![]() Lahiri positions herself as a writer who has been traversing between languages, cultures, and places, and thus always translating from an early age. In deconstructing these questions, Lahiri plunges into illuminating thoughts and ideas and taking the reader along with her. Although Lahiri explicitly refers to the gender dimension of such probes, she merely implies their racial side. Such questions surprise her because she herself has not considered them. Lahiri is often asked: “Why do you speak our language?” (9), or “Why Italian instead of an Indian language, a closer language, more like you?” (10). ![]() ![]() ‘Why-questions’ at some level are also violent. The “why” part of any question that concerns choice, desire, or love always lands the one being questioned in deep waters. Examining her personal struggles and citing examples from literature, Lahiri sets out to answer the question: “Why Italian?,” a question that follows her everywhere. ![]() In the opening chapter, Jhumpa Lahiri tells the reader about her early life, different locations and languages that shaped her, and about her obsession with the Italian language. Translating Myself and Others is a deep meditation on the art of translation. ![]()
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