This Past Week I Taught...

[sa-am.livejournal.com]

Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies

Here is a picture of the stunning author:


Here are some basic thoughts I tracked through in lecture:
Frank Chin would have been off-put by Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies if those stories had been submitted for Aiiieeeee! Certainly, it would be impossible simply on the temporal level, but I’m thinking about the polemical nature of that edited anthology, the nature of so many of the submissions contained therein, which stand in stark contrast to the quiet domesticity of Lahiri’s short stories. It would be too reductive to say that Lahiri’s collection is apolitical, but one queries how to approach, let’s say, “A Temporary Matter,” the initial story that draws out the crumbling marital relationship between two upwardly mobile Indian immigrants, Shoba and Shukumar, who seek to find a way to reconnect in the wake of a miscarriage. Prior to this tragic event, their lives were full of possibility, including lavish parties and baby planning events, but afterward there appear to be subtle, but nevertheless important changes that come to the surface during a blackout. For instance, Shukumar “found a flashlight, but no batteries, and a half-empty box of birthday candles” (9), two sources of potential illumination, yet one not fully operational and the other only of limited, or of no use. The conclusion leaves one surprised at the turn of events, a small but nevertheless poignant moment that stuns the reader. Rather than cry out, aiiieeee, this story seems to be after something else, the ways in which the everyday of Asian American domesticity might be drawn out in the post-1965 period, where more and more Asian Americans can claim a higher class status and increased privilege. What then of victimization? Of oppression? Of racism? "A Temporary Matter" doesn't erase these issues. Rather, it turns the lens elsewhere. Whether or not this movement away from the overtly political goals of the cultural nationalists is problematic is a debate for another day.