Introduction

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, she recounts the lives of various individuals in different times and places to perceive Indian identity as nuanced and layered. Her collection of short stories comes together to demonstrate how no two characters—no two people—share an identical lived experience regardless of whether they are both Indian Americans, for example. She aims to ground identity in reality—that these characters represent real people in real places. In the real world, individuals are both outsiders and insiders of something. The interaction and exchange between nationality, religion, ethnicity, and so on sees Lahiri compile all layers that make up one’s identity. Using her layered system to talk about culture and identity can therefore help understand how identity can be either admired and appreciated or distorted and misrepresented.

Several of Lahiri’s stories, including “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,” “This Blessed House,” and “The Third and Final Continent,” involve characters of all ages and perspectives. This exhibit uses primary sources from the Rare Books Collection; the William Neill Bogan, Jr., Papers, the Todd A. Herring Collection, and the Templeton Music Collection from Historical Manuscripts; and The John C. Stennis Papers from Mississippi Political Collections housed in MSU Libraries' Archives and Special Collections to more deeply understand these characters and their complex, varied perspectives. These sources deepen our understanding as it shows the real-life inspiration for fictional characters and experiences. When the perspectives influencing Lahiri's writing are understood, the weight of her stories becomes apparent.