Bidasyuk N. V., Kuchman I. M. The motif of home in Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories

Abstract

The idea of home is different for immigrants belonging to the ‘old’ and ‘new’ diasporas. For the former home
is connected with homeland, place of origin, which prioritizes a look backwards, nostalgia, feelings of loss and
abandonment. The new diaspora means mobility, courage, openness and transformation, going beyond the fixity of
one’s identity. At the turn of the XXI century the traditional concept of (Indian) home is substituted by a
polysemantic notion formed of travels and places both real and imagined which characterizes a modern fluid
identity of an Asian American.