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
It interests me to imagine characters shifting from one situation and one location to another for whatever the circumstances may be.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the curiosity about characters and their experiences in different environments and situations.
Jhumpa Lahiri's quote expresses an interest in the dynamics of storytelling, highlighting how characters evolve and adapt when they encounter new situations and places. This concept underscores the complexity of human experiences, suggesting that our circumstances can significantly shape our identities and relationships.
In practice
This quote can be used in a creative writing workshop to inspire writers to think about character development.
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.
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.
When I am experiencing a complex story or novel, the broader planes, and also details, tend to fall away.
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.
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.
On the technical side, I hope that my writing is evolving and maturing, ripening, deepening.
When done right, music should breathe, be alive. It's not about getting it perfect, it's about capturing lightning in a bottle.
I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.
There are different kinds of artists and very often, I'll be very frank with you, I wish I were a different kind.
Sometimes I long so much to do landscape, just as one would go for a long walk to refresh oneself, and in all of nature, in trees for instance, I see expression and a soul.
Poetry is for me Eucharistic. You take someone else's suffering into your body, their passion comes into your body, and in doing that you commune, you take communion, you make a community with others.
It really upsets me that the media insists on turning 'Do the Right Thing' or 'Boyz N the Hood' into 'black films.' They are American films. They may open the window on the black experience, but they had things to say to everybody. That's why they were so successful.
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