American - Author | July 11, 1967 -
I think there are a lot of misconceptions on both sides, the developing vs. the developed world, especially about America. I've felt the frustration in my lack of belonging to any one place, but I've also felt it liberating to be able to appreciate something without feeling disloyal to my own culture.
Jhumpa Lahiri
CultureWorldFrustrationThink
My responsibility isn't to paint a flattering portrait; my responsibility is to paint a real portrait, a true portrait.
ResponsibilityPortraitTruePaint
He told me he was working as an interpreter in a doctor's office in Brookline, Massachusetts, where I was living at the time, and he was translating for a doctor who had a number of Russian patients. On my way home, after running into him, I just heard this phrase in my head.
HomeTimeMeDoctorLivingWay
It interests me to imagine characters shifting from one situation and one location to another for whatever the circumstances may be.
MeSituationCircumstancesWhatever
I think it's the small things, the smaller episodes and details that I linger on and try to draw meaning from, just personally.
Small ThingsSmallThinkDetailsTry
I find it really liberating to be in a place where I am a foreigner in every way. I've lived with this all my life - this divide, this bifurcation. And in Italy, I don't feel it. There's none of that tension, only the expectation I place on myself to speak the language well. I find it relaxing. Something drops away, and I observe.
LifeMyselfI AmSpeakLanguageWay
Some Indians will come up and say that a story reminded them of something very specific to their experience. Which may or may not be the case for non-Indians.
ExperienceStorySayWillUpMay
There's more than enough in the world I am currently writing about to last for several lifetimes of writing.
I AmWritingWorldEnoughMoreLast
I love Rome. I'm very happy there. I wasn't in New York.
LoveNew YorkHappyNewRomeVery
Almost any American can connect on some level to a family background of having come across some ocean. They say, 'My great-grandparents came from wherever... this is why we have this last name, why we do this thing at Christmas.' All the details get watered down but don't quite disappear.
FamilyOceanNameDetailsAmerican
I've always had this feeling wherever I go. Of not feeling fully part of things, not fully accepted, not fully inside of something.
FeelingGoInsideAlwaysWherever
Language and identity are so fundamentally intertwined. You peel back all the layers in terms of what we wear and what we eat and all the things that mark us, and in the end, what we have are our words.
WordsIdentityEndLanguageYouEat
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