DOI: https://doi.org/10.71549/RU.I20.312

Home and Homeland in the Narratives of Diasporic South Asian Writers: Jhumpa Lahiri and Bharati Mukherjee

Rim Souissi

Abstract

A myriad of contemporary writers, especially those appertaining to ethnic diaspora and residing in polyglot countries like the United States and Britain, evince an avid preoccupation with their homelands evident in their narratives. Their novels are partly, if not entirely, set in their motherlands; their characters often journey from the (in)secure premises of their native countries and are immersed headlong in new and somehow alien cultures. The way these characters choose to bolster or sever their links with their homelands reveals a lot about the way they come to conceive of the latter—either as a driving force towards self-fulfillment or a counter-current hampering growth and happiness. This article seeks to explore the notions of home and homeland; their meanings, significance, and various connotations, while addressing the position and perception that two contemporary emergent diasporic writers, namely Jhumpa Lahiri and Bharati Mukherjee, have towards their homeland. It also aims at contextualizing the way one’s homeland is perceived, constructed, and represented through fiction, by referring to a set of texts by the aforementioned writers. A comparison between the way Lahiri and Mukherjee conceptualize and reify the notions of home and homeland and depict them in their narratives will also be offered.