In Other Words

In Other Words is at heart a love story—of a writer’s passion for another language. For Jhumpa Lahiri, that love was for Italian, which first captivated her during a trip to Florence after college. Although Lahiri studied Italian for many years afterward, true mastery eluded her. So in 2012, she decided to move to Rome where she began to read, and to write—initially in her journal—solely in Italian. In Other Words, an autobiographical work written in Italian, investigates the process of learning to express oneself in another language, and describes the journey of a writer seeking a new voice. It is a book about exile, linguistic and otherwise, written with an intensity and clarity not seen since Nabokov. A startling act of self-reflection and a provocative exploration of belonging and reinvention. Translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein.