In Other Words - Hardcover

Lahiri, Jhumpa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345810090 ISBN 13: 9780345810090

Publisher: Knopf Canada, 2016

Synopsis

From the Pulitzer Prize winner, a surprising, powerful and eloquent non-fiction debut.
In Other Words is at heart a love story--of a long and sometimes difficult courtship, and a passion that verges on obsession: that of a writer for another language. For Jhumpa Lahiri, that love was for Italian, which first captivated and capsized her during a trip to Florence after college. And although Lahiri studied Italian for many years afterward, true mastery had always eluded her. So in 2012, seeking full immersion, she decided to move to Rome with her family, for "a trial by fire, a sort of baptism" into a new language and world.
     In Rome, Lahiri began to read, and to write--initially in her journal--solely in Italian. In Other Words, an autobiographical work written in Italian, investigates the process of learning to express oneself in another language, and describes the journey of a writer seeking a new voice. Presented in a dual-language format, it is a book about exile, linguistic and otherwise, written with an intensity and clarity not seen since Nabokov. A startling act of self-reflection and a provocative exploration of belonging and reinvention. Translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein.

About this title

About the Author

JHUMPA LAHIRI is the author of four acclaimed works of fiction: Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth and, most recently, The Lowland. A recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, a PEN/Hemingway Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2012. She will be teaching at Princeton University starting in the fall of 2015. The author lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Review

NATIONAL BESTSELLER 
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 

“Gorgeous. . . . [A] book that is everywhere about displacement and the discoveries it can lead to.” —Joseph Luzzi, The New York Times

“[A] remarkable accomplishment. . . . [Lahiri] has developed a unique new voice that, with all its imperfections, can be more personal and vulnerable than her writing in English. . . . In Other Words is a joyful account, an honest and poignant record of a fresh start in life—I’d be eager to hear more, to continue observing this reserved and eloquent writer opening up into a new language.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

“As in her novels, the author’s prose is captivating and consistently illuminating, but what makes In Other Words so intriguing is the process and format. . . . A brief yet richly expansive work of candid self-reflection.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[A] hauntingly tender, beautiful read.” —The American Bazaar

“Her novels and earlier stories addressed the outsider/immigrant experience with tenderness and distanced irony; her Italian writing is personal, inward-looking, exploring identity and alienation, anatomising the state of mind of a writer who has more than one ‘mother tongue’. . . . [T]here’s no academic aridity; the spare, limpid prose of Lahiri’s fiction permeates a bold and quirkily engaging self-portrait.” —The Spectator

“In Other Words appeals on many levels—as a passion project, cultural document and psychological study. . . . Her book conveys an intimate view of the complicated bonds that exist between language and identity. In the process, Lahiri takes readers on a poignant, probing odyssey.” —Portland Press Herald

"In In Altre Parole, Lahiri explains that she wanted to bump up against the limitations of a newly acquired language. To read the text that closes the book is to realize how close, instead, she comes to perfection." —L'Espresso

“[A]n illuminating look at the impact of identity and alienation on creativity. . . . Lahiri’s honesty is breathtaking. . . . In Other Words is a remarkable collection that ultimately celebrates the creative impulse.” —Toronto Star

“Strikingly honest, lyrical. . . . In Other Words is the most evocative, unpretentious, astute account of a writing life I have read. In part, this is because Lahiri so unabashedly asks and answers big and vexing questions. . . . Words like ‘enduring’ and ‘indispensable’ should be saved for only the rarest literary achievements, and the memoir In Other Words is one of those.” —Howard Norman, The Washington Post  

“In Other Words [is] an unconventional autobiography that has the Dionysian drama of a quest saga and the Apollonian tidiness of a primer. It allows you to witness a beloved, hugely successful scribe . . . give birth to a new, untested, uncertain yet determined authorial self. . . . The book’s chapters unfold as a series of thoughtful, incantatory reflections. . . . [An] intricately structured and gorgeously spun whirligig of a memoir.” —ELLE

“This is a bravura book. It will touch every reader young and old, about the pleasure and pain of undertaking a new experience that tests one’s personhood and intellectual mettle.” —The Buffalo News

“Lahiri spins a linguistic memoir that actually tells the story of a transformation of identity. In Lahiri’s hands, these essays and stories become an invaluable insight into the craft of writing not as storytelling but as speaking the self into existence.” —San Francisco Chronicle 
 
“[I]t possesses near alchemical powers . . . . [A] deeply intimate portrait of an author laying bare her soul. . . . The book has the intimacy of a love story: her initial passion carrying with it connotations of an illicit and all-consuming affair, then, after this first flush of infatuation, a deeper, more fundamental bond kicks in, one in which she likens herself to a mother protecting a beloved newborn.” —The National 

“Honest, self-deprecating, and very moving account of a writer searching for herself in words.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Her scaffolding—the ebb and flow of syntax and vocabulary—are the equivalent of paints and canvas. The work produced in Italian is different, but the hand that fashions it remains the same. Lahiri has written an astonishingly sincere book on the mechanics and mystery that surrounds the creative process.” —The Independent

“A work of remarkable diligence. . . . [Lahiri’s] devotion is admirable, and her Italian writings evolve impressively as her fluency improves. . . . [The essays in In Other Words] offer remarkably fluid commentary on what it is like to learn a language. . . Some are beautifully expository, aesthetic triumphs in their own right. . . .[The stories in In Other Words left me] wanting a whole collection of her Italian fiction. . . . [A] literary accomplishment even for an author writing in her native tongue. . . . Lahiri isn’t fundamentally learning to speak or read—she’s learning to write, all over again. . . . Jhumpa Lahiri wanted to write a book in Italian, about Italian. She did. That is enough for beauty.” —Vox

 “[In Other Words is] a compelling internal journey, an extended autobiographical essay, insightful and original. A sequel is very much in order.” —The Freelance-Star

“A fascinating, arduous journey, frustrating and rewarding in equal parts. . . . Lahiri is brave to lay herself bare the way she does.” —Hindustan Times 

“Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri sets the bar even higher by writing In Other Words in Italian. She bumps up the limitations of a newly acquired language and takes us along in her search for those words that can express what she has to say.” —The International Examiner 

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Canada
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0345810090
• ISBN 13: 9780345810090
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256