Title: Exoticism in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Sexy”

Abstract:With the fundamental changes brought about by modernity, the problems of exoticism become increasingly prominent. The story “Sexy,” collected in Interpreter of Maladies by Jhump a Lahiri, a contemporary Indian American writer, recounts a Western encounter with the exotic other in the context of cross-cultural communication. Through the story, Lahiri points out that the root of exoticism lies not on difference but ignorance towards other ethnic groups and cultures. It is never the intention of exoticism to increase mutual understandings between ethnic groups or cultures. The exotic is nothing but an infringement of day-to-day life. In the context of cross-cultural communication, unless breaking down the “violent hierarchies” between cultures, communication between ethnic groups is but a hunt for the exotic.

Keywords: Jhumpa Lahiri, “Sexy,” Interpreter of Maladies, exoticism

Author: Haiyan Ren, Lecturer, Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China.