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5 Writing Lessons from Jhumpa Lahiri

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5 Writing Lessons from Jhumpa Lahiri

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Jhumpa Lahiri has many feathers in her cap. She is the proud recipient of
many awards, including the TransAtlantic Award from the Hen eld
Foundation (1993), the O. Henry Award for Interpreter of Maladies (1999),

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the PEN/Hemingway Award for Best Fiction Debut of the Year for the
Interpreter of Maladies collection, and most recently the Frank OConnor

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International Short Story Award (2008) and the Asian American Literacy
Award (2009), both for Unaccustomed Earth. What can fellow writers learn

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from her writing? What themes or stylistics devices can aspiring writers

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imbue in their writing?

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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

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and Planters peanuts and chopped red onion in a bowl. (The Namesake)

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These are the opening lines of her novel The Namesake. These lines are
devoid of frills or owery sentences. What strikes you is the overwhelming

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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.

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Pathos

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Jhumpa Lahiris 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 couples disturbed marriage through her two

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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

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situations. This evokes pathos rather than sentimentality. Even in her short
story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri manages to examine the

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mundane reaction of her characters in moments of sadness in their lives

and through themes like the end of a love a air or the death of a parent.

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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 Shukumars feelings through imagery: the description of the cab, the
sight of his pregnant wife and heavy autumn leaves. Through this technique,

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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 authors 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 Lahiris editor at Knopf, Robin
Desser. Its emotionally based storytelling that unfolds in a many-layered
way, but without tricks. Lahiris 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

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