016

A Review On "In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri"

The most indispensable thing that every writer needs to have, regardless of the language is the love for it. After having experienced the success of becoming a qualified writer of the English language and after having won the Pulitzer prize for her book "Interpreter Of Maladies", this writer of epigrammatic force, Jhumpa Lahiri, gives up the language that she has mastered and is well-versed in and goes down to learning to write and to speak in another language as a beginner, to procure a sense of belongingness and to fight the feeling of revulsion. Her journey from learning the basics of the Italian language to publishing a book in the same language is unraveled in her book " In Altre Parole". "In Altre Parole" was written by Jhumpa Lahiri in Italian and translated to English by Ann Goldstein. I would highly recommend this book for all the avid readers of the English language.

"In Other Words" is about how Jhumpa Lahiri goes on a trip to Florence with her sister and falls in love with the Italian language and how this love for an unknown language takes her miles (literally). In spite of being a prolific writer of the English language, Jhumpa Lahiri has not translated the book herself as it makes her feel disoriented and alienated and she doesn't enjoy the power of her English language over that of her Italian. "In Other Words" is a book of self-reflection. One can even consider this book as a guide to learning another language as it explains all the hardships and methods of mastering a foreign language. I personally felt a philosophical touch in the book. Jhumpa Lahiri's continuous efforts, hard work and perseverance provide inspiration to the readers. Even though this book has been translated by another author, it hasn't lost its flavour. One can be promised to experience the usual conspicuous and flawless writing of the author.

The connection between the author and the Italian language is pictured as a sublime one as it does not have an earthly relationship to be compared with. Her main intention of learning the Italian language is to find shelter (even though a fragile one) under a particular language and to get rid of her loneliness. The relationship that she has with the language is not a constant one, it changes as her knowledge of the language grows stronger. She compares the language to a lake, to a person that she has fallen in love with and to an infant because a word, a life, a person and a language mean the same to her. Soon, the English language becomes a shore that gives her support to swim in the lake, a former lover that she is tired of and a hairy adolescent. The author's cognition on the subject of languages is clearly seen when she says that technology can shorten the distance between people but not the distance between languages. According to her, a language is a tremendous and mysterious element which can be accomplished only by hard-working and perseverance. She moves to Rome, along with her family to get an insight of the Italian language and when she is away from Rome, she feels the anxiety that two lovers feel on separation. When reading in the language, she feels like a guest, but when writing in the same, she feels more like an intruder. Writing in the language gives her desperation and hope. She doesn't stop even when her efforts seem like a leap into the void because according to her, 'the idea of impossibility is what hinders a creative mind'. She compares her writing to the famous city in Italy, Venice. She believes her writing to be impalpable like the reflection in the Grand Canal and to be nebulous like the fog in Venice. Jhumpa Lahiri reckons writing as 'an extended homage to imperfection' and 'imperfection inspires invention, imagination and creativity'.

The two allegorical short stories in the novel namely "The Exchange" and "Half-Light" add a magical touch to the book and offer the readers an enchanting read. The usage of a lot of oxymorons make the novel more alluring. I totally disagree with Jhumpa Lahiri on her opinion that a book is alive only when it is being written and that it dies once the process is over, because I certainly know that this book will live forever in the hearts of its readers!

I hope you enjoyed the review, if not please don't hesitate to leave a comment!!!

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