Renowned critics rate short stories as the post popular literary form and say more than novels, poems and plays, their contribution in spreading the culture and custom stands heads and shoulders above other literary works.
If that is the case, Jhumpa Lahiri, the US born writer of Indian parents, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her debut collection of short stories “Interpreter of Maladies” could be the best writer of this genre.
She is also the author of The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth and The Lowland, which was a finalist for both the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award in fiction which proves that she is not a one-book wonder. Lahiri ia back in action and this time she is coming out with a collection of short stories written in the background of Italy. The work, which is expected to hit bookshelves across India is her first work after the publication of Unaccustomed Earth (2008).
“These are splendid, searching stories, written in Jhumpa Lahiri's adopted language of Italian and seamlessly translated by the author and by Knopf editor Todd Portnowitz, “ said a release by Peter Modoli, Associate Vice President, Penguin Random House, the publishers. The Steps, one of the stories, conveys the fact that staircase and skywalks are not mere links to facilitate people’s movements but they are full of life and spirits.
“It connects two neighborhoods and through the residents who climb up and down it, we see Italy's capital in all of its social and cultural variegations, filled with the tensions of a changing city, visibility and invisibility, random acts of aggression, the challenge of straddling worlds and cultures, and the meaning of home,” says the release by Modoli.
Dr Jayashanthi, Tamil literature’s numero uno is of the view that Jhumpa Lahiri’s works are a refreshing experience compared to other post-modern writers.
“She has the craftsmanship (or is it craftswomanship?) to present things in a manner which will be smoothly absorbed by the heart.
Writing short story itself is an art as the space is small and you have to convey lot of things with minimum words. Lahiri has excelled in this art and I am sure Roman Stories is no exception,” said Dr Jayashanthi.