If certain books are to be termed 'immigrant fiction,' what do we call the rest? Native fiction? Puritan fiction? This distinction doesn't agree with me.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
I've gained a lot from James Joyce, Tolstoy, Chekhov and R. K. Narayan. While writing, I try to see if the story is going to radiate spokes. Their literature has always done that and gifted me beautiful things.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the impact of great authors on one's writing, highlighting the beauty and inspiration drawn from their work.
Jhumpa Lahiri reflects on her admiration for literary giants like James Joyce, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and R. K. Narayan, attributing her own writing inspiration to the profound ideas and emotions conveyed in their works. She highlights the concept of stories radiating spokes, suggesting that a good narrative radiates multiple themes and insights, much like a wheel, offering richness and depth to both the writer and the reader.
Themes
WritingLiteratureInspirationAuthorsStories
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech at a literary festival, one might say, 'As Jhumpa Lahiri once expressed, great writers like Joyce and Tolstoy inspire us to create stories that resonate deeply.'
More from Jhumpa Lahiri
All quotes →When I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
When I am experiencing a complex story or novel, the broader planes, and also details, tend to fall away.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
I think each time you start a story or novel or whatever, you are absolutely at the bottom of the ladder all over again. It doesn't matter what you've done before.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
The sky was different, without color, taut and unforgiving. But the water was the most unforgiving thing, nearly black at times, cold enough, I knew, to kill me, violent enough to break me apart. The waves were immense, battering rocky beaches without sand. The farther I went, the more desolate it became, more than any place I'd been, but for this very reason the landscape drew me, claimed me as nothing had in a long time.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
On the technical side, I hope that my writing is evolving and maturing, ripening, deepening.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
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I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth: the mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all: our own self-story. Fiction, because it is not about someone who lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about oneself. --From the Introduction
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THE WRITER can get free of his writing only by using it, that is, by reading oneself. As if the aim of writing were to use what is already written as a launching pad for reading the writing to come. Moreover, what he has written is read in the process, hence constantly modified by his reading. The book is an unbearable totality. I write against a background of facets.
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Readers of fiction read, I think, for a deeper embrace of the world, of reality. And that's brave. I never get over being thankful for that - for the courage of my readers.
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