Abschnittsübersicht

  • Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake (novel) (2003)


    Part I: Narrative form & cultural characterization


    1) In what ways is this a story about self-reinvention? Try to think about a time when you tried to ‘adapt’ yourself – or even reinvent yourself – for a new milieu/a new crowd. How successful were you – and why / why not? And is self-reinvention ever really possible anyway?

    2) What features particularly strike you about Lahiri's narrative and narrative style? Why do you think she chose to tell this story in the specific way that she did? (Try to think about the ways in which she intertwines present and past.)

    3) What are the particular cultural differences that the novel identifies between US-American and Bengali cultures? In what respects does Gogol/Nikhil find himself torn between the two – and how does his relationships with Maxine and his marriage to Moushumi embody the different aspects of this tension?