DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Jun 1, 2017
humpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland traces the traumatic effect of a family event upon members of di... more humpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland traces the traumatic effect of a family event upon members of different generations – wife (Gauri), brother (Subhash) and daughter (Bela) – whose lives continue to unfold outside India. The analysis discusses the vegetal metaphors of specific plants and roots employed by Lahiri in order to illustrate the emergence of different patterns of (up) rooting that weave the fabric of her transmigrant characters. By closely investigating the intersecting axes of groundedness and deterritorialization, the paper aims to disentangle the significance of the rich Deleuzian imagery that surfaces in the cultural configuration of transplanted individuals, with a focus on Subhash. More specifically, the discussion sets out to establish whether the abundance of rhizomatic elements is meant as a glorification of nomadic subjectivity that implicitly idealizes uprootedness as a pre- condition for the enlargement of cultural perspectives. The present paper analyzes Subhash’s cultural outlook, arguing that his self-transformation entails a symbolic killing of some Indian traditions paralleled by the birth of new outlooks. This process of regeneration situates the protagonist beyond the possibility of fixed allegiances, in a transcultural dimension. The analysis considers theories regarding nomadism, transnational migration and the significance of transgression as a strategy of cultural reinvention.
The analysis examines the (dis) empowering valences assigned to nomadic mobility by Jhumpa Lahiri... more The analysis examines the (dis) empowering valences assigned to nomadic mobility by Jhumpa Lahiri. Relying on a cultural studies approach to literature, the paper builds a comparative perspective on nomadic identities and transcultural transformations as illustrated by The Lowland and In Other Words. The discussion focuses on the interplay between the protagonists’ rhizomatic profiles and their search for rooted configurations. In order to enlarge the scope of the analysis, a few references will be made to Kaushik, a character from Unaccustomed Earth.
The present volume, Literature, economics and politics, offers a selection of the best papers pre... more The present volume, Literature, economics and politics, offers a selection of the best papers present by students of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, at the Student Conference, Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication, the 7-8 April 2022 edition. The collection represents a plurilinguistic and interdisciplinary approach, with papers written in English, German, Italian and French, on topics that cover a wide range of research areas. The authors have examined closely questions such as: are there overlaps between culture and politics? What type of socio-economic aspects reposition our understanding of phenomena in today’s society? While examining connections between Mikhail Gorbachev and promotional policies, the personality of Benedetto Croce and Ernest Hemingway’s work, the studies in this volume also explore creative connections between film and literature. The editors
The article compares and contrasts the phenomenon of return migration as illustrated by literary ... more The article compares and contrasts the phenomenon of return migration as illustrated by literary works that present South Asian migrants to England and America in (post)colonial times. Considering the socioeconomic triggers of migration, the essay investigates the characters' cultural evolution, interpreting their decision to return to India in relation to their ability to process foreign cultural norms. A layer of the analysis establishes whether the migrants' stay abroad is presented as an interval dominated by the occurrence of cultural clashes or processes of cultural translation. A second research focus is the interpretation of return migration as a response to the challenges of cultural adjustment or as an empowering action. A form of old transnationalism, return migration from Western destinations has not received enough attention in critical interpretations of the literature of migration. Therefore, the present study seeks out to enlarge this section of literary studies by foregrounding the cultural and social factors that eventually shape the characters' decision to give up their Western adventure. By comparing the two authors, the conclusion aims to establish the particular relations between South Asian characters, the American and British cultures and whether return migration functions similarly in these two different contexts.
The discussion approaches Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland, aiming to trace the author’s positio... more The discussion approaches Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland, aiming to trace the author’s positioning in relation to modern and postmodern assumptions. The argument follows the main character’s (Gauri) transnational trajectory, as she crosses frontiers in a journey that also spans large temporal dimensions. Gauri’s unconventional choices are to be interpreted in relation with her permanent interest in the nature of time that is also a part of her doctoral research in philosophy. Gauri’s professional goals and her personal destiny appear strongly conditioned by the political context of her pre-emigration days, i.e. the Naxalite movement. All the above suggest that The Lowland can be read as a novel with an implied message about the grand narrative of history in relation to time perception and the possibility of (female) identity formation. Whether Lahiri’s approach to these themes echoes a predominantly (post)modern outlook is the focus of the present analysis.
American, British and Canadian Studies Journal, 2016
The paper offers a comparative perspective on transmigrant cultural identities as illustrated in ... more The paper offers a comparative perspective on transmigrant cultural identities as illustrated in the works of two contemporary South Asian American and Romanian American authors, Jhumpa Lahiri and Aura Imbăruș. The comparison involves Gogol, a South Asian American character, and Aura, the author of the memoir
The paper analyses Githa Hariharan’s novel, “The Thousand Faces of the Night”. The present analys... more The paper analyses Githa Hariharan’s novel, “The Thousand Faces of the Night”. The present analysis focuses on the ambivalent negotiations between modernity and tradition underlying the process of female identity reconstruction. My claim is that Hindu myth is an empowerment source for the modern Indian woman. The fluid nature of its oral transmission enables a reinterpretation of Hindu symbols. The ambiguities of myth are redeployed so that a new type of Indian woman is created: one that is cultural specific without completely obeying traditional standards. Female identity reconstruction can be thus discussed in terms of both resistance and adherence to tradition. The terms speech, silence and action are introduced in order to explain the stages of Devi’s emancipation.
The paper discuses the process of Indian female migration through arranged marriage as illustrate... more The paper discuses the process of Indian female migration through arranged marriage as illustrated in Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story Hell Heaven. Considering that displacement is male initiated, the discussion establishes whether the main female character perceives migration as a complete loss/gain, or as a successful compromise. The analysis takes into account the collectivistic dimension of the Indian arranged marriage, highlighting the altruistic model of womanhood it entails. Analyzing the major cultural clash experienced by Aparna (collectivism versus individualism), the paper identifies the relationship between processes of cultural translation and the ideas of evolution and involution.
The paper examines Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story Unaccustomed Earth in order to foreground manners ... more The paper examines Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story Unaccustomed Earth in order to foreground manners of cultural remembering displayed by a South Asian American father, his daughter (Ruma) and her young son, Akash. The memories of the adult characters are triggered by a trauma, represented by the death of the mother/wife. As the dead character surfaces in the memories of her husband and daughter, she is remembered as a traditional South Asian woman who carries an interdependent model of identity. The father’s, daughter’s and grandson’s manners of relating to the dead character illustrate different ways in which memories of culture shape the identities of three generations of South Asian American characters. On the one hand, the father manifests a strong tendency to distance himself from the Bengali cultural core symbolized by his wife and he adopts American models of autonomy. However, while interacting with his grandson, Ruma’s father seeks out to prevent the third generation’s loss of...
The paper investigates overlapping normative and anti-normative concepts of womanhood in the cons... more The paper investigates overlapping normative and anti-normative concepts of womanhood in the construction of two female characters in Lahiri’s short stories. My claim is that the hybrid nature of these identities introduces a subversive dimension. This thesis comes to contradict current criticisms that regard the literature of South Asian American female authors as a neutral cultural product addressing a new cosmopolitan audience. While I agree that this world of fiction mirrors aspects of a globalised world, I also think it constructs alternative visions of Hindu femininity. Since these unsettling identities undermine both Hindu hegemonic norms and Western stereotypes of subaltern female identities, the “apolitical safety” of Lahiri’s fiction (Rajan and Sharma 164) may be contested.
This paper examines the extent to which transnationalism is conceived as a normative reality by S... more This paper examines the extent to which transnationalism is conceived as a normative reality by South Asian authors from diaspora, such as Anita Desai and Kiran Desai. The analysis considers the connections maintained by South Asian immigrant characters with their home countries in order to formulate hypotheses regarding their need for transborder communication. By discussing the function of letters and the impact of the immigrants’ temporary visits back home, the argument suggests that that these types of transnational connections modify certain configurations of non-migrant identities. Considering the patterns of interpersonal relationships established across distances, this discussion analyzes the extent to which transnationalism acquires a local dimension.
The paper starts from the assumption that contemporary literature of migration presents new patte... more The paper starts from the assumption that contemporary literature of migration presents new patterns of transnational mobility that influence family structures across national borders. While transnationalism is customarily understood as a transcendence of the diasporic condition, the present discussion aims to establish whether these two discourses of dislocation can be considered distinct or overlapping. By analyzing second generation South-Asian American characters engaged in repeated resettlements, the analysis focuses on the reconfiguration of family structures in the context of transnational migration. The characters under scrutiny are Amit and Kaushik, the children of well-off Bengali transmigrants from Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth. These characters are affected by their parents’ decisions to repeatedly change their countries of residence. By examining the childhood and adulthood of Lahiri’s parachute kids, the paper signals the fact that int...
The paper investigates the Indian migration patterns to the UK and the US, comparing the idealize... more The paper investigates the Indian migration patterns to the UK and the US, comparing the idealized perceptions of the West with the challenges faced by the immigrant characters. The conclusions establish the relationship between the Indian trends of displacement and the competing British and
The paper investigates Jhumpa Lahiri’s and Rodica Mihalis’ accounts of uprooting in order to high... more The paper investigates Jhumpa Lahiri’s and Rodica Mihalis’ accounts of uprooting in order to highlight their common transcending mechanisms that facilitate dialogues across cultural differences. By presenting interactions between South Asian, Romanian and American characters, the authors promote a conception of cultures as changing systems that can become enriched by transfers of meanings beyond borders. Both authors illustrate how characters who come from dissimilar cultural contexts can engage in meaningful interactions. The Indian-American encounters as well as the Romanian-American intersections are portrayed as opportunities for human understanding beyond the individuals’ specific affiliations. By providing examples of cultural agreement between protagonists from highly different backgrounds, both authors present ethical models of cultural interactions that reduce the possibility of cultural clashes. If we accept the premise that literary figures can serve as ethical models, th...
The paper compares and contrasts several of Anita Desai's female characters who experienc... more The paper compares and contrasts several of Anita Desai's female characters who experience the transcendent urge to restructure their familiar cultural models along Western parameters. Whether engaged in migration or experiencing a static existence in India, Uma (Fasting, Feasting), Bim and Tara (Clear Light of Day) are exposed to cultural difference and this process influences their strategies of identity negotiation. The most important instrument of their cultural change is represented by the world of the mission schools that involves different challenges for each character. The present analysis focuses on the manners in which the Indian women under scrutiny attempt to refashion their cultural norms in accordance with the Western values disseminated by the missionary schools in India. The discussion employs theories of hybridity and culturally specific gender conventions in order to account for the characters' need to modify their inherited gender roles. The present argument advances a novel approach to cultural hybridity, which goes beyond the idea of an identity label customarily applied to migrant identities. Starting from the assumptions that all cultures are inherently hybrid and that the notion of hybridity covers a dynamic process, the discussion demonstrates that the transformations experienced by these characters illustrate the emergence of different patterns of female hybrid identities within the same cultural sphere. Thus, the argument sets out to demonstrate that Anita Desai's Indian women, whether migrant or non-migrant, experience different speeds of cultural transformation, depending on their different positioning towards Hindu and Christian prescriptions. Their metamorphoses illustrate that cultural hybridity is not a necessarily a consequence of migration, but an ongoing cultural process that constantly reshapes cultural patterns.
The paper links the recurrence of aquatic symbols in " Hema and Kaushik " with ... more The paper links the recurrence of aquatic symbols in " Hema and Kaushik " with the same motif employed by Lahiri's in her latest (autobiographical) work, In Other Words. The discussion considers the fascination for water manifested by Kaushik's mother, Parul, that is transferred to Kaushik after her premature death. Deeply affected by the loss of his mother, Kaushik attempts to escape this painful experience by removing himself from the setting of its unfolding. The character's perpetual relocation starts as a trip along the American East Coast, whose austere, harsh landscape seems to strangely comfort him. His decision to explore this maritime locale appears paradoxical, given that Kaushik is afraid of water. His eventual drowning marks the end of Kaushik's struggle against the patterns of attachment that he considers inherently painful. At the same time, Lahiri's deployment of water symbolism in her own struggle for cultural redefinition serves as a tool that might clarify Kaushik's ambivalent relation with the maritime world. The present argument correlates the protagonists' transnational mobility and their attempts at transcultural negotiation with the fluid symbolism of aquatic borders. This analogy is meant to foreground their suspension between strategies of displacement and patterns of attachment.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Jun 1, 2017
humpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland traces the traumatic effect of a family event upon members of di... more humpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland traces the traumatic effect of a family event upon members of different generations – wife (Gauri), brother (Subhash) and daughter (Bela) – whose lives continue to unfold outside India. The analysis discusses the vegetal metaphors of specific plants and roots employed by Lahiri in order to illustrate the emergence of different patterns of (up) rooting that weave the fabric of her transmigrant characters. By closely investigating the intersecting axes of groundedness and deterritorialization, the paper aims to disentangle the significance of the rich Deleuzian imagery that surfaces in the cultural configuration of transplanted individuals, with a focus on Subhash. More specifically, the discussion sets out to establish whether the abundance of rhizomatic elements is meant as a glorification of nomadic subjectivity that implicitly idealizes uprootedness as a pre- condition for the enlargement of cultural perspectives. The present paper analyzes Subhash’s cultural outlook, arguing that his self-transformation entails a symbolic killing of some Indian traditions paralleled by the birth of new outlooks. This process of regeneration situates the protagonist beyond the possibility of fixed allegiances, in a transcultural dimension. The analysis considers theories regarding nomadism, transnational migration and the significance of transgression as a strategy of cultural reinvention.
The analysis examines the (dis) empowering valences assigned to nomadic mobility by Jhumpa Lahiri... more The analysis examines the (dis) empowering valences assigned to nomadic mobility by Jhumpa Lahiri. Relying on a cultural studies approach to literature, the paper builds a comparative perspective on nomadic identities and transcultural transformations as illustrated by The Lowland and In Other Words. The discussion focuses on the interplay between the protagonists’ rhizomatic profiles and their search for rooted configurations. In order to enlarge the scope of the analysis, a few references will be made to Kaushik, a character from Unaccustomed Earth.
The present volume, Literature, economics and politics, offers a selection of the best papers pre... more The present volume, Literature, economics and politics, offers a selection of the best papers present by students of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, at the Student Conference, Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication, the 7-8 April 2022 edition. The collection represents a plurilinguistic and interdisciplinary approach, with papers written in English, German, Italian and French, on topics that cover a wide range of research areas. The authors have examined closely questions such as: are there overlaps between culture and politics? What type of socio-economic aspects reposition our understanding of phenomena in today’s society? While examining connections between Mikhail Gorbachev and promotional policies, the personality of Benedetto Croce and Ernest Hemingway’s work, the studies in this volume also explore creative connections between film and literature. The editors
The article compares and contrasts the phenomenon of return migration as illustrated by literary ... more The article compares and contrasts the phenomenon of return migration as illustrated by literary works that present South Asian migrants to England and America in (post)colonial times. Considering the socioeconomic triggers of migration, the essay investigates the characters' cultural evolution, interpreting their decision to return to India in relation to their ability to process foreign cultural norms. A layer of the analysis establishes whether the migrants' stay abroad is presented as an interval dominated by the occurrence of cultural clashes or processes of cultural translation. A second research focus is the interpretation of return migration as a response to the challenges of cultural adjustment or as an empowering action. A form of old transnationalism, return migration from Western destinations has not received enough attention in critical interpretations of the literature of migration. Therefore, the present study seeks out to enlarge this section of literary studies by foregrounding the cultural and social factors that eventually shape the characters' decision to give up their Western adventure. By comparing the two authors, the conclusion aims to establish the particular relations between South Asian characters, the American and British cultures and whether return migration functions similarly in these two different contexts.
The discussion approaches Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland, aiming to trace the author’s positio... more The discussion approaches Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland, aiming to trace the author’s positioning in relation to modern and postmodern assumptions. The argument follows the main character’s (Gauri) transnational trajectory, as she crosses frontiers in a journey that also spans large temporal dimensions. Gauri’s unconventional choices are to be interpreted in relation with her permanent interest in the nature of time that is also a part of her doctoral research in philosophy. Gauri’s professional goals and her personal destiny appear strongly conditioned by the political context of her pre-emigration days, i.e. the Naxalite movement. All the above suggest that The Lowland can be read as a novel with an implied message about the grand narrative of history in relation to time perception and the possibility of (female) identity formation. Whether Lahiri’s approach to these themes echoes a predominantly (post)modern outlook is the focus of the present analysis.
American, British and Canadian Studies Journal, 2016
The paper offers a comparative perspective on transmigrant cultural identities as illustrated in ... more The paper offers a comparative perspective on transmigrant cultural identities as illustrated in the works of two contemporary South Asian American and Romanian American authors, Jhumpa Lahiri and Aura Imbăruș. The comparison involves Gogol, a South Asian American character, and Aura, the author of the memoir
The paper analyses Githa Hariharan’s novel, “The Thousand Faces of the Night”. The present analys... more The paper analyses Githa Hariharan’s novel, “The Thousand Faces of the Night”. The present analysis focuses on the ambivalent negotiations between modernity and tradition underlying the process of female identity reconstruction. My claim is that Hindu myth is an empowerment source for the modern Indian woman. The fluid nature of its oral transmission enables a reinterpretation of Hindu symbols. The ambiguities of myth are redeployed so that a new type of Indian woman is created: one that is cultural specific without completely obeying traditional standards. Female identity reconstruction can be thus discussed in terms of both resistance and adherence to tradition. The terms speech, silence and action are introduced in order to explain the stages of Devi’s emancipation.
The paper discuses the process of Indian female migration through arranged marriage as illustrate... more The paper discuses the process of Indian female migration through arranged marriage as illustrated in Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story Hell Heaven. Considering that displacement is male initiated, the discussion establishes whether the main female character perceives migration as a complete loss/gain, or as a successful compromise. The analysis takes into account the collectivistic dimension of the Indian arranged marriage, highlighting the altruistic model of womanhood it entails. Analyzing the major cultural clash experienced by Aparna (collectivism versus individualism), the paper identifies the relationship between processes of cultural translation and the ideas of evolution and involution.
The paper examines Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story Unaccustomed Earth in order to foreground manners ... more The paper examines Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story Unaccustomed Earth in order to foreground manners of cultural remembering displayed by a South Asian American father, his daughter (Ruma) and her young son, Akash. The memories of the adult characters are triggered by a trauma, represented by the death of the mother/wife. As the dead character surfaces in the memories of her husband and daughter, she is remembered as a traditional South Asian woman who carries an interdependent model of identity. The father’s, daughter’s and grandson’s manners of relating to the dead character illustrate different ways in which memories of culture shape the identities of three generations of South Asian American characters. On the one hand, the father manifests a strong tendency to distance himself from the Bengali cultural core symbolized by his wife and he adopts American models of autonomy. However, while interacting with his grandson, Ruma’s father seeks out to prevent the third generation’s loss of...
The paper investigates overlapping normative and anti-normative concepts of womanhood in the cons... more The paper investigates overlapping normative and anti-normative concepts of womanhood in the construction of two female characters in Lahiri’s short stories. My claim is that the hybrid nature of these identities introduces a subversive dimension. This thesis comes to contradict current criticisms that regard the literature of South Asian American female authors as a neutral cultural product addressing a new cosmopolitan audience. While I agree that this world of fiction mirrors aspects of a globalised world, I also think it constructs alternative visions of Hindu femininity. Since these unsettling identities undermine both Hindu hegemonic norms and Western stereotypes of subaltern female identities, the “apolitical safety” of Lahiri’s fiction (Rajan and Sharma 164) may be contested.
This paper examines the extent to which transnationalism is conceived as a normative reality by S... more This paper examines the extent to which transnationalism is conceived as a normative reality by South Asian authors from diaspora, such as Anita Desai and Kiran Desai. The analysis considers the connections maintained by South Asian immigrant characters with their home countries in order to formulate hypotheses regarding their need for transborder communication. By discussing the function of letters and the impact of the immigrants’ temporary visits back home, the argument suggests that that these types of transnational connections modify certain configurations of non-migrant identities. Considering the patterns of interpersonal relationships established across distances, this discussion analyzes the extent to which transnationalism acquires a local dimension.
The paper starts from the assumption that contemporary literature of migration presents new patte... more The paper starts from the assumption that contemporary literature of migration presents new patterns of transnational mobility that influence family structures across national borders. While transnationalism is customarily understood as a transcendence of the diasporic condition, the present discussion aims to establish whether these two discourses of dislocation can be considered distinct or overlapping. By analyzing second generation South-Asian American characters engaged in repeated resettlements, the analysis focuses on the reconfiguration of family structures in the context of transnational migration. The characters under scrutiny are Amit and Kaushik, the children of well-off Bengali transmigrants from Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth. These characters are affected by their parents’ decisions to repeatedly change their countries of residence. By examining the childhood and adulthood of Lahiri’s parachute kids, the paper signals the fact that int...
The paper investigates the Indian migration patterns to the UK and the US, comparing the idealize... more The paper investigates the Indian migration patterns to the UK and the US, comparing the idealized perceptions of the West with the challenges faced by the immigrant characters. The conclusions establish the relationship between the Indian trends of displacement and the competing British and
The paper investigates Jhumpa Lahiri’s and Rodica Mihalis’ accounts of uprooting in order to high... more The paper investigates Jhumpa Lahiri’s and Rodica Mihalis’ accounts of uprooting in order to highlight their common transcending mechanisms that facilitate dialogues across cultural differences. By presenting interactions between South Asian, Romanian and American characters, the authors promote a conception of cultures as changing systems that can become enriched by transfers of meanings beyond borders. Both authors illustrate how characters who come from dissimilar cultural contexts can engage in meaningful interactions. The Indian-American encounters as well as the Romanian-American intersections are portrayed as opportunities for human understanding beyond the individuals’ specific affiliations. By providing examples of cultural agreement between protagonists from highly different backgrounds, both authors present ethical models of cultural interactions that reduce the possibility of cultural clashes. If we accept the premise that literary figures can serve as ethical models, th...
The paper compares and contrasts several of Anita Desai's female characters who experienc... more The paper compares and contrasts several of Anita Desai's female characters who experience the transcendent urge to restructure their familiar cultural models along Western parameters. Whether engaged in migration or experiencing a static existence in India, Uma (Fasting, Feasting), Bim and Tara (Clear Light of Day) are exposed to cultural difference and this process influences their strategies of identity negotiation. The most important instrument of their cultural change is represented by the world of the mission schools that involves different challenges for each character. The present analysis focuses on the manners in which the Indian women under scrutiny attempt to refashion their cultural norms in accordance with the Western values disseminated by the missionary schools in India. The discussion employs theories of hybridity and culturally specific gender conventions in order to account for the characters' need to modify their inherited gender roles. The present argument advances a novel approach to cultural hybridity, which goes beyond the idea of an identity label customarily applied to migrant identities. Starting from the assumptions that all cultures are inherently hybrid and that the notion of hybridity covers a dynamic process, the discussion demonstrates that the transformations experienced by these characters illustrate the emergence of different patterns of female hybrid identities within the same cultural sphere. Thus, the argument sets out to demonstrate that Anita Desai's Indian women, whether migrant or non-migrant, experience different speeds of cultural transformation, depending on their different positioning towards Hindu and Christian prescriptions. Their metamorphoses illustrate that cultural hybridity is not a necessarily a consequence of migration, but an ongoing cultural process that constantly reshapes cultural patterns.
The paper links the recurrence of aquatic symbols in " Hema and Kaushik " with ... more The paper links the recurrence of aquatic symbols in " Hema and Kaushik " with the same motif employed by Lahiri's in her latest (autobiographical) work, In Other Words. The discussion considers the fascination for water manifested by Kaushik's mother, Parul, that is transferred to Kaushik after her premature death. Deeply affected by the loss of his mother, Kaushik attempts to escape this painful experience by removing himself from the setting of its unfolding. The character's perpetual relocation starts as a trip along the American East Coast, whose austere, harsh landscape seems to strangely comfort him. His decision to explore this maritime locale appears paradoxical, given that Kaushik is afraid of water. His eventual drowning marks the end of Kaushik's struggle against the patterns of attachment that he considers inherently painful. At the same time, Lahiri's deployment of water symbolism in her own struggle for cultural redefinition serves as a tool that might clarify Kaushik's ambivalent relation with the maritime world. The present argument correlates the protagonists' transnational mobility and their attempts at transcultural negotiation with the fluid symbolism of aquatic borders. This analogy is meant to foreground their suspension between strategies of displacement and patterns of attachment.
Postcommunism. Postcolonialism. Siblings of Subalternity starts from the assumption that Romanian... more Postcommunism. Postcolonialism. Siblings of Subalternity starts from the assumption that Romanian intellectuals with a background in postcolonial and British/American cultural studies hold an uncertain epistemic status generated by their positioning between Western and Eastern European axes of identification.
This paper sets out to discuss the mechanisms of cultural clashes as illustrated by three short s... more This paper sets out to discuss the mechanisms of cultural clashes as illustrated by three short stories included in Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut collection, Interpreter of Maladies. By focusing on this topic, the present article aims to identify the main obstacles that prevent the (non)migrant, Indian and American characters from engaging with the difference of others. While global interconnectedness and the fluidity of borders are highly popular themes associated with fiction of migration, the present paper discusses a less theorised topic such as the failure to process cultural difference, despite the individuals’ increasing mobility. By adopting this approach, I intent to expand the existing body of research in the field of literature and migration, by foregrounding the relevance of fractured dialogues in the context of contemporary relocations from the East to the West. Besides offering possible explanations for the occurrence of cultural clashes, the present study implicitly formulates suggestions for minimising the distance between diverse sets of cultural norms. While discussing rigid perspectives, superficial interests or parallel outlooks, the paper signals the fact that crossing cultural borders is not always a natural effect of the transgression of physical frontiers. In this way, the present argument is an invitation to more nuanced interpretations of literary creations that deal with cultural encounters in the context of migration.
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Papers by Elena Stoican