The New Yorker: Fiction

Rebecca Makkai Reads Jhumpa Lahiri

Oct 1, 2024
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ANECDOTE

Makkai's Connection to the Story

  • Rebecca Makkai read "The Third and Final Continent" when it first came out in The New Yorker at 21 years old.
  • It resonated with her because her father immigrated to Boston, similar to the story's protagonist.
INSIGHT

Universality of Immigrant Narratives

  • Immigrant narratives share a common emotional core, despite differing details.
  • This shared experience creates a sense of universality in stories like "The Third and Final Continent."
ANECDOTE

Lahiri's Success

  • Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, which included "The Third and Final Continent," won a Pulitzer Prize and sold over 15 million copies.
  • This success was unusual for a debut story collection, especially in 1999 when Makkai was just out of college.
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