Diasporic dilemma and dichotomy in the fiction of Gabrielle Roy and JhumpaLahiri

Abstract

Diasporic writing voices the traumatic experiences of the immigrants caused by their displacement, fragmentation and marginalization. Every culture scattered around the world has witnessed the emergence of writers who fall under this genre. Two such renowned diasporic writers are the French Canadian Gabrielle Roy and the Indian American JhumpaLahiri.

Immigration proves a pleasant experience only for the few who succeed in assimilating themselves in a new geographical, cultural, social and psychological environment. To many, immigration is not a delectable experience. They often find themselves sandwiched between two cultures. Their obsession with their past, the feeling of nostalgia, a sense of loss and an anxiety to reinvent home find expression in the literary genre called diaspora writing also known as ‘expatriate or immigrant’ writing.

The dispersal and distribution of a number of ethnic, racial and cultural groups across the world has resulted in the emergence of a plethora of writers who delve at length the diasporic sensibilities of these distanced communities. Gabrielle Roy and JhumpaLahiri are two such writers who voice their concerns of the diasporic communities of Canada and India respectively.