“What does a word mean? And a life? In the end, it seems to me, the same thing. Just as a word can have many dimensions, many nuances, great complexity, so, too, can a person, a life. Language is the mirror, the principal metaphor. Because ultimately the meaning of a word, like that of a person, is boundless, ineffable.”
I don’t particularly like reading non fiction. I picked up “In Other Words” because it’s a sort of memoir of my favorite writer — Jhumpa Lahiri as she explores Italian language. Honestly speaking, I was expecting the book to be plain, something which would sound exciting just to her fans. However, contrary to my assumptions this book has left me in awe. It’s an adventure — one just can’t miss this fest of literary brilliance.
This book is about language, words and the intimacy we share with a language and the place it comes from. About linguistic exile, about homeland.
“In the end I realize that it wasn’t a true exile : far from it. I’m exiled even from the definition of exile”.
Jhumpa talks about impermeable walls which exist between languages, and no matter how hard one tries a person will always be a foreigner to the other language despite achieving perfection because language is much more than just a medium of communication. It’s an outlook of civilization, door to a person’s heart and much more.
