ABSTRACT
Rapid developments in the fields of trade, market, commerce and telecommunication technologies, together with cultural confrontations at the global level have fundamentally changed the face of literature. Literary engagement in the past decade has largely transplanted the market induced dichotomies of the literary versus popular, the blockbuster versus boutique, the high culture versus lowbrow mass culture. Scholarly consensus defines literary fiction as having “tangled plots” and “intense formal artistry”. Saricks describes literary fiction as a ‘reflection’ on the human condition, written elegantly, as a layered, lyrical narrative. Indeed, through her characters, Lahiri presents a mimetic model of the world she and her readers inhabit. Interpreter of Maladies has had an enduring status not only in academic circles, but also in the public rhetoric for nearly two decades post its publication. The reasons obviously pertain to Lahiri’s merit as a writer; she catches the pulse of a certain section of the society without maintaining an exclusivity for readership.
