POETICS OF GASTRONOMIC IMAGES IN JHUMPA LAHIRI’S “THE NAMESAKE”

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the specificity of gastronomic images and the Indian gastronomic code in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake” as a personification of Asian identity in the context of transcultural paradigm. In the article the following methods are used: cultural and historical, historical and typological, functional, hermeneutic, narratological analysis, biographical, the principles of postcolonial and decolonial criticism. The author of the article notes that food serves as a conditional language for characters and as a cultural code that can successfully be interpreted by “ours” only – Indian culture representatives. Such symbolic “contact” with the cuisine of another country allows us to differentiate, to understand and to assimilate “our” in a better way. Therefore, cultural culinary differences are found in the kitchen, where the character is accustomed to spend most of her day and especially carefully prepares the dishes. An interpretation of cooking as a true art is associated with Jhumpa Lahiri`s marginalized / border characters: you need to remember how much, when, and what kind of spices are to be added to the dishes. As a true Bengali woman, the character skillfully prepares traditional “her” dishes. The heroine “fills” her inner cultural nostalgia and sadness with cooking, and thus tries to move home mentally. She realizes that all other identities in herself can be disappointed and even broken, but the chef identity will always stand, it will stand even in a new cultural environment. Food and character’s culinary activities serve as a cover to talk about something else: the psychology, and, above all, the expression of cultural identity. Having analyzed gastronomic images in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake”, we managed to draw the following conclusions: the food image in fiction works makes it possible to interpret it as an aesthetic phenomenon, as then relative category “edible” / “inedible”. In the novel, cooking processes are presented in an instructive manner but also the gastronomic images have a specific purpose – to emphasize cultural identity, as well as to show character’s psychological portrait. It is worth noting Ashima’s calm manner in cooking, carefully considering not only the list of dishes but also the candidates for the people for whom these dishes are prepared.

Keywords

• gastronomic images
• transculture
• indian immigrants
• marginal character
• ethnic identity