Series | Diaspore
Monograph | Italy, Elsewhere
Chapter | 4 • Italia
4 • Italia
Abstract
This paper analyzes how Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words tends to displace Italy both linguistically and spatially, through the use of abstract descriptions of its spaces. By de-linking the experience of Italy from its spaces, Lahiri portrays a multicultural country, in which borders are shaped by linguistic, raced, gendered lines rather than by geography. Her writing is powerful as it describes and intimate and introspective experience as a racialized foreigner, however her experience of Italy is divorced from a wider social context. Because of this reason, In Other Words shares some common themes, and equally important differences, with the description of Italy – and the experiences of belonging and marginalization that are associated with this space – which can be found in the works by both nonwhite migrant writers who write in Italian and foreign travelers, who chronicle their aesthetic experience of Italy.
Submitted: Sept. 7, 2021 | Accepted: June 19, 2022 | Published Oct. 18, 2022 | Language: it
Copyright © 2022 Simone Brioni. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-625-1/004
