66 Jhumpa Lahiri Quotes for You to Enjoy

Jhumpa Lahiri

American Author

Born: Jul 11, 1967

Life Me Myself Think Writing You

Related authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald Frederick Douglass Helen Keller Henry David Thoreau Joyce Meyer Mark Twain Og Mandino Zig Ziglar

This story is based on a gentleman who indeed did... used to come to my parents' house in 1971 from Bangladesh. He was at the University of Rhode Island. And I was four, four years old, at the time, and so I actually don't have any memories of this gentleman. Jhumpa Lahiri

For years, I sort of would try to write a story that somehow fit the title. And I don't think it happened for maybe another four years that I actually thought of a story, the plot of a story that corresponded to that phrase. Jhumpa Lahiri

Try Thought Think Plot Corresponded Would Phrase Somehow Write Sort Another Years Fit Maybe Happened Story Title Actually Four

On the screen I saw tanks rolling through dusty streets, and fallen buildings, and forests of unfamiliar trees into which East Pakistani refugees had fled, seeking safety over the Indian border. Jhumpa Lahiri

I don't know why, but the older I get the more interested I get in my parents' marriage. And it's interesting to be married yourself, too, because there is an inevitable comparison. Jhumpa Lahiri

Marriage Yourself Parents Inevitable Older Too Married More Know Because Get Interested Interesting Comparison Why

If I stop to think about fans, or best-selling, or not best-selling, or good reviews, or not-good reviews, it just becomes too much. It's like staring at the mirror all day. Jhumpa Lahiri

Good Day Fans Too Much Mirror Think Too All Day About Like Becomes Reviews Just Stop Much Staring

In fiction, plenty do the job of conveying information, rousing suspense, painting characters, enabling them to speak. But only certain sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil. Jhumpa Lahiri

I find it really liberating to be in a place where I am a foreigner in every way. I've lived with this all my life - this divide, this bifurcation. And in Italy, I don't feel it. There's none of that tension, only the expectation I place on myself to speak the language well. I find it relaxing. Something drops away, and I observe. Jhumpa Lahiri

Life Myself Speak Language My Life Expectation Every Way Liberating Relaxing All My Life Find Something Only Divide Observe Tension Drops Feel Well None Am Foreigner Italy Where Place Really Lived Away

When I write in Italian - this is just the metaphor that came to me immediately, and I really think this is what it is - I feel like I'm writing with my left hand. Because of that weakness, there is this enormous freedom that comes with it. Jhumpa Lahiri

Freedom Me Writing Think Enormous Immediately Weakness Write Feel Like Because Metaphor Came Italian Hand Left Just Really

I have very little choice. If I don't write, I feel dreadful. So I write. Jhumpa Lahiri

Dreadful Write Feel Very Little Choice

The highlight of my undergraduate years was a year-long Shakespeare course I took with Edward Tayler. Jhumpa Lahiri

Took Shakespeare Highlight Undergraduate Course Years Edward

I never want to deal with a book once I'm finished writing. Jhumpa Lahiri

Book Writing Finished Once Never Deal Want

When you live in a country where your own language is considered foreign, you can feel a continuous sense of estrangement. You speak a secret, unknown language, lacking any correspondence to the environment. An absence that creates a distance within you. Jhumpa Lahiri

You Speak Language Country Own Sense Live Unknown Secret Distance Considered Correspondence Absence Environment Feel Within Foreign Continuous Any Lacking Where Creates Your

I realize that the wish to write in a new language derives from a kind of desperation. Jhumpa Lahiri

Desperation Language Wish Kind Write New Realize Derives

All American fiction could be classified as immigrant fiction. Jhumpa Lahiri

Immigrant All-American Classified Could American Fiction

So much of my writing derives from these questions that I ask myself - things that are utterly beyond my personal set of experiences - and it's my attempt to try to... understand, to sort of break out of my own consciousness, you know, the limitations of my own life. Jhumpa Lahiri

Life Myself You Writing Try Own Out My Own Attempt Beyond Know Sort Limitations Understand Questions Personal Experiences Break Ask Much Derives Things Utterly Consciousness Set

It took me a long time to even dare to envision myself as a writer. I was very uncertain and hesitant and afraid to pursue a creative life. Jhumpa Lahiri

Life Time Myself Me Creative Long Long Time Took Hesitant Dare Uncertain Pursue Writer Envision Very Afraid Creative Life Even

I recently discovered the work of Giorgio Manganelli, who wrote a collection called 'Centuria,' which contains 100 stories, each of them about a page long. They're somewhat surreal and extremely dense, at once fierce and purifying, the equivalent of a shot of grappa. I find it helpful to read one before sitting down to write. Jhumpa Lahiri

Work Long Before Down Once Extremely Collection Find About Purifying Somewhat Write Contains Wrote Read Equivalent Discovered Surreal Dense Sitting Stories Which Fierce Them Shot Page Who Helpful Each Recently

I love stories. But I don't distinguish so much between a short story and a novel. Personally, when I sit down to read a novel or a Chekhov story, I'm seeking the same thing: I'm seeking that same rich portrayal of life in words. Jhumpa Lahiri

Life Love Words Sit Same Thing Rich Down Distinguish Seeking Between Read Chekhov Same Short Love Stories Stories Short Story Story Personally Much Novel Thing Portrayal

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