Jhumpa Lahiri has many feathers in her cap. She is the proud recipient of many awards, including the TransAtlantic Award from the Henfield Foundation (1993), the O. Henry Award for “Interpreter of Maladies” (1999), the PEN/Hemingway Award for Best Fiction Debut of the Year for the Interpreter of Maladies collection, and most recently the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award (2008) and the Asian American Literacy Award (2009), both for Unaccustomed Earth. What can fellow writers learn from her writing? What themes or stylistics devices can aspiring writers imbue in their writing?
Simplicity
“On a sticky August evening two weeks before her due date, Ashima Ganguli stands in the kitchen of a Central Square apartment, combining Rice Krispies and Planters peanuts and chopped red onion in a bowl.” (The Namesake)
These are the opening lines of her novel The Namesake. These lines are devoid of frills or flowery sentences. What strikes you is the overwhelming simplicity that piques you. Writers can take a leaf out of this and consider including simplicity in their writing. Simplicity lends clarity to your writing and appeals to your readers as well.
Pathos
Jhumpa Lahiri’s writing style evokes powerful pathos. In her short story “A Temporary Matter” from her short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, she provides insights into a couple’s disturbed marriage through her two characters. Her characters transcend cultures; they may be Americans and close-knit Bengali families. But she manages to strike a chord in her readers by playing with her themes in layers. She makes her characters react to situations. This evokes pathos rather than sentimentality. Even in her short story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri manages to examine the mundane reaction of her characters in moments of sadness in their lives and through themes like the end of a love affair or the death of a parent.
Imagery
Imagery is a powerful writing technique used by Jhumpa Lahiri. Imagery helps readers to connect with pathos. In the excerpt mentioned above, Lahiri reveals Shukumar’s feelings through imagery: the description of the cab, the sight of his pregnant wife and heavy autumn leaves. Through this technique, writers can evoke readers to pursue the journey of emotions that a character experiences. In this case, the readers understand the emotions that the expectant father undergoes.
The omniscient third person
In her novel, The Namesake, Lahiri uses her characters Gogol and Ashima as narrative mouthpieces. The novel also contains numerous descriptive passages that resonate mostly with the author’s own voice. This technique helps in covering a great span of time in fewer pages; it also gives the author a tighter rein over the story. Such kind of a writing style makes your writing crisper.
Emotional storytelling
Her writing is not overtly sentimental; yet it grips you. “[Readers] can read their family stories into her family stories,” says Lahiri’s editor at Knopf, Robin Desser. “It’s emotionally based storytelling that unfolds in a many-layered way, but without tricks.” Lahiri’s writing often dwells on loneliness, illnesses or failing marriages. While Lahiri does not seem afraid to make people cry, her writing never goes over the board into sentimental mush.
Image credit: Carlo.benini on Wikimedia Commons and reproduced under Creative Commons 3.0
I’m Smitha Abraham. I love traveling in my flights of imagination and use these flights to craft short stories and poetry. I am a budding writer from India. My passions are reading, creative writing, listening to music, learning new languages, meeting new people, getting acquainted with different cultures and traveling. Authors like Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, genres like magic realism, historical romance, and writing styles that are imaginative and flow effortlessly fascinate me. I love to unwind with a book curled up on a sofa or by gazing at the stars by the sea shore. I am a nature lover and spending time admiring the sunset and sunrise is relaxing for me.