The Present Absence: A Hauntological Analysis of Temporality in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Whereabouts and The Lowland

Abstract

The primary aim of this study is to explore temporal dispositions enacted upon spaces in Jhumpa Lahiri’s novels Whereabouts and The Lowland. To unpack the revenant and subjunctive spectres of time, the paradigm of Hauntology is employed also to examine how fragmented temporality gives rise to spectral spaces within the narratives of these novels. In The Lowland, the analysis engages with the spaces that embody spectrality and spectres that are harboured within them. To do so, the palimpsestic feature of space is to be investigated. In Whereabouts, the plan is to evaluate how the act of ‘wandering’ defies chronology of time by incessantly arriving at space and leaving it without adherence to linear sequence. Jhumpa Lahiri’s exploration of distorted time and space has been overlooked in the wake of prevailing research paradigms centered on postcolonialism, diaspora studies, and feminist critique. The purpose of this dissertation is to address the oversight by revealing the complex interplay of memory, desire, and human subjectivity in her novels.