The Namesake

Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol

• The works of Gogol are deeply significant to Ashoke in The Namesake.
• will help students understand the parallels between Gogol the author and Gogol the character

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

• Bulawayo’s novel similarly documents the challenges of an immigrant finding their place in America.
• a fruitful conversation-starter about the universalities and particularities of different immigrant experiences

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

• Lahiri’s debut collection contains many thematic parallels to The Namesake.
• will help students see the way an author’s ideas develop and change as they continue their literary career

Other Student Resources

Pulitzer Winner Lahiri Returns with ‘The Namesake’

• This NPR interview with Lahiri includes discussions of Gogol’s name and her motivations for writing about the character and the Indian customs surrounding names.
• a love poem; a traditional, classic example of iambic pentameter

What is Indian American Literature?

• a Book Riot article reflecting on Lahiri’s legacy and putting it in the context of Indian American readers

Teacher Resources

Intersectionality within the Indian American Experience

• This Harvard Political Review article will help teachers approach some of the complexities of Indian American identity and may help them contextualize how Gogol represents an ABCD.

As she Turns 50, Jhumpa Lahiri is bravely embarking on a second literary life

• This profile of Lahiri from an Indian independent journalism outlet contains many insights into the parallels between her life and The Namesake as well as a discussion of her decision to begin writing in Italian.