Jhumpa Lahiri's new tongue

Feb 19, 2016 651

by Lee Langley

Imagine you're an unknown young writer whose first collection of stories wins the Pulitzer prize. Your first novel is filmed, your second is shortlisted for the Man Booker and your next collection of stories goes straight to No.1 in the New York Timesbestseller list, while prizes and honours are showered on you.

Might the words 'rest' and 'laurels' come to mind? Not for Jhumpa Lahiri. The Bengali-American author of Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake chose instead to swap New York for Rome with her husband and two young children for what she calls 'a trial by fire' into a new life and a new language: for nearly three years she read and wrote exclusively in Italian.

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Source: http://www.spectator.co.uk/

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