"Language is the only identity I have and even that is questionable," the Pulitzer Prize-winning author said Tuesday night.
For Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, being a writer is about insisting you have a voice – or even voices. She learned this when she began to read, write and translate Italian – even though she grew up with Bengali and English.
“Translation is always an act of interpretation.” said Lahiri, who currently teaches creative writing at Princeton University.
Lahiri discussed the relationship between language, identity and writing Tuesday night during a University Lecture in Hendricks Chapel.
Although the Syracuse neighborhood is far less Italian than longtime locals remember, banners throughout the district carry the distinctive name.
When Antoinette DiScenna started working in the North side of Syracuse 50 years ago, the neighborhood was full of Italian immigrants.
They lived in the area surrounding St. Joseph's Hospital, worked at Learbury Suits, Nettleton Shoes, and other North side factories, shopped in the cafes, bakeries, fuit vendors, shoemakers and grocery stores of North Salina Street, and worshipped at Our Lady of Pompeii Church.