Jhumpa Lahiri - In Other Words

A LSO BY J HUMPA L AHIRI

The Lowland

Unaccustomed Earth

The Namesake

Interpreter of Maladies

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF AND ALFRED A. KNOPF CANADA

TRANSLATION COPYRIGHT 2016 BY ALFRED A. KNOPF,
A DIVISION OF PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE LLC

COPYRIGHT 2015 BY JHUMPA LAHIRI

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, A DIVISION OF PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE LLC, NEW YORK, AND IN CANADA BY ALFRED A. KNOPF CANADA, A DIVISION OF PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CANADA LTD., TORONTO. ORIGINAL ITALIAN TEXT PUBLISHED SEPARATELY AS IN ALTRE PAROLE BY GUANDA, MILAN, IN 2015.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
LAHIRI, JHUMPA.
[IN ALTRE PAROLE. ENGLISH]
IN OTHER WORDS / JHUMPA LAHIRI ; TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN BY ANN GOLDSTEIN.FIRST EDITION.
PAGES CM
ISBN 978-1-101-87555-1 (HARDCOVER)ISBN 978-1-101-87556-8 (EBOOK) 1. LAHIRI, JHUMPATRAVEL. 2. INTERLANGUAGE (LANGUAGE LEARNING)BIOGRAPHY. I. GOLDSTEIN, ANN, [DATE], TRANSLATOR. II. TITLE.
PS3562.A316Z46 2016
813.54DC23
[B] 2015020998

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
LAHIRI, JHUMPA
[IN ALTRE PAROLE. ENGLISH]
IN OTHER WORDS / JHUMPA LAHIRI ; ANN GOLDSTEIN, TRANSLATOR.
TRANSLATION OF: IN ALTRE PAROLE.
ISSUED IN PRINT AND ELECTRONIC FORMATS.
ISBN9781101875551
EBOOK ISBN9781101875568
1. LAHIRI, JHUMPATRAVEL. 2. INTERLANGUAGE (LANGUAGE LEARNING).
I. GOLDSTEIN, ANN, [DATE], TRANSLATOR II. TITLE. III. TITLE: IN ALTRE PAROLE. ENGLISH.
PS3562.A326Z4613 2016 813.54 C2015-906407-4

FRONT-OF-COVER PHOTOGRAPH MARCO DELOGU
COVER DESIGN BY CAROL DEVINE CARSON

v4.1

a

For Paola Basirico,

Angelo De Gennaro,

and Alice Peretti

A Paola Basirico,

Angelo De Gennaro,

e Alice Peretti

avevo bisogno di una lingua differente: una lingua che fosse un luogo di affetto e di riflessione.

ANTONIO TABUCCHI

I needed a different language: a language that was a place of affection and reflection.

ANTONIO TABUCCHI

INDICE

CONTENTS

AUTHORS NOTE

R eaders may ask why I chose not to translate this book myself from Italian into English. I explain my motivation, in part, in the chapter called The Hairy Adolescent. There I describe the surprising difficulty of translating from Italian, a language in which I had only begun to express myself creatively, into English, the language of my previous books. I was reluctant to move back and forth between the two. My impulse at the time was to protect my Italian. Returning to English was disorienting, frustrating, also discouraging. It made me acutely aware of how limited my Italian was compared with my English. It made me question the value of the experiment I had undertaken.

My Italian is still limited compared with my English. And yet it is the sole language in which I continue to write. Apart from obligatory correspondence, I have written exclusively in Italian for more than two years now. These few words are, in fact, the first formal prose I have composed in English since my last book, The Lowland, was completed, in 2012.

Writing in Italian is a choice on my part, a risk that I feel inspired to take. It requires a strict discipline that I am compelled, at the moment, to maintain. Translating the book myself would have broken that discipline; it would have meant reengaging intimately with English, wrestling with it, rather than with Italian.

In addition, had I translated this book, the temptation would have been to improve it, to make it stronger by means of my stronger language. But I wanted the translation of In altre parole to render my Italian honestly, without smoothing out its rough edges, without neutralizing its oddness, without manipulating its character. I instinctively felt, when I learned that the book would be published in English, that another translator, one with more experience and with greater objectivity, was best suited to perform this operation. I am therefore grateful to Ann Goldstein for bringing this book to English-language readers.

A N OTE ON U SING T HIS E B OOK

This is a dual language edition. Links between the English and Italian have been placed within the text. In the English language section, tap or click on the icon to see the Italian text. This will take you to the beginning of the linked paragraph in Italian. Use your Kindles back button to return to the English. Alternatively, tap or click on the English chapter titles to go to the Italian text.

A N OTE ON U SING T HIS E B OOK

This is a dual language edition. Links between the English and Italian have been placed within the text. Tap or click on the icon to move back and forth between the English and Italian texts. Alternatively, tap or click on the chapter titles to move between English and Italian.

I N O THER W ORDS