Dante

Dante is one of Jhumpa’s inspirations during the journey in which she learns to speak, read and write Italian. During the week Jhumpa spent with her sister in Italy, they stayed near Dante’s house. She was inspired by Dante because he had to wait nine years before he could speak to Beatrice who was his inspiration for writing, a sort of exile. Jhumpa felt she, too, was exiled from Italian, the language she loved.

Ovid

Ovid was a poet exiled from Rome. He is one of Jhumpa’s sources of inspiration as she tries to learn Italian. During one interview she credited Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” as being her favorite book.

Jhumpa’s Parents

Jhumpa’s Parents added to her language insecurity because they insisted that she speak her mother tongue of Bengali while she was with them. They were from Calcutta, India. Jhumpa’s mother...