Interpreter of Maladies

Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian American author.  Born to Indian parents in London, Lahiri and her family moved to the United States when she was two years old.  Lahiri was educated in Kingston Rhode Island and graduated with a B.A in English Literature from Barnard college in New York City.  Lahiri has also earned several degrees from Boston University.  Lahiri's own experience as the child of immigrants has been heavily featured in her work, especially reference to her non-American sounding name her struggles fitting in.

"Jhumpa Lahiri Bio." Randomhouse.com. Random House, 2008. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Lahiri's debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, was published in 1999.  Highly acclaimed, the collection was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and The New Yorker Debut of the Year.  Her first novel, The Namesake, was a New York Times Notable Book, a Lost Angeles times Book Prize finalist, and was adapted into a popular feature film.  Her most recent work, The Lowland, was a nominee for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award for Fiction.  Currently, Lahiri is serving as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, as appointed by President Obama, and is a professor of creative writing at Princeton University.  She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Literary Contributions

Introductions:

• Introduction of the Magic Barrel: Stories by Bernard Malamud, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2003)
• Introduction of Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan (2006)

Essays:

• Essay, Rhode Island (2008)
• Essay, The Suspension of Time: Reflections on Simon Dinnerstein and The Fulbright Tryptich (2011)

Short Stories:

• Interpreter of Maladies (1999)
• Unaccustomed Earth (2008)

Novels:

• The Namesake (2003)
• The Lowland (2013)

"Jhumpa Lahiri, Indian Writer." Jhumpa Lahiri, Indian Writer.  Jupiter Infomedia Ltd., 2008. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Questions

Psychological: What does the Das' romanization of India reveal about their family?

Archetypal: Are there any children in stories that are surrounded by deceit from their parents, like Bobby?

Deconstruction: What are some contradictions that the author makes in the way she talks about Mr. and Mrs. Das as parents?

Reader Response: In your own opinion is any character likeable in this story, or is it a story filled with antagonists?