Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, Jhumpa Lahiri’s

(2013) is a poignant narrative of shifting focalisers, which follows a range of characters who move through both social and personal upheavals in search of altering definitions of selfhood. Their different quests are all related, in one form or another, to the birthplace, referred to in the title, of the two central male characters of the novel – the brothers Subhash and Udayan – and the memories associated with it.

Unlike Lahiri’s earlier works, The Lowland is not predominantly concerned about the experience of migration for members of the Indian diaspora, and the uneasy negotiations that characterise such journeys. While the novel does involve migration, estrangement from one’s family and other related

2106 words

Citation: Chakraborty, Abin. "The Lowland". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 October 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35501, accessed 23 April 2024.]