Published Paper Details:

Jhumpa Lahiri, the celebrated diasporic writer, is known for the exploration of Indian-American realities through her fictional works. Like Other writers of her class, she tries successfully to bring to light the pains and sufferings of Indian-American immigrants. They can neither forget their roots nor can assimilate fully with the society and culture of adopted land. Tracing the 'Third-Space' is very interesting while reading Jhumpa Lahiri as it is the pivotal point of focus in her writings. She excels in picturizing a new model of American identity, though being always tagged as a diasporic writer. Creativity is taken to a new height by a significant enrichment of narrative by Jhumpa Lahiri. She employs socio-cultural and familial past as recurring themes. Here is an attempt to explore immigrant experiences in Lahiri's latest novel The Lowland, which got shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2013. It emphasizes the significance of time and attitude of generations in the process to get themselves assimilated. For the first generation, strong feelings about the country of their origin are inevitable. From the second generation onward, ties with the homeland get gradually replaced by those of the adopted country. Cultural differences start melting as new generations realize that they belong to America's-global culture. The capacity of American socio-cultural milieu to absorb the 'other' resulted in the emergence of global space. The influence of home culture tortures the immigrants but they turn Americanized as they struggle with their minds. Jhumpa Lahiri delves deep into the souls of indelible characters struggling with displacement, guilt and fear as they try to find a balance between the solace and suffocation of tradition and terror along with the excitement of future into the new set up. But the heart of the matter is that they remain psychologically disturbed as they are made to realise that after all they are 'foreign' in that society. Thus there search for a comfortable zone goes unabated.