The Interpreter of Maladies

Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of shorts that won a Pulitzer in 2000. These focus on Indians – especially Indian Americans – confronting the complexities of close relationships and the problems of adapting to a socio-cultural environment quite different from India’s.

In ‘This Blessed House’, the author explores the subtle conflict between Sanjeev and his wife Twinkle over the religious items left behind by the previous Christian owners of a house they’ve bought. Sanjeev, ever-consciousness of his Hinduness, is not as accepting of the Christian West as his wife is.

In ‘The Interpreter of Maladies’, tour guide Kapasi studies a US-based Indian couple and their children through the prism of his cultural upbringing and becomes judgemental, even as he fantasizes a romantic liaison with the wife.

‘A Real Durwan’ and ‘The Treatment of Bibi Haldar’ look at Indian women trapped in a rural world defined by casteism, ignorance, superstition, and poverty. These stories are the oddballs in this collection, to the extent that they do not focus on Indian Americans as do the stories mentioned earlier, and others like ‘Mrs Sen’s’ and ‘The Third and Final Continent’.

  

Lahiri’s writing is simple and straightforward, so readers expecting poetic fugues or linguistic pyrotechnics will be disappointed. Similarly, those looking for Archer-style twists in the tale are advised to give this collection a wide berth. The literary minded, however, will definitely appreciate Lahiri’s ability to craft well-defined characters within the constraints of the short story form and use everyday situations to spin tales that are intellectually satisfying.

It is posited that The Interpreter of Maladies has been conceived as a short story cycle, where motifs and symbolism are used to fuse stories into an organic whole, to provide a nuanced yet incisive commentary on the immigrant experience.