The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - Essay Example

Jhumpa Lahiri's achievements with the pen are such a heterogeneous mixture in literature as we find in this description.  She wins prizes and credits with the regularity of a housewife visiting the Wall Mart! Recall the wise assertion of Shakespeare that some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them—Jhumpa Lahiri finds her place in the second option. 

     She is so young, just forty-four-- born on 11th July 1967 in London. One should not ask the age of the member of the fair sex. Let this be an extraordinary exception and the series of achievements would justify the revelations! She is the first Asian to bag the Pulitzer Prize in the year 2000(She was just thirty-three) for her book, “Interpreter Of Maladies." She is an Indian American author of Bengali origin. Her first novel, “The Namesake” was a bestseller and was named the New York Magazine Book of the Year. Since then, there is no looking back for Lahiri. 
She was raised in Rhode Island. She received her degree, B.A. in English literature, from Barnard College. She did her M.A. in English and M.A. in Creative Writing. She also did Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies.

     Her book, “Interpreter of Maladies” won a galaxy of Awards. Some of them are:

1. TransAtlantic Award from Henfield Foundation 1993
2. O. Henry Award  1999
3. PEN/Hemingway Award 1999
4. The New Yorker’s Best Debut of the Year 2000

Her parents taught her about their Bengali heritage from childhood and they were eminently suited to do that professionally as well being a teacher and a librarian. In 2001 she married Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush, the Deputy Editor of Time Latin America. She is settled in Brooklyn with her family—husband and two children, Octavio (b. 2002) and Noor (b. 2005). She is the Vice President of the PEN American Center since 2005. The important subjects of her storylines are Indian American life. Some of the authors that inspire her are Chekov, Vladimir Nabokov, and Leo Tolstoy. She is a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama. Her family immigrated to the U.S. when she was three. The family is proud of their Bengali heritage and remains in contact with their relatives in Kolkata, India. “Jhumpa” is her pet name.

Conclusion

     Jhumpa has a piece of advice for budding authors. Be true to your convictions—never write for the sake of the publishers and with thinking that what the critics will say of your writings. The writings may be appreciated in one part of the world and may not find favor at the other end. Rejection slips are part of the game. Write about the theme in which you are fascinated and do it as per your convictions, not to please or displease anyone. The index of her popularity can be seen—“Interpreter of Maladies” sold 600,000 copies, besides winning the Pulitzer Prize. Today, she is an author with great commercial clout. Her stories are autobiographical in nature and her characters show the richness of experience. Depicting immigration behavior and psychology are the hallmarks of her writings. How the first-generation immigrants absorb the culture shock—read the literature of Jhumpa Lahiri.